Although she is the bigger name, No. 19 Venus Williams was not even the higher seed in her own match -- that would be No. 13 Sara Errani, who beat Venus in three sets 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (5). Venus was not even the highest seed to lose on Friday in the Women’s draw of the 2014 U.S. Open.
2014 U.S. Open bracket update: Simona Halep knocked out, Tomas Berdych holds on
Mike Stobe
That honor belonged to Simona Halep, whose solid performances in 2014’s previous Grand Slams had lead her to the two-seed in Flushing and some speculation that she may be the favorite to win the entire tournament. Instead, she finds herself out of contention less than a full week into the tournament following a 7-6 (6), 6-2 straight set loss to 121-ranked qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Also upset was No. 6 Angelique Kerber, as Belinda Bencic defeated her, 6-1, 7-5. The rest of the seeded women fared well: No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki won, 6-3, 6-2 against No. 18 Andrea Petkovic, 14-seed Lucie Safarova defeated No. 22 Alize Cornet, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4. The rest of the updated women’s bracket can be seen here.
In the men’s draw, No. 11 Ernests Gulbis was upended by practice partner Dominic Thiem, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, for the major upset of the day on that side of the bracket . In addition to Gulbis, No. 15 Fabio Fognini, No. 25 Ivo Karlovic and 32-seed Joao Sousa were all pushed out by unseeded challengers on the men’s side.
The top players, such as No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov, lived up to their rankings. Federer defeated Sam Groth, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and Dimitrov ran over Dudi Sela, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. Along with Federer and Dimitrov, No. 12 Richard Gasquet and No. 14 Marin Cilic both also advanced.
Joining them in the next round will be No. 6 Tomas Berdych, who had a bumpier ride than that of his counterparts, going the distance with Martin Klizan, 6-2, 4-6 ,6-3, 3-6, 6-2. You can see the updated men’s bracket on the US Open website.
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