US Open Day One - Halep Gone

Day One of a Grand Slam tournament is always ready for an upset or two or three or ....  and so the 2018 US Open wasn’t going to disappoint in this regard.

The big names sent out in battle to open proceedings included:

Stan Wawrinka v Grigor Dimitrov (8)

Sveta Kuznetsova v Venus Williams (16)

Serena Williams (17) v Magda Linette 

Rafa Nadal (1) v David Ferrer 

Kaia Kanepi v Simona Halep (1) 

Sloane Stephens (3) v Evgeniya Rodina 

Juan Martin del Potro (3) v Donald Young

Sachia Vickery v Elina Svitolina (7)

Zarina Diyas v Karolina Pliskova (8)

Ryan Harrison v Kevin Anderson (5)

Dominic Thiem (9) v Mirza Basic 

The first upset was a minor one - Magdalena Rybarikova (31) was defeated by Qiang Wang 6-2 6-2, but the Slovakian’s form of late hadn’t been flash, winning two of seven matches since making the final in Birmingham.

The next surprise was of earthquake proportions.  

Simona Halep became the first female number one seed in the Open Era to be knocked out of the US Open in the first round.  Simona had been in outstanding form, and it was amazing to see Kaia Kanepi outplay the tournament favourite at her own game - winning from the baseline and attacking from the outset.  6-2 and 4-2, the Estonian seemed home and hosed, but naturally Halep wasn’t about to let this one slip without a fight and she broke back for 4-4 and had 40-15 for a 5-4 lead.

Then it fell apart and Halep was broken for the third time in the set.  Kanepi, a quarter finalist here last year, served it out comfortably to cause the major upset, and at 33 years of age add another Grand Slam moment to her catalogue.

She is no stranger to success at the highest level, having twice been a quarter finalist at each of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Other upsets amongst the seeds:

Women

• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) was defeated 1-6 6-4 6-3 by Rebecca Peterson from Sweden, ranked 61.

Men

• Not so much an upset but Grigor Dimitrov (8) was defeated 6-3 6-2 7-5 by wildcard Stan Wawrinka, in a repeat of their Wimbledon first round result.
• Damir Dzumhur (24) was defeated 3-6 6-1 6-3 6-4 by Dusan Lajovic from Serbia, ranked 62.
• Roberto Bautista Agut (19) was defeated 6-3 6-3 6-4 by wildcard Jason Kubler from Australia, ranked 98.
• Kyle Edmund (16) was defeated 4-6 6-4 7-5 6-1 by Paolo Lorenzi from Italy, ranked 94.

Successful seeds (1-20)

Women

• Sloane Stephens (3) defeated Evgeniya Rodina, from Russia, ranked 80, 6-1 7-5
• Elina Svitolina (7) defeated Sachia Vickery, from USA, ranked 78, 6-3 1-6 6-1
• Karolina Pliskova (8) defeated Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan, ranked 60, 6-4 7-6(4)
• Julia Goerges (9) defeated teenage qualifier Anna Kalinskaya from Russia, ranked 143, 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2
• Garbiñe Muguruza (12) defeated Shuai Zhang from China, ranked 34, 6-3 6-0
• Elise Mertens (15) defeated Kurumi Nara from Japan, ranked 99, 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5
• Venus Williams (16) defeated Sveta Kuznetsova from Russia, ranked 102, 6-3 5-7 6-3
• Serena Williams (17) defeated Magda Linette from Poland, ranked 68, 6-4 6-0
• Ash Barty (18) defeated Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur, ranked 114, 6-1 6-3
• Anastasija Sevastova (19) defeated Donna Vekic from Croatia,, ranked 41, 6-2 2-6 6-3

Men

• Rafa Nadal (1) defeated David Ferrer from Spain, ranked 148, 6-3 3-4 (retired)
• Juan Martin del Potro (3) defeated qualifier Donald Young from USA, ranked 246, 6-0 6-3 6-4
• Kevin Anderson (5) defeated Ryan Harrison from USA, ranked 53, 7-6(4) 5-7 4-6 6-3 6-4
• Dominic Thiem (9) defeated Mirza Basic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, ranked 81, 6-3 6-1 6-4
• John isner (11) defeated wildcard Bradley Klahn from USA, ranked 92, 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (15) defeated qualifier Tommy Robredo from Spain, ranked 214, 6-3 7-6(1) 6-4
• Jack Sock (18) defeated Guido Andreozzi from Argentina, ranked 113, 6-0 7-6(4) 6-2
• Borna Coric (20) defeated Florian Mayer from Germany, ranked 193, 6-2 6-2 5-7 6-4