In what has been a disappointing tournament for many of the big names in women’s tennis, three more former Grand Slam champions have all been knocked out in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

After reuniting with former coach Kamau Murray, 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens is yet to improve on what has been a poor season. The 11th seeded American lost 3-6 4-6 to the unseeded Anna Kalinskaya in front of her home crowd in the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

While currently ranked 41 in the WTA rankings, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka is a two-time Australian Open winner and former world number one. Her career has taken a dive in recent years, and she is yet to show signs of a comeback following a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat to 9th seeded Aryna Sabalenka, a fellow Belarusian.

Another two-time Grand Slam winner is the Russian-born Svetlana Kuznetsova. While she impressed in the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Sloane Stephens, Karolina Pliskova and Ashleigh Barty en route to the final, her form has taken a turn for the worse following a 7-5 6-2 loss to American Kristie Ahn.

These are just some of the latest tennis veterans to fall at the first hurdle in what has already been a tournament of upsets.

The post Azarenka, Kuznetsova, Stephens Eliminated From US Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.

On Tuesday we witnessed another major upset at US Open 2017. Last year’s US Open Women’s Singles champion, Germany’s Angelique Kerber has ended her journey to defend the title by being eliminated in the first round by Japan’s Naomi Osaka. On the WTA World Ranking, Kerber is ranked 6th but is on her way out of the top 10 for sure while Osaka is currently ranked 45th and will see an improvement in her ranking after US Open is completed. Kerber is the first defending champion in the last 12 years to be eliminated so early. Something like this didn’t happen since 2005 when Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Ekaterina Bychkova.

Majority of the matches on Tuesday were canceled because of the rain but the match between Kerber and Osaka was completed. It probably helped that the Japanese tennis player was swift and finished the job in 2 sets beating Kerber 6-3, 6-1. Kerber looked powerless while Osaka strolled through their 65-minutes match.This was also the first time that Osaka has managed to beat a top 10 tennis player.

Compared to the last year, when she was number one ranked female tennis player in the world, 2017 isn’t shaping well for Angelique Kerber. In 2016, besides US Open, she won the Australian Open as well and even managed to reach Wimbledon final. This year, Kerber suffered multiple blows, including elimination from the French Open where she was No. 1 seed. That was the first time in the tournament’s history that No. 1 seeded player was eliminated in the first round.

Now, 4 out of the top 10 seeded tennis players in woman’s singles are out of the US Open. The 9th seeded Venus Williams is pregnant and doesn’t participate in the tournament. The 2nd seeded Simona Halep was eliminated by Maria Sharapova while 7th seeded Johanna Konta suffered a defeat in her match against WTA 78th ranked Aleksandra Krunic.

The post US Open Defending Champion Angelique Kerber Defeated by Naomi Osaka appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In what has been a disappointing tournament for many of the big names in women’s tennis, three more former Grand Slam champions have all been knocked out in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

After reuniting with former coach Kamau Murray, 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens is yet to improve on what has been a poor season. The 11th seeded American lost 3-6 4-6 to the unseeded Anna Kalinskaya in front of her home crowd in the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

While currently ranked 41 in the WTA rankings, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka is a two-time Australian Open winner and former world number one. Her career has taken a dive in recent years, and she is yet to show signs of a comeback following a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat to 9th seeded Aryna Sabalenka, a fellow Belarusian.

Another two-time Grand Slam winner is the Russian-born Svetlana Kuznetsova. While she impressed in the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Sloane Stephens, Karolina Pliskova and Ashleigh Barty en route to the final, her form has taken a turn for the worse following a 7-5 6-2 loss to American Kristie Ahn.

These are just some of the latest tennis veterans to fall at the first hurdle in what has already been a tournament of upsets.

The post Azarenka, Kuznetsova, Stephens Eliminated From US Open appeared first on SportzBonanza.

On Tuesday we witnessed another major upset at US Open 2017. Last year’s US Open Women’s Singles champion, Germany’s Angelique Kerber has ended her journey to defend the title by being eliminated in the first round by Japan’s Naomi Osaka. On the WTA World Ranking, Kerber is ranked 6th but is on her way out of the top 10 for sure while Osaka is currently ranked 45th and will see an improvement in her ranking after US Open is completed. Kerber is the first defending champion in the last 12 years to be eliminated so early. Something like this didn’t happen since 2005 when Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Ekaterina Bychkova.

Majority of the matches on Tuesday were canceled because of the rain but the match between Kerber and Osaka was completed. It probably helped that the Japanese tennis player was swift and finished the job in 2 sets beating Kerber 6-3, 6-1. Kerber looked powerless while Osaka strolled through their 65-minutes match.This was also the first time that Osaka has managed to beat a top 10 tennis player.

Compared to the last year, when she was number one ranked female tennis player in the world, 2017 isn’t shaping well for Angelique Kerber. In 2016, besides US Open, she won the Australian Open as well and even managed to reach Wimbledon final. This year, Kerber suffered multiple blows, including elimination from the French Open where she was No. 1 seed. That was the first time in the tournament’s history that No. 1 seeded player was eliminated in the first round.

Now, 4 out of the top 10 seeded tennis players in woman’s singles are out of the US Open. The 9th seeded Venus Williams is pregnant and doesn’t participate in the tournament. The 2nd seeded Simona Halep was eliminated by Maria Sharapova while 7th seeded Johanna Konta suffered a defeat in her match against WTA 78th ranked Aleksandra Krunic.

The post US Open Defending Champion Angelique Kerber Defeated by Naomi Osaka appeared first on SportzBonanza.