Simona Halep suffers upset at US Open to Kaia Kanepi
Kanepi wins first match against top 20 player this year as Estonian knocks out No 1 Halep in straight sets
Tuesday 28 August 2018 00:02, UK
Simona Halep became the first women's top seed to exit the first round of the US Open in the Open era, after suffering a shock defeat to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.
World No 44 Kanepi came through in stunning fashion on the newly-rebuilt Louis Armstrong Stadium 6-2 6-4 in 76 minutes.
"I have always loved being in New York," the 33-year-old Kanepi said. "I like the atmosphere. I like being here. I love the courts and the climate, and I think that the courts suit my game really well."
Halep made another slow start at a Grand Slam tournament by losing the first set in 28 minutes, before going down a double-break in the second. But despite a mini-revival from the Romanian, Kanepi broke Halep for the fifth time,
before confidently serving out one of the wins of her life.
The French Open champion arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of the favourites and declared herself free of pressure after breaking her Grand Slam duck at Roland Garros.
But it did not appear that way against Kanepi, one of the biggest hitters in the game, who blasted her way with some bruising groundstrokes to a famous victory.
"It's not a drama," Halep said. "It's just a day. It's a bad day for me. But also, she deserved to win because she was playing better than me today. So it's nothing about pressure. It was just a day."
The good news for Halep is she is guaranteed to hold onto the world No 1 ranking having established a solid lead over her rivals.
Sloane Stephens withstood a late surge by Evgeniya Rodina to launch her US Open title defence with a 6-1 7-5 victory.
The third-seeded American looked to be cruising with a 3-1 lead in the second set when unseeded Russian Rodina turned the tables to take a 5-4 lead before Stephens reasserted her authority to win through.
"I just tried to stay clam and play my game," Stephens said. "I raised my game a bit at 5-All. I'm just happy to get through."
Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams outlasted former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 5-7 6-3 in a marathon battle on a brutally hot day on Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the second round.
"It's not an easy match when you are playing a former US Open champion in the first round," Williams said. "She played her best when I was up. So it wasn't easy to close that match out."
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Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Laver Cup in September while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports. But first, we will be across the final major of the year in New York as the US Open gets underway on August 27, right through to the final with live blogs, reports, features and reaction.
