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By Chris Oddo | Monday August 31, 2015

 
Ana Ivanovic US Open

Seeds fell with alarming frequency on Day 1 of the U.S. Open, leaving a giant hole in Serena Williams' half of the draw.

Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty

Less than six hours into the first day of main draw play at the 2015 US Open, four Top-10 seeds have already fallen in the top half of the women's draw.

More: Ivanovic Falls to Cibulkova on Day 1 of U.S. Open

Third-seeded Maria Sharapova announced her withdrawal from the tournament on Sunday, and on Monday 7th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 8th-seeded Karolina Pliskova and 10th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro all fell. All but Pliskova were in the same quarter of the top half of the draw, leaving a crater-sized hole for the players who earned their way into the second round in the section that previously target Sharapova or Ivanovic as the most likely candidate to face Serena Williams in the semis (if seeds held).

Veterans Jelena Jankovic (seeded 21) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (30) also dropped out of that very same section.




Time to reshuffle the deck: 13th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova is now the highest-seeded player remaining in that quarter, while 12th seeded Belinda bencic is the highest-seeded player other than Serena Williams in the whole top half. Bencic took out Sesil Karatantcheva, 6-1, 6-2, in opening-round action on Monday. Makarova, a semifinalist last year, moved past Brazil’s Teliana Periera, 6-3, 6-3, despite having to pull out of her last two events with a right leg injury.

Though it’s always surprising to see high seeds fall, the departures of Suarez Navarro and Pliskova weren’t all that shocking. Suarez Navarro dropped a straight sets decision to Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic which continued a poor run of form that has seen the Spaniard drop seven straight matches dating back to early June.

Pliskova, who has risen into the WTA’s Top-10 based on 42 wins and five finals in 2015 (1 title), has now failed to reach the second week of a major in 14 attempts.

Ivanovic might have had the toughest task of all the seeds on Monday. She fell to Dominika Cibulkova, a former Grand Slam finalist who has fallen out of seeding range due to an Achilles surgery earlier this year. "It's definitely very disappointing also today's loss, because I felt like I did a lot of hard work over last few months," Ivanovic said. "Over last week, you know, I had great preparation, lots of good training and everything. You know, it was just unfortunate that, you know, we came up against one another so early in a tournament."

All of this main draw mayhem is taking place around the epicenter of the draw, rock-solid Serena Williams. Despite the lack of seeds, Williams is expected to face early tests in New York as she gets her bid to become the first player to win the Calendar-Year Grand Slam in 27 years underway. She could face CoCo Vandeweghe or Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round. In the round of 16, she could face Agnieszka Radwanska or Madison Keys, and in the quarters, either Bencic (who is one of two players to have defeated her in 2015) or her sister Venus.

It wasn’t all upset special on day 1, however. Agneiszka Radwanska punched past Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 6-3, and rising star Elina Svitolina made light work of Elizaveta Kulichkova, 6-1, 6-4.

 

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