Day 1 Recap: Sharapova ousts Halep.
All indicators leading up to the fortnight pointed toward an unpredictable 2017 US Open. Past champions Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Sam Stosur withdrew with injuries, and Serena Williams is out on maternity leave. Moreover, the women’s draw seems as unsettled as it’s been in recent memory and the men’s field is jumbled to match – outside of throwback stars and pre-tournament favorites Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Then Day 1 of the US Open kicked off, and all the predictions of chaos rang true. Despite her 2-4 US Open record coming in, Garbiñe Muguruza dazzled in her
opening-round contest. But title contender
Johanna Konta was stopped in her tracks, tripped up by the dogged Aleksandra Krunic.
Tennys lost (to Marin Cilic) but the other top Americans won, namely John Isner, Sam Querrey, Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams. Jack Sock nearly joined them, only to
fall short of a two-set comeback when Australian Jordan Thompson ran off the last four games to take a 6-2, 7-6, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4 victory.
And so it went. One day of US Open tennis in the books, a down payment on what promises to be a riveting 14 days in the city that never sleeps. (We even had a 2:04 a.m. finish to prove it, just the sixth time in recorded US Open history that play wrapped after 2 a.m.) To make sense of it all, we have this column, your daily update on all that was and all that will be.
So without further ado, here’s a review of opening day of the 2017 US Open, with a look ahead to what awaits on Day 2:
Match of the Day
It was the most hyped one-on-one showdown this side of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, played under the lights on Opening Night, the No. 2 seed versus the 2006 champion. And it delivered. Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova traded blows from the baseline for 2 hours and 44 minutes, games descending into multiple deuces, the first set lasting an even hour.
After claiming the first frame, 6-4, Sharapova raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second and seemed to have the encounter well in hand. Yet Halep, always a dogged competitor, found her footing as Sharapova lost her range, with the Romanian storming back to capture five consecutive games and, with them, the second set.
Momentum flipped once more in the third, with Sharapova thwarting Halep’s surge to again race out to a 4-1 lead. Only this time,
she would not relent, falling to her knees when Halep’s final forehand flew long and struggling to contain her emotions in her chair afterward and again during her post-match interview.
With the win, Sharapova improved to 18-0 in night matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium – likely setting up more evening affairs to come if she continues to progress through the draw.
Player of the Day
For the last four months, Steve Johnson has soldiered on, playing tournament after tournament and match after match while grieving the unexpected loss of his father, friend and first tennis coach, Steve Sr., who died in his sleep in April at the age of 58. The younger Johnson broke down at the French Open and again at Wimbledon, fighting back tears to advance to the third round at both.
The adrenaline that carried him through the spring wore by the summer, however. Johnson lost his first round in Washington, D.C., Montreal and Cincinnati, dropping out of the seeded ranks and entering the US Open – his home Slam and the site of his Grand Slam breakthrough in 2012 – unseeded and in search of momentum.
He found it Monday in the Grandstand. Behind his big serve-big forehand combination, Johnson blew past former Top 10 player Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6, to
advance to the second round in Flushing for the second consecutive year. He next draws Kyle Edmund, who upset No. 32 seed Robin Haase to continue his run of good play in New York. (The up-and-coming Brit reached the fourth round last year.)
A deep run would be the charge that Johnson needs to reinvigorate his season – and a fitting tribute to his father, to finish off a Grand Slam season that has been achingly difficult yet deservedly successful.
Upset of the Day
Johanna Konta emerged from relative obscurity at the 2015 US Open, making a surprise run to the fourth round and using that showing as a springboard to the Top 10. She reached the semifinals at the 2016 Australian Open, the round of 16 again last year in Flushing Meadows, then the quarters this year in Melbourne and the semifinals at Wimbledon – in the process becoming the first Brit to reach the women’s final four since 1978.
Understandably, she entered the US Open with high hopes – title aspirations even, as the No. 7 seed at her best on cement. But Monday afternoon it all came to a halt at the hands of an unheralded 24-year-old who has experienced success in New York before.
Aleksandra Krunic, the diminutive (5-foot-4) baseliner from Serbia, stood toe to toe with Konta for more than two hours, emerging with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory that registered as the
first major upset of this year’s tournament. It was the first win in a major for the world No. 77 since Wimbledon 2015 and only her second since she qualified and advanced to the fourth round of the 2014 US Open, where she defeated seeds Petra Kvitova and Madison Keys before dropping a tight three-setter to two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka.
For Konta, it was an unexpected early exit in a quarter of the draw that is suddenly wide open, having also lost No. 2 Halep, No. 21 Ana Konjuh and No. 32 Lauren Davis on Day 1.
Quote of Day
“I had no idea what she looked like, who she was, anything. But she played amazing. She played well, served well, competed well. Definitely a match I had to earn.” – Venus Williams, after defeating teenage qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova in three sets to
improve to 18-0 in US Open first-round matches.
Day 2 Preview
The top half of both draws hits the court on Day 2, which means Step 1 in the much-anticipated potential semifinal between top seed Nadal and No. 3 Federer, tennis’ two premier players of 2017. Nadal will go first, closing the day session against Dusan Lajovic, with Federer playing the nightcap against up-and-coming American Frances Tiafoe.
Karolina Pliskova, meantime, will play her first-ever Grand Slam match as a No. 1 seed when she opens play in Arthur Ashe Stadium against Magda Linette, and Angelique Kerber will begin her first-ever US Open title defense in the following match, taking on rising Japanese star Naomi Osaka.
Those following the home-country favorites can stake out No. 15 seed Madison Keys, who will open the night session in Arthur Ashe Stadium, or follow No. 20 seed CoCo Vandeweghe when she takes on Alison Riske in an all-American affair.
