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NEW YORK - The US Open lost one of its top draw-cards when holder Maria Sharapova was beaten 6-4 1-6 6-2 by Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round yesterday.
Sharapova lost only two games during her first two matches at the Open but never got on
track against 18-year-old 30th seed Radwanska, committing an uncharacteristic 49 unforced errors.
"You've got to give her a lot of credit for finishing the match and winning it," the second-seeded Sharapova said. "A lot of girls in her position on a big stage in a big stadium against a top player sometimes get a little nervous."
Roger Federer, aiming for a fourth straight Open title, defeated hard-hitting rookie John Isner 6-7 6-2 6-4 6-2. Federer had only 11 unforced errors against the American wildcard, who has been impressive since joining the tour in July.
Federer said: "It's so hard to play against players like him, you just hope he's not going to keep serving aces."
The Swiss watched nine of Isner's 18 aces fly by in the opening set. "It was unbelievable how he served. But I started toget a read of it a bit in the secondand third."
Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko reached the fourth round with a 7-5 6-0 7-5 victory over Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, while 2003 champion Andy Roddick, the fifth seed, blasted 19 aces to defeat Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-2 6-2 6-0.
"It felt good," Roddick said. "I wanted to go out and hit the ball and be aggressive, get hold of my forehand, if I could. I felt like I did that today."
On the women's side, number seven seed Nadia Petrova of Russia made 29 errors during a 6-4 6-4 upset loss to 18-year-old Hungarian Agnes Szavay. Anna Chakvetadze kept Russia's title hopes alive, however, beating Sania Mirza of India 6-2 6-3.
Martina Hingis' 10-year anniversary since winning the US Open ended in disappointment when she lost to Belarussian Victoria Azarenka 3-6 6-1 6-0 in a third-round match.
Another favorite to fall was 13th seed Nicole Vaidisova of Czech Republic, a 6-4 3-6 7-6 loser to Israeli Shahar Peer in the first women's match of the tournament to be decided in a third-set tie-breaker. But the buzz around the National Tennis Center was the unexpected defeat of Sharapova - her earliest grand slam exit since losing in the third round at Flushing Meadows in 2004.
Sharapova produced 12 double-faults, unable to cope with swirling winds in Arthur Ashe Stadium. With her tournament life on the line in the final set, the Russian made 20 errors.
Afterwards, she said "there's no excuses".
"It's not like today I stepped out on the wrong side of the bed or I did something differently. I'm going to have these days where I might be up a break in the third but it doesn't go my way."
Radwanska served just two double faults but landed only 57 per cent of her first serves. She conceded that many of her key points were gifts from Sharapova.
Radwanska said: "I had problems with my serve but I think she made many mistakes and double faults so I think she was a little bit nervous."
Radwanska had lost eight consecutive games when she fell behind in the final set 2-0. But she rebounded with a six-game streak of her own to close out the two-hour, four-minute match and set up a round-of-16 tilt against Peer.
- Reuters