Caroline Garcia celebrates winning her women's singles match against Karolina Pliskova at the US Open on Wednesday in New York City. Photo: VCG

 

France's Caroline Garcia produced the biggest upset of the US Open on Wednesday, sending top seed Karolina Pliskova tumbling out of the tournament.

Garcia, the world No.50, scored one of the biggest wins of her career with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) second-round victory at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The 26-year-old's one-hour, 33-minute victory sends her into a third-round meeting on Friday with American 28th seed Jennifer Brady.

If she can reproduce Wednesday's polished performance, Garcia will fancy her chances of extending her run at Flushing Meadows.

Garcia - whose talent propelled her to fourth in the world rankings in September 2018 before a protracted slump sent her sliding down the standings in 2019 - attacked Pliskova from the outset.

Garcia raced into a 5-0 lead after scoring two early service breaks before taking the first set.

Although Pliskova improved in the second, she was unable to find the crucial service break when it mattered, and was unable to convert a set point in the second to level the match.

In the tiebreaker, Garcia raced into a 6-2 lead and then completed victory when Pliskova hit a return into the net.

"I knew I was capable of causing problems for her," Garcia said. "I took my chances. When she came in the second set, there wasn't much more I could do. So I had to keep calm and just play it point-by-point."

It was a disappointing exit for Pliskova, who had been elevated to No.1 seed after a slew of high-ranking player withdrawals due to the coronavirus.

"I thought she played great tennis in the first set. She was just playing super aggressive, going for her shots," Pliskova said. "I maybe didn't play my best. 

"But that's how it is sometimes. I'm not a robot, so I don't have to play every day amazing."

While Pliskova fell by the wayside, there were no such problems for fourth seed Naomi Osaka of Japan, the 2018 champion.

The 22-year-old dominated hard-hitting Italian opponent Camila Giorgi in an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 victory.

"Even if I play a power player, for me, my goal is to be the dictator," Osaka said.

"I was able to do that quite well," added Osaka, who will now play Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the last 32 on Friday.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Petra Kvitova advanced to the third round with a straight-set defeat of Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, winning 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

Czech sixth seed Kvitova, chasing a third Grand Slam crown after wins at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, needed one hour 40 minutes to claim her place in the last 32.

The 30-year-old will face Jessica Pegula of the US in the third round.

Croatia's Petra Martic, seeded eighth, defeated lowly ranked Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4.

Martic, who reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows last year in what remains her best US Open appearance, will face Russia's Varvara Gracheva in the third round.

Gracheva, ranked 102nd in the world, upset France's 30th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-0.