WHAT HAPPENED: Although No. 4 seed Paula Badosa is the top-ranked Spanish player, her US Open experience is limited. Indeed, stepping onto Court 17 for her Round 2 match, Badosa had already matched her best Flushing Meadows showing.
It would be the end of the road for her again this year. Croat Petra Martic, ranked 54 in the world, staged a stunning upset against the favored player, taking the match 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2.
In the first set, Badosa’s heavy groundstrokes and some tricky wind may have been why Martic decided to skip baseline rallies in favor of frequent—and effective—drop shots and low angled slices.
For her part, the 24-year-old Spanish player attempted to put Martic on defense with punishing forehands—hitting 12 winners but also 9 unforced errors. (That errors would be a factor was unsurprising. In her Round 1 match, Badosa donated 57 unforced errors and hit just 22 winners—not typically a recipe for success.)
Also unsurprising is that a tiebreak would decide the first set. Badosa is something of a tiebreak queen, winning more than a dozen tiebreak sets this year, a record. True to form, Badosa won this one, 7-6(5).
In the second set, Martic showed the skills—and strategy—that has made this such a successful summer for her. The 31-year-old Croatian player won the Ladies Open Lausanne in July and advanced to fourth-round play at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina.
While Badosa struggled on serve, Martic made quick work of her service games, hammering six aces, and grabbing the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second set, 6-1.
Where was Martic in the third set? Everywhere. Despite the heat, the slender, 5-foot-11 Croat charged the net and while her net-points-won stat hovered around 50%, it seemed to get in Badosa’s head. In super-speedy play, Martic closed it out, 6-2.
WHAT IT MEANS: Up the road for Martic is a possible Round 4 match against No. 13 seed Belinda Bencic, should both players advance. If so, Martic has cause for confidence: On her way to the Lausanne championship in July, Martic beat Bencic in a quarterfinal match, 6-3, 7-6(3).
MATCH POINT: It was a good day for Croatia. Countryman Marin Cilic, the No. 17 seed, dismissed his own Spanish opponent, the veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3.
