It was a bad day to be a top seed playing at the US Open on Saturday, and even more so if you hailed from Switzerland.
The only women from Switzerland ranked in the top 90 fell in the third round, both in three sets.
Eleventh seed Patty Schnyder fell at the hands of Tamira Paszek on the Grandstand Court in a tight thriller. The young Austrian knocked the lefty out 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1).
Ten years since she won her only title at Flushing Meadows, Martina Hingis headed into the tournament this season as an underdog. An early round upset was not out of the question, but it certainly was not expected that she would tumble out of the Grand Slam with a bagel set.
Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka defeated the Swiss Miss in three sets 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.
With the defeat of Sharapova, Petrova, and now Patty Schnyder and Martina Hingis, the bottom half of the draw has been blown wide open. Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova (if she wins tonight) will head into the second week as the leading favorites to reach the final on Saturday.
