Breaking news: Simona Halep out of the US Open in the first round.
Estonian Kaia Kanepi played impressive tennis today knocking out the world number one in the first round of the US Open.
Halep became the 6th world number one in history to exit a grand slam in the first round and the first world number one to go out in the first round of the US Open. The other five players being Virginia Ruzici at 1979 Australian Open, Steffi Graf at 1994 Wimbledon, Martina Hingis at 1999 and 2001 Wimbledon and Angelique Kerber at 2017 Wimbledon. The 6-2 6-4 scoreline saw Kanepi blast winners all over the court, consistently putting Halep on the back foot.
Kanepi went through qualifying at the 2017 US Open making it all the way the quarterfinals, clearly indicating that she is a big fan of the balls, courts, and conditions in New York. Halpe, on the other hand, has now lost back to back first round matches at the US Open, losing to Sharapova in the first round in 2017.
The 33-year-old is a 6-time quarterfinalist at the grand slam level and is currently ranked number 44 in the world. She will face Swiss player Jil Teichmann in the second round who beat 6-3 6-0 Dalila Jakupovic in the first completed match win of the tournament.
Tennis legend and tennis analyst Chris Evert said it was “stunning” in a post-match wrap op on ESPN. Evert had in fact picked Halep to win the 2018 championship.
Kanepi told Andrew Krasney in per post-match interview the secret to her success was “staying aggressive all the time”. One of 22 thirtysomethings in this year’s draw, Kanepi sealed her second career win over reigning World No.1.
Should Sloane Stephens not defend her title it will be the first time since the 1930’s that a female player has not defended her Grand Slam title over a two year period.