An incredible collapse from Kanepi lets Sabalenka off the hook and into the third round

Kaia Kanepi was up 6-2, 5-1 against Aryna Sabalenka, the No 6 seed, when she totally froze in front of the finish line. The Estonian would also let a 5-2 lead slip in the tie-breaker and see two match points come and go.

Sabalenka, totally dominated until then, grew in confidence in the third set, also being way more clutch on the big points than Kanepi who would miss two break points in the last game, just to keep up with the trend. Sabalenka gets the miracle of the day so far with this win (2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City on Thursday.

Sabalenka will now face the winner of the match between French qualifier Clara Burel and Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck next. Ahead of her victory, Sabalenka beat American qualifier Catherine Harrison (6-1, 6-3). Kanepi, ranked No 34, beat Czech Tereza Martincova (7-6 (4), 6-3) in the previous round.

US Open, New York City (Grand Slam), other second round results

• Karolina Pliskova (22) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-3, 6-2
• Garbine Muguruza (9) beat Linda Fruhvirtova (Q): 6-0, 6-4
• Alize Cornet beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-1, 1-6, 6-3
• Yue Yuan (Q) beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Qinwen Zheng beat Anastasia Potapova: 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3)
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Petra Kvitova
• Petra Martic beat Paula Badosa (4): 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Sloane Stephens: 6-3, 6-2
• Jule Niemeier beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-4, 6-3
• Jessica Pegula (8) beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 6-4, 6-4
• Belinda Bencic (13) beat Sorana Cirstea: 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Victoria Azarenka (26) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-2, 6-3
• Lauren Davis beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (28): 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Bianca Andreescu beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (15): 6-2, 6-4
• Liudmila Samsonova beat Leylah Fernandez (14): 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Aleksandra Krunic beat Barbora Krejcikova (23): 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Serena Williams beat Anett Kontaveit (2): 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2
• Ajla Tomljanovic beat Evgeniya Rodina: 1-6, 6-2, 7-5
• Caroline Garcia (17) beat Anna Kalinskaya: 6-3, 6-1
• Coco Gauff (12) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse: 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Dalma Galfi beat Harriet Dart: 6-4, 6-0
• Veronika Kudermetova (18) beat Maryna Zanevska: 6-2, 6-3
• Rebecca Marino beat Daria Snigur (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Madison Keys (20) beat Camila Giorgi: 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6)
• Shuai Zhang beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova: 7-5, 6-1
• Alison Riske-Amritraj (29) beat Camila Osorio: 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5)
• Ons Jabeur (5) beat Elizabeth Mandlik (WC): 7-5, 6-2
• Xiyu Wang beat Maria Sakkari (3): 3-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Shelby Rogers (31) beat Viktoria Kuzmova (Q): 7-5, 6-1