The women’s U.S. Open produced all-American semifinals and Sloane Stephens eventually earned her first career grand slam. It was a very impressive performance by the young American, who has never been on this type of pedestal before. At the beginning of the year, she had foot surgery and now she’s at the top of the sport…at least for a few days. Garbine Muguruza will move to World No. 1 on Monday for the first time in her career after Karolina Pliskova lost her No. 1 ranking. Simona Halep did lose in the first round, but she lost to Maria Sharapova on a night when Sharapova played extremely well. Halep is not a supreme disappointment at this tournament, but four other players have to be called out for failing to make the grade in New York.
Here is a look at the biggest disappointments at the 2017 U.S. Open on the women’s side.
Caroline Wozniacki
The fact that Wozniacki lost to Ekaterina Makarova isn’t a complete indictment of her tennis. Makarova is a very good player who had a solid summer season leading into the U.S. Open. However, Wozniacki had never lost to Makarova, so she knew how to play and defeat her Russian opponent. Wozniacki never really got comfortable in the match, and although Makarova wobbled late in the second set to help Wozniacki even the match at a set apiece, Wozniacki wasn’t able to take advantage in the third set. In fact, Wozniacki got torn apart in that set.
Wozniacki has made six finals on the WTA Tour this year, playing very consistent tennis and being one of the WTA win leaders. For her to win so many matches but then not find a way to figure out how to make a run in New York should be upsetting for her.
Jo Konta
The No. 1 British player served under 50 percent and made over 40 unforced errors in a first-round loss to Aleksandra Krunic. Konta was coming off an appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals and seemed to be arriving at a place in her career where she could reliably be counted on to go deep into any tournament not played on clay, where she is noticeably weak. Konta won the Miami title earlier this year on hardcourts, so making the second week of the U.S. Open should have been a minimum expectation. To fall so short of that is a huge disappointment by any standard or measurement. She needs a big Australian Open to reset her career and restore her confidence on hardcourts.
Svetlana Kuznetsova
The Russian with two major titles had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and had been enjoying a very solid season to this point. Kuznetsova is one of the more well-rounded players on tour in terms of being able to hit shots from many positions on court and being able to hit the ball at a lot of different speeds and spins. Bouncing out of the tournament early in the first week is a stinging setback for a player who is capable of so much more. This has happened a lot in the past, but Kuznetsova had reason to think that she had become a quarterfinal-caliber player. She has to feel she played at an unacceptable level.
Elina Svitolina
The player who has lost only one match at three Premier 5 tournaments this season had a 4-2 third-set lead over Madison Keys in the fourth round. She then lost the next four games, haunted by a balky serve which let her down. Svitolina has been excellent from week to week on tour, but at the Grand Slams, she falls short. She has to overcome that hurdle.
Maria Sharapova
Although there were small expectations for Sharapova and many will view her return as a success, it’s hard not to think about what could have been. Sharapova topped the No. 2 seed in the tournament in the first round, ousting Simona Halep. From there she disposed of Timea Babos and then Sofia Kenin in the third round. In the fourth round, she was facing No. 16 Anastasija Sevastova and while she won the first set, she was only able to win six games the rest of the way.
Had she won, Sharapova would have faced Sloane Stephens, who she has a career 3-1 record against. It was nice to see Sharapova back on the court but she could have made a much deeper journey had she kept her focus in the second and third sets against Sevastova.
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