US Open Tennis 2012: How Surprising Outcomes Shake Up Bracket

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The 2012 US Open has not produced the type of earth-shattering upset that can occur in a Grand Slam. The 128-player draw allows players that are not ranked high enough to get their chance to face higher ranked opponents and improve their ranking. 

We have still seen some surprising outcomes that have opened up quarters of the draw to players that have advanced beyond their seed. 

There are always upsets in each round of a Grand Slam. Some are more surprising than others. Here are the ones that have shaken up the draw in 2012.

Roberta Vinci over Agnieszka Radwanska, Fourth Round

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Radwanska's surprising loss to 20th Seed Roberta Vinci (6-1, 6-4) has opened up the draw for Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Sara Errani. Errani is the immediate benefactor. Instead of facing the world number two and second seeded Radwanska, Errani will now face her compatriot and doubles partner Vinci.

Errani holds a 3-2 lead in career meetings with Vinci, winning the the last three meetings. They met earlier this year in Acapulco on clay. Their last three meetings have been on clay, after their first two were on hard courts. 

Ivanovic and Williams will meet in the other quarter in the bottom-half of the draw, with the winner getting Errani or Vinci.

Sara Errani over Angelique Kerber, Fourth Round

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This was only a mild upset with the sixth-seeded Kerber being ousted by the tenth-seed Errani. Errani has now defeated Kerber twice in a Grand Slam this year. After winning 7-6, 6-3 on the red clay at Roland Garros, she flipped the score and won 6-3, 7-6 in New York.

The win by Errani sets up an all-Italian matchup with Vinci in the quarters. The winner will become the first Italian to reach the semifinals at the US Open in the Open Era. 

Marion Bartoli over Petra Kvitova, Fourth Round

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Kvitova was on course to meet Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals in a potential matchup of former Wimbledon champions.

Eleventh-seeded Marion Bartoli had other ideas.

After losing the first set 6-1, Bartoli turned the tables by winning 12 out of the next 14 games over the final two sets. Bartoli cruised 6-2, 6-0 to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal. This is only the fifth time in her career she has advanced to a Grand Slam quarter. 

This was the earliest the fifth-seeded Kvitova has lost in a slam this year. She reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the other three slams. The US Open remains the only Slam that Kvitova has not reached the quarterfinals in.

This opens up the draw for Sharapova, who will now face Bartoli instead of the hard hitting Kvitova.

Martin Klizan over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Second Round

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The earlier a top-seeded player loses, the bigger impact it will have. Klizan used his upset over Tsonga as a springboard to advance to the fourth-round.

He defeated 32nd-seed, Jeremy Chardy, in the third round. before losing to Marin Cilic in the fourth-round.

Cilic is the one who benefits the most by Klizan’s victory over Tsonga, as he was able to avoid facing the fifth-seeded Tsonga.

Next up for Cilic is Andy Murray, who is 6-1 in his career against Cilic, including a 3-0 record in Grand Slam play.

Irina-Camelia Begu over Caroline Wozniacki, First Round

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Begu’s upset of the eighth-seeded Wozniacki in the first-round put a crater in that quarter of the draw. After reaching the final in 2009 and the semifinals in 2008 at the Open, Wozniacki’s career has taken a turn for the worse. The former top-ranked player has fallen to eighth. 

Begu lost in the next round to Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain. As the women begin the quarterfinals, Ana Ivanovic is the player that currently benefits from this early upset. Next up for Ivanovic is Serena Williams. 

Eighteen-year-old Brit Laura Robson has earned the giant killer title for the 2012 US Open. She ended Kim Clijsters singles career in the second-round and then ousted 2011 French Open Champion Li Na the third-round.

That opened up the draw for defending US Open champion Samantha Stosur to get to the quarterfinals. Stosur ended Robson’s run with a straight set victory in the fourth-round. 

Jack Sock over Florian Mayer, First Round

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Nineteen-year-old American Jack Sock rode a first-round upset of the 22nd-seed Mayer to a second-round victory over Flavio Cipolla. Mayer retired after being down two sets and 3-2 in the third. Sock then defeated Cipolla in straight sets before falling to 11th-seed Nicolas Almagro in the third round. A Lincoln, Nebraska native like Andy Roddick, Sock will be a player to watch. 

Philipp Kohlschreiber over John Isner, Third Round

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With Isner in the quarter of the draw vacated by Rafael Nadal’s injury, Isner seemed to have a good opportunity to advance to his first Grand Slam Semifinal. Starting after 11pm Eastern time, Isner seemed to be in control after taking a two set to one lead after dropping the first set. 

However, Kohlschreiber used a high first-serve percentage and just 31 unforced errors, compared to 57 for Isner. The match took over three hours, with the final set alone lasting 55 minutes. 

Next up for Kohlschreiber is Janko Tipsarevic in the fourth-round. The winner advances to play fourth-seed David Ferrer or 13th-seed RIchard Gasquet. 

Fabio Fognini over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, First Round

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Fognini’s win over the tenth-seeded Lopez opened up the draw for Andy Roddick to make one last run. Roddick eliminated Fognini in four sets after Fognini’s straight set upset in the opening round. Next up for A-Rod is seventh-seed Juan Martin del Potro, who just picked up a bronze medal in London.