US Open 2013: Merchants of shock

4. Riske thrashes Kvitova

Alison Riske is not a name likely to cause any concerns, when her name appears across the draw sheet. After all she was mostly outside the top 100 and had never won a tour level match on a hard court. The 23-year-old American, who jumped to 81st in the rankings behind a 5-1 record since Wimbledon shocked everyone including herself by stringing it all the way into the Round of 16.

To be fair, Kvitova was down with fever just the day before the match. But even then, for Riske to win eight games in a row from 4-3 in the first set was indeed an incredulous result. Riske had won her first two matches – against Tsvetana Pironkova and Mona Barthel – in straight sets too. But the party ended when Daniela Hantuchova took down the fighting woman from Pittsburgh 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to the quarters.

5. Young guns misfire, suffer an early exit

Grigor Dimitrov, baby Federer for many, was expected to finally break out and forage deep into the second week. Instead the 25th-ranked Bulgarian suffered his third first round exit at the Open against the relatively unknown Joao Sousa 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 2-6.

Another talented but erratic young man, Ernests Gulbis emulated Dimitrov when he too succumbed in the first round. Andreas Haider-Maurer defeated the Latvian 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the second round. The 96th-ranked Austrian matched his best Grand Slam performances (Wimbledon & French Open) by reaching the second round of the US Open.

6. Italian running riot in New York

Camila Giorgi sprung into the limelight by defeating the former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. In the third round match against the Dane, the 136th-ranked Italian from Macerata produced a sensational come from behind performance to defeat Wozniacki. Giorgi scored a hard fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory to advance to the round of 16.

The qualifier was eventually dismissed by fellow Italian Roberta Vinci. The 10th-seeded woman was just too good on the day as she ran away to a one-sided 6-4, 6-2 victory to end the fairy tale run of Giorgi.

She ain’t Italian, but another qualifier who impressed was Julia Glushko. The Israeli won a couple of matches before going down to Hantuchova in a tight as nails third round match. The Slovakian had to battle hard and rally for a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over the spirited 128th-ranked player.

Incidentally, Hantuchova defeated three of the women featured here – Duval, Riske and Glushko to leave the quarter-final lineup with slightly more recognisable names. Now that the eager outsiders have made a mark in the first week, we can get back to enjoying some great tennis from the usual suspects.