Sakkari crashes out of US Open with defeat by China's Wang

Greek third seed Maria Sakkari became the biggest casualty in the women's draw at the U.S. Open when she fell to a 3-6 7-5 7-5 defeat to unseeded Chinese Wang Xiyu in an adsorbing second-round contest on Wednesday.

Sakkari, a semi-finalist in New York last year, took charge in the early stages and marched into a one-set lead before being let down by a series of unforced errors as Wang claimed her first career victory over a top-10 player.

Despite Sakkari's superior experience, Wang's heavy hitting from the baseline came to the fore in the second set as she took a 5-3 lead before clinching it after a double-fault from Sakkari.

Both players matched each other in the decider but it was Wang who raised her game in the key moments, breaking Sakkari at 6-5 to take the win and reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Sakkari's defeat capped a difficult couple of days for Greek tennis following the shock first-round exit of men's fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at the hands of Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan.