Friday 1 September 2017 17:34, UK
World No 1 Karolina Pliskova survived a scare to advance to the third round of the US Open with a fine comeback win against local favourite Nicole Gibbs on Thursday.
The Czech, who reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year, was on the back foot against Gibbs before finding her range on serve to complete a 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
Roared on by the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, Gibbs was nothing like the player who lost 6-0 6-0 in their previous encounter in Sydney in 2015.
She bulldozed her way through the opening set as Pliskova struggled with her first serve.
The Czech faced a break point at 2-1 in the second set but Gibbs netted a backhand for what proved to be the turning point of the match.
"In the second set I started to serve better and get easy points with my first serve, which was much needed," said Pliskova. "I'm happy I managed to get through."
Pliskova next faces Chinese 27th seed Zhang Shuai or Japan's Risa Ozaki.
There was success for the home fans to cheer late in the day as Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe gave America seven women through to the last 32.
Vandeweghe, whose grandfather player basketball for the New York Knicks, has reached the semi-final in each of the last two years and remained on course for another deep run.
The 25-year-old was too strong for Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, coming through 7-6 6-2 to set up a third round meeting with 10th seed Agnieska Radwanska who beat Yulia Putintseva in straight set sets.
15th seed Madison Keys dropped just seven games as she saw off Germany's Tatjana Maria 6-3 6-4 to face Elena Vesnina for a place in the last 16.
Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina powered into the third round with a 6-4 6-4 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina.
The 22-year-old, who had also reached the third round at Flushing Meadows in the previous two years, was barely troubled by her 89th-ranked opponent in a sun-kissed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Svitolina next faces Shelby Rogers next after the American defeated 25th-seeded Australian Daria Gavrilova in the longest women's singles match played at the US Open at three hours and 23 minutes.
The match was 10 minutes longer than the previous record set by Johanna Konta's second-round win over Garbine Muguruza two years ago. Rogers won 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) on a fifth match point in a final set that lasted 90 minutes.
Jelena Ostapenko defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-4 to book a spot in the third round. The 20-year-old French Open winner has progressed past the second round of the competition for the first time and will be targeting her second Grand Slam title of the year.
Czech 23rd-seed Barbora Strycova suffered a 6-1 6-1 defeat by American Jennifer Brady, who advanced in her debut campaign at Flushing Meadows.
There were also wins for Agnieszka Radwanska, Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys.
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the US Open covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with our live blogs and updates throughout the fortnight as the Grand Slam year reaches its climax.
On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation. Who will win the US Open titles this year? Have your say...
We will also have coverage of the World Tour Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports.
