US Open: The 10th seed, Daria Kasatkina, was eliminated by British No. 2 Harriet Dart, giving her the biggest win of her career, while Simona Halep, the seventh seed, lost to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur.
Dart had never before defeated a Russian opponent in the main draw of the US Open, and she appeared to be in for a very difficult challenge against Kasatkina, who is currently ranked ninth after winning a WTA Tour championship in Granby on Saturday.
Dart, however, fought valiantly in the sweltering heat on Court 12, bouncing back from a poor second set and then overturning a deficit in the third to triumph astoundingly 7-6 (10-8) 1-6 6-3.
The 26-year-old Dart is having the best season of her professional tennis career after breaking into the top 100 and picking up some impressive victories, including one over Elina Svitolina on her way to the fourth round in Indian Wells.
Although the Londoner had a successful grass-court season as well, she had never beaten a top-10 player before.
The first set included 10 serve breaks, which Dart won on a tie-break after fending off two set points.
The French Open quarterfinalist Kasatkina responded in the second set by forcing Dart well behind the baseline and appeared in command early in the third.
However, Dart persisted in her fight and was rewarded, raising her arms high after earning her first match point to set up a matchup with Dalma Galfi of Hungary in the second round.
For tennis tournament, tennis live score, tennis championship, tennis match today and other tennis news follow livematchupdatesnews.com.
