NEW YORK – Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova was on the verge of becoming an early casualty at the US Open but fired a record 24 aces to overcome Amanda Anisimova 7-5 6-7(5) 7-6(7) in a thrilling second round encounter.
Alexander Zverev thrashed Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1 6-0 6-3 in a brisk 74 minutes, conserving his energy as he rolled through to the US Open third round.
Ashleigh Barty shrugged off questions about her ability to close out matches after battling past teenager Clara Tauson and into the third round of the US Open.
More than half of Zverev’s serves went unreturned in the lop-sided match, after Zverev got a break to kick off the first set and never let up the momentum.
The world number four fired down 11 aces, including three in a row to close out the third set on Arthur Ashe Stadium where he came within two points of triumphing a year ago before losing the final to Austrian Dominic Thiem.
“It was painful and I still remember it,” said the newly-crowned Olympic champion. “I take it as motivation because I’m back here, I have the opportunity to do better.”
After picking up Masters titles in Madrid and Cincinnati this year, the 24-year-old is among a group of younger players hoping to disrupt world number one Novak Djokovic’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
It was his second straight-sets win at Flushing Meadows this year, after seeing off American Sam Querrey in the first round, and Zverev believes the efficiency could pay dividends later in the tournament.
“It was always a problem of mine in the beginning of my career that I always spent a lot of hours, a lot of time in the beginning of Grand Slam tournaments,” said Zverev, who opened his 2020 campaign with three back-to-back four-set matches.
“I played two matches against two good players. I think Sam is a very good player on a hard court, has a lot of titles on hard courts, has beaten great guys here, winning that in straight sets. And Albert as well, Albert is somebody who causes a lot of trouble to top guys.”
He faces either American wildcard Jack Sock or Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in the third round.
Barty, meanwhile, shrugged off questions about her ability to close out matches after battling past teenager Clara Tauson and into the third round of the US Open.
For the second successive match, the world number one was unable to serve out victory at the first time of asking, but she recovered quickly against 18-year-old Dane Tauson to win 6-1 7-5.
Barty, who was also taken to a third set by Karolina Pliskova in the Wimbledon final after leading late in the second, said: “It’s happened a few times, but I have won 40-odd matches and it hasn’t happened a lot. You guys can write about it as much as you like. It’s not a concern for me.
“It’s just a few of those games I haven’t been able to get up and hit my spots on first serves. When you give good players looks at second serves, you’re going to get hurt.”
Barty is aiming to win a second successive slam title after victory at SW19, and she said: “There is momentum in a sense that was one of my greatest goals to win that tournament.
“I think playing and understanding how to win grand slams is very unique. Two weeks is a long time to be focused and to be able to have a bit of luck, stay healthy.
“I’ve learnt that the hard way that sometimes it doesn’t always go your way. But also, it’s a different surface, a different tournament, completely different conditions.”
Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic continued her fine form with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Martina Trevisan while 10th seed Petra Kvitova defeated Kristyna Pliskova 7-6 (4) 6-2.
Seventh seed Iga Swiatek looked in big trouble at a set and a break down against France’s Fiona Ferro but the Pole came through strongly in the end to win 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-0.
Swiatek, who has been spending her time away from the court reading Gone with the Wind, admitted she is struggling to deal with the pressure of expectation.
Elsewhere, Pliskova bettered Julia Goerges’s previous mark (21) for most aces in a women’s match at Flushing Meadows set in 2019 and said her serve was key in getting her past the American.
The tournament began recording the stat in 1998.
“Of course, the serve was huge part of this win,” she told reporters. “I thought we kind of pushed each other with the serve.
“I had a couple of break points … but we didn’t have many chances on the return. For women’s tennis, normally there is break, break, break. That’s quite impressive I think.”
Pliskova looked in control in the opening set after a single break separated the players but Anisimova, ranked 75th in the world, forced a decider when she won the second set tiebreak as the Czech made two double faults.
With the home crowd firmly backing Anisimova and cheering every point she won, the New Jersey-born 20-year-old fed off the energy at Arthur Ashe Stadium to save four break points and force another tiebreak.
Pliskova found herself 2-5 down in the tiebreak but she stormed back, saving a match point as Anisimova made three errors to hand the world number four a place in the third round.
