Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova suffered a third round loss to qualifier Aleksandra Krunic and became the latest shock exit in the women's draw at the US Open.
The Serb, ranked 145th, beat Czech third seed Kvitova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round of the US Open. Kvitova joins Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber and Ana Ivanovic in falling early.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams eased into the round four with straight sets victory over compatriot Varvara Lepchenko. Serena won 6-3, 6-3 against the American, The BBC reported.
With Kvitova's departure, there are now only five of the top 10 women's seeds left in the tournament. She said that she is very disappointed, and added that she wanted to win, and unfortunately she didn't.
Kvitova also said that she feels Krunic played really unbelievable tennis and she put a lot of balls back, and added that for her it was very difficult just to play only on the winners.
Krunic, who is an economics student and had never taken a set off a top-30 player and never won a Grand Slam match before this tournament, will next face 16th seed Belarus' Victoria Azarenka, who beat Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1.
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Krunic said that it was an honour for her to be on the same court as Kvitova, who is a great champion. She added that she watched both of the Czech's final matches at Wimbledon.
The Serb said that going to play against such a champion meant to stay on the court as long as possible, and added that she did not expect to win and is very happy that she did.
