Major Upsets On Day 1 Of The US Open

The US Open is here, and we have witnessed major upsets on the first day. Many of the seeded players have been knocked out in the first round.

Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia, left, and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece shake hands after their first round match on day one of the 2022 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (USA TODAY Sports).

The seeded men singles players who were eliminated in the first round were: Stefanos Tsitsipas (no. 4 Seed), Taylor Fritz (no.10 seed), Roberto Bautista Agut (no.16 seed), Francisco Cerundulo (no. 24 seed) and Nikoloz Basilashvili (no.31 seed).

On the women’s side Simona Halep (no.7 seed), Daria Kasatkina (no.10 seed) & Martina Trevisan (no. 27 seed) were all eliminated.

Most noticeable on the list are the big names like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Simona Halep. Both players are in the top 10 of the ATP and  WTA rankings respectively, with Tsitsipas currently ranked No. 5 while Simona currently ranked No. 7. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas was considered one of the favourites to win the title and his loss against the un-seeded world no. 94 Colombian Daniel Galán came as a huge shock to many. Galán stunned Tsitsipas to advance to round 2 with qc6-0 6-1 3-6 7-5 win, ending Tsitsipas road to his first Grand Slam Title in 4 sets. This was Daniel Galán’s US Open main draw debut and he started off with a huge win -  his biggest win since turning pro in 2015!

On the other hand, Simona Halep was coming off a really good season with stellar performance, winning the WTA 1000 title at the National Bank Open in Canada last month, moving her back into the top 10 since 9th August 2021. Unfortunately, for Halep, she was stunned by 20-year-old Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in the first round match with 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. This was Daria’s first tour level win at her third WTA-Level match, she could not have been any happier as she acquired her biggest and first top 10 win.

Daria Snigur defeats Simona Halep in stunning us open upset (Behouse UK).

It is only the first day and there will be many more matches to come! There were major upsets but at least we will be seeing Serena Williams play a few more matches as she advances to round 2 of the singles match and not to mention that she will also be playing with her sister Venus as the doubles wildcard. We will get to see the best of Serena Williams before her impending retirement!