Special Ks: Kerber, Kvitova, Keys, Konta advance

Second seed Angelique Kerber stayed on track in her quest to unseat Serena Williams as world No.1 by beating Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 6-2 7-6(7) on Wednesday to reach the third round of the US Open.

Australian Open winner Kerber rifled home an ace to finish the first set against the free swinging, 34-year-old Lucic-Baroni, then won a see-saw second set in which each player was broken three times on the way to a tiebreaker.

The Croat held two set points during the decider, and three overall, before losing it 9-7.

Kerber next faces American qualifier Catherine Bellis.

The left-handed German was one win away in Cincinnati from ending Williams’ long reign as No.1 before losing to Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final and has another chance to leapfrog the American at Flushing Meadows.

Lucic-Baroni raised her game in the second set – recovering from 4-1 down – but ultimately could not overcome the steady Kerber as the big-hitting Croat blasted 37 winners while throwing in 55 unforced errors.

“I played very well in the first set,” said Kerber, who also reached the Wimbledon final where she lost to Williams.

“I moved good, I played good. I played my game.

“When you win a set like this, you know that you can win when it’s really close,” Kerber said.

“This is what actually makes me like believing in my game again. I know if I’m down I can turn around the match. It’s good to have a set like that.”

Kvitova through to last 32

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova battled into the third round of the US Open with a 7-6(2) 6-3 win over Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay.

In steamy conditions, the Czech, seeded 14th this year having dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in three years, escaped a first-set tiebreak and then broke twice in the second for the victory on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Kvitova, a quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows last year, has often struggled with the humidity at the year’s last Grand Slam and admitted it was anyone’s guess how far she could go.

“You never know – I never know,” the 26-year-old said. “I was sick last week but am getting better every day and I feel good on the court and am feeling the ball well.”

World No.66 Buyukakcay, who became the first Turkish woman to win a WTA event in Istanbul earlier this year, achieved another first this week as she became the first woman from her country to appear in the main draw at the US Open.

Kvitova now plays 22nd seeded Russian Elena Svitolina, who beat American Lauren Davis 6-1 4-6 6-3.

Keys in wide-open quarter

After a fright in the opening round, Madison Keys made short work of her second-round assignement to progress to round three at Flushing Meadows for the second year running.

Keys, just two points from defeat against fellow American Alison Riske on Monday night, smashed another compatriot, Kayla Day, 6-1 6-1.

The match ended on a double fault from Day after just 48 minutes.

The big-hitting No.8 seed next faces emerging Japanese star Naomi Osaka, who reached the third round at a major for the third time in 2016 after a win over China’s Duan Ying-Ying.

Keys is the highest seed remaining in her quarter after No.3 seed Garbine Muguruza was stunned on Wednesday night by Anastasija Sevastova.

Konta collapses, but wins

Johanna Konta sat on a towel along the baseline, her racket resting by her feet, an ice bag under each arm, chest heaving.

Fans murmured with concern in the stands and her opponent stood next to her chair, unsure what to do.

Asked later how she was feeling – physically – the 25-year-old Brit replied instead: “I’m feeling a little embarrassed.”

Konta had keeled over while trying to start her service motion, one point from losing the second set of her US Open match.

Down on the court for seven-and-a-half minutes, she came back out to hit one serve into the net for a set-ending double-fault, after which she headed to the locker room to change her sweat-drenched outfit.

Then the 13th-seeded Konta returned to win the third set for a 6-2 5-7 6-2 second-round victory over Tsvetana Pironkova that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours.

With Konta serving at 5-6 in the second, the game dragged on for 10 minutes, including four deuces and four rallies of at least 10 strokes. After the last and longest of those – an 18-shot point – Konta missed her first serve, then bent over as she attempted the second.

She went down to her knees, gasping for breath. Her heart was racing, her body shaking.

Pironkova came to the net; the chair umpire rushed over. A ballperson laid a towel next to her, and the chair ump handed her several bags of ice.

Four minutes passed before medical staff got to Konta, who had rolled onto her back by then. They checked her pulse and her blood pressure, held a thermometer to her ear and a stethoscope to her back.

Pironkova sat in her chair, staring off blankly, legs bouncing.

“Because I’d experienced it once before, I didn’t start crying,” she said.

Focused on controlling her breathing, Konta put together an efficient third set to move on.

“I just played with what I had,” she said.

All the delays – the medical timeout, the toilet break – were within the rules, Pironkova agreed. That didn’t make it any less maddening.

“What wasn’t fair to me was what happened after that – the toilet break,” Pironkova said.

“Because with that toilet break the match was stopped for just too long. … Today I am not very happy about the rules.”

Konta will next play Swiss 24th seed Belinda Bencic in the third round.