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New York - Lesia Tsurenko beat Caroline Wozniacki at her own game on Thursday, shocking the world number two 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the US Open.
Wozniacki, seeded second and seeking a second Grand Slam title to go with the Australian Open crown she won in January, followed world number one Simona Halep out of the last major of the year, leaving third seeded defending champion Sloane Stephens as the top player remaining in the women's draw.
"She was playing smarter than me," Wozniacki said of Tsurenko, the world number 36 who made the fourth round in New York in 2016.
"She played the game that I was supposed to be playing," Wozniacki added.
"She got a lot of balls back. She played with the angles. She waited for the short ball. When the short ball came, she played aggressive."
Wozniacki, playing on the Louis Armstrong Stadium newly opened this year, said the court was a bit slower than the Arthur Ashe Stadium court where she beat Samantha Stosur in the first round.
"It's a beautiful court," she said of Armstrong, where Halep lost her opener on Monday and two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza exited on Wednesday.
"I guess Wimbledon used to have a graveyard court," she added of the All England Club's old Court Two, once known as the Graveyard of Champions.
"Maybe that is going to be the new graveyard court - I think it's a little too early to tell."
Tsurenko's pre-match preparations were hurried thanks to New York traffic that had her arriving late at the National Tennis Centre, leaving her little time to check out the new court.
It didn't show as she executed her planned strategy to perfection.
"That was the game plan, to play consistent, to play patient, to choose the good ball to attack and maybe to go for a volley or just to play a winner," she said. "It worked today. I was really brave I think today."
The only possible concern for Tsurenko is a sore forearm that troubled her on her serve, something she'll seek treatment for before a third-round meeting with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Siniakova saved a match point on the way to a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4) victory over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Despite another Grand Slam disappointment - on the heels of a second-round exit at Wimbledon, Wozniacki said her Australian Open triumph makes 2018 a successful season no matter what else it has in store for her.
"I'm always going to say it's a great season because I won my first major," said the Dane.
"I've won so many tournaments throughout my career, but I'd never won a Grand Slam. I think regardless what happens for the last few tournaments of the year, it's still going to be a great year because I won in Australia. It's something that nobody can ever take away from me."
US Open results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2018 tournament at Flushing Meadows (x denotes seeded player):
Men
Second round
Marin Cilic (CRO x7) bt Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 6-2, 6-0, 6-0
Alex De Minaur (AUS) bt Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-4, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL x10) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-2
Diego Schwartzman (ARG x13) bt Jaume Munar (ESP) 6-2, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
Kei Nishikori (JPN x21) bt Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-2, 5-4 - retired
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-0
Alexander Zverev (GER x4) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
Novak Djokovic (SRB x6) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2
Richard Gasquet (FRA x26) bt Laslo Djere (SRB) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Lucas Pouille (FRA x17) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
Joao Sousa (POR) bt Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP x12) 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 2-0 - retired
John Millman (AUS) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA x14) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) bt Chung Hyeon (KOR x23) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-3
Nick Kyrgios (AUS x30) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-0
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
Women
Second round
Caroline Garcia (FRA x6) bt Monica Puig (PUR) 6-2, 1-6, 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x30) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Maria Sharapova (RUS x22) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROM) 6-2, 7-5
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x10) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Madison Keys (USA x14) bt Bernarda Pera (USA) 6-4, 6-1
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-1, 6-3
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x29) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4
Angelique Kerber (GER x4) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) bt Wang Yafan (CHN) 7-5, 6-3
Aryna Sabalenka (BLR x26) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-3, 7-6 (9/7)
Naomi Osaka (JPN x20) bt Julia Glushko (ISR) 6-2, 6-0
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS x11) 6-2, 7-6 (7/3)
Kiki Bertens (NED x13) bt Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) 6-2, 6-1
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) bt Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 6-4, 6-3
Katerina Siniakova (CZE) bt Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4)
Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x2) 6-4, 6-2
