It turned out to be a day of major upsets in the ongoing US Open as Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas and last year's runner-Casper Ruud crashed out of the ongoing US Open on Wednesday, August 30.
Seventh seed Tsitsipas was left dazed by Switzerland's Dominic Stricker in a five-set long thriller. Tsitsipas was expected to win the contest but the world No. 128 Stricker clinched the contest 7-5, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 at the end. The match ran for four hours and four minutes as both players sweated it out to advance to the third round.
In what can be termed as yet another upset, the No. five seed Casper Ruud of Norway went down fighting against China's Zhizhen Zhang in a five-set long pulsating encounter at the Grandstand. Ruud lost the first set 4-6 but came back strongly to win the second 7-5. However, the Chinese punched back to claim the third 6-2. The Norwegian displayed grit in the fourth set and gave no chance to his 67th-ranked opponent and swept past him winning by a convincing margin of 6-0 but Ruud failed to win the last set as Zhang won the contest to qualify for the third round.
Austria's tennis ace Dominic Thiem retired midway on Day 3 after losing a nerve-wracking first set 7-6 to America's Ben Shelton and failed to script a memorable return to the US Open.
On the other hand, it turned out to be a walk in the park for the three-time US Open champion Novak Djokovic who won his round two clash against Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles with ease 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. In the men's doubles, India's Rohan Bopanna and his partner Matthew Abden of Australia defeated the pair of Christopher O'Connell and Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the second round.
In the women's event, it turned out to be business as usual for Iga Swiatek who got the better of Australia's Daria Saville in round two. The top seed Swiatek won the match in straight sets winning 6-3, 6-4. at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. In another fixture, America's young sensation Coco Gauff also won her round two fixture in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the third round while playing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina was not required to turn up as she got a walkover and will now be seen in action in the third round.
