World No.1 Halep melts down in historic first round US Open loss

Simona Halep has written herself into the record books at the US Open, but for all the wrong reasons.

The World No.1 has crashed out in the first round at Flushing Meadows, going down in a shock 6-2 6-4 loss to unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

The Romanian, who broke her grand slam duck at the French Open in May, became the first ever female top seed to lose in the first round at Flushing Meadows in the professional era.

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On a hot and humid day, Halep failed to sustain any kind of service rhythm and her usually stout defence proved no match for the powerful Kanepi’s bruising groundstrokes and deft drop shots.

“I have always loved being in New York,” said the 33-year-old Kanepi, twice a quarter-finalist at the tournament who has been ranked as high as world No.15.

“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.”

The world No.44 earned the first break when she launched a back-hand lob over Halep’s head to jump out to a 2-1 lead and went on to win five of the first six games while winning 80 percent of her first serve points in the set.

Frustration for Halep boiled over in the second game of the second set when she smashed her racket on the court, earning a racket abuse warning from the chair umpire.

Halep recovered and it appeared a comeback was on when she broke Kanepi to love to level the second set at 4-4.

But Kanepi completed the upset when Halep sent a service return long on match point.

“Today I just lost,” Halep told reporters.

“I didn’t play great, but she played really well. I knew that she can play well here. She played quarter-finals last year,” she said.

“I didn’t find the balance today. I couldn’t play better, so that’s it.”

Halep had looked primed for a long run in New York after she won the Rogers Cup this month and narrowly missed out on back-to-back titles after losing to Kiki Bertens in the Cincinnati final.

She pulled out of last week’s Connecticut Open with an Achilles injury.

The Romanian can take small consolation from the fact she has amassed enough ranking points to remain world number one after the two-week tournament ends.

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Serena Williams has had a difficult build-up to the tournament, suffering her most one-sided loss ever when she won just a single game against Johanna Konta in San Jose – she subsequently revealed she had learned just before the match that the man who killed her half-sister had been released from prison.

She then lost to Petra Kvitova in the second round in Cincinnati but pulled away here after a tight opening to the match and needed just an hour and nine minutes to clinch victory.

The 36-year-old, who is looking to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 slam singles titles, said: “It’s such a good feeling to be back out here.

“The first set was tight. Once I got settled, I started doing what I’m trying to do in practice, so it helped a lot. I think I’m getting there. I’ve been feeling really good in practice.”

Williams could face a third-round meeting with sister Venus, who won a tough battle against fellow former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 5-7 6-3, but Halep is no longer in her section following her shock loss.

Defending champion Sloane Stephens eased into the second round with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Russian Evgeniya Rodina.

The third seed said: “The first round of a grand slam is super tough, especially as defending champion. I’m super excited to get the tournament going.”

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is back in New York for the first time in three years as a wild card after the birth of son Leo and then the custody battle that limited her travel, and she battled to a 6-3 7-5 victory over Viktoria Kuzmova.

with AAP