Iva Jokic loses US Open thriller after medical shock

A bout of heat exhaustion destroyed Iva Jokic's teenage dream of a third-round duel with Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open.

The American Jokic, at 16 the youngest player in the main draw, had a good starting position against the 29th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

But in the scorching temperatures of almost 40 degrees Celsius, the heat became too much for her in the middle of the second set.

She needed medical attention and had her blood pressure and pulse checked.

Jokic, a semifinalist in the juniors at Wimbledon last month, returned to the match but Alexandrova won the second set.

To her credit, Jokic came back to life and came agonizingly close to another famous win in a turbulent final set decider.

She fended off six match points as a tiebreak approached before the Russian eventually claimed a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory.

Sabalenka is waiting in the third round after last year's finalist defeated Lucia Bronzetti 6:3, 6:1.

It was a beautiful moment when she met a young fan after the game who was dressed like her and had, among other things, a tiger tattoo replica.

The Belarusian said: “It was a really magical moment. I just looked up and saw a miniature of myself on the big screen. It was so sweet.”

“It's a great motivation to keep going and inspire the younger generation. That's the main goal.”

The openness and fragility of the top seeds in women's tennis became clear again when Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova was eliminated in the second round.

The Czech, who defeated Jasmine Paolini in the final at SW19 last month, was eliminated by world number 61 Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen came back from a set deficit and defeated Erika Andreeva 6:7 (3), 6:1, 6:2.