(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-02 15:00

NEW YORK - Pay no attention to what Maria Sharapova said after her US Open title defense came to an end Saturday. This was a case of actions speaking far louder than words, and the way things slipped away, so suddenly and stunningly, Sharapova clearly was flustered - by the swirling wind and bright sun, by her errant strokes and, most of all, by the Krakow Kid across the net who kept moving way up to receive serves.

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland celebrates her victory over second-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia at the US Open tennis tournament in New York, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007. [AP]

Sharapova reeled off eight consecutive games to go up a break in the third set, then dropped the final six games and lost 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to 18-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the third round, the earliest exit by a No 2-seeded woman at the US Open since 1981.

"I don't know if it was a combination of the circumstance or the wind or the opponent playing well. I don't know what it was," said Sharapova, who double-faulted a whopping 12 times. "I just didn't quite feel like me out there."

The braces-wearing, big-hitting Radwanska isn't exactly a nobody. She won junior championships at the French Open in 2005 and Wimbledon in 2006, took home her first tour title this month and came to New York seeded 30th. Still, she understood the circumstances Saturday.

"I had nothing to lose. She was the favorite - and I think she was more nervous," said Radwanska, who will fulfill a prematch promise to her younger sister, this year's Wimbledon junior champion, by buying them matching Louis Vuitton handbags to celebrate the upset.

She wasn't the only 18-year-old from Eastern Europe who pulled off a big win Saturday: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat 1997 champion Martina Hingis 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, and Agnes Szavay of Hungary eliminated No 7 Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-3. Plus, 16-year-old Tamira Paszek of Austria knocked off No 11 Patty Schnyder 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1). All of which means 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has to like her chances in the bottom half of the draw.

"You can see the new generation coming up," Hingis said. "They're very dangerous. I knew it's not going to be easy. My mom texted me. She said, 'Watch out.'"

Sharapova had lost a combined two games in her first two matches, but could have used some similar advice before facing Radwanska. If that was the most surprising result of the tournament so far, what happened later in Arthur Ashe Stadium almost would qualify: Three-time reigning men's champion Roger Federer lost a set against 6-foot-9 American wild-card John Isner, who only a few months ago was leading Georgia to the NCAA team title.

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