The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center's newest stadium received a proper christening on Monday afternoon at the US Open when world No.1 Simona Halep made history.
The reigning French Open champion became the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the US Open when she fell to No.44 Kaia Kanepi, 6-2, 6-4, in the tournament's first match in a newly renovated Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Simona Halep is out of the US Open.
Halep, who lost her opening-round match in New York last year to Maria Sharapova, joins a small club of No.1 seeds who have lost in the first round of a grand slam in tennis' Open era, which began in 1968. Virginia Ruzici did so at the 1979 Australian Open, Steffi Graf lost at Wimbledon in 1994, Martina Hingis lost at Wimbledon in 1999 and in 2001, and Angelique Kerber lost as the top seed this year at Roland Garros.
Seeding aside, the last world No.1 to win the US Open was Serena Williams in 2014.
The Romanian known for her fight on court will not forfeit the No.1 ranking despite her loss, as for the first time since 2016 the WTA's top spot is not on the line during a grand slam. Last year, the US Open began with eight players vying for the No.1 ranking.
Halep's defeat does open what was perhaps the toughest quarter of the women's draw, however. She could have played Serena or Venus Williams in the fourth round.
Kanepi advances instead, moving on to play qualifier Jil Teichmann in the second round. The Estonian beat Halep with powerful groundstrokes and free-wheeling, risky tennis that paid off, logging 26 winners to Halep's nine. She never lost control of the match, even in the second set when Halep appeared to get into more of a rhythm.
The 33-year-old was a quarter-finalist in New York last year. Monday's victory was Kanepi's first win over a top-20 player since 2015.
In the men's draw, Swiss wildcard Stan Wawrinka conjured up some of his old US Open magic to sweep past eighth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
After winning the US Open in 2016 Wawrinka was unable to defend his title last year after two surgeries on his left knee.
But the Swiss, 101st in the world rankings, looked right at home on a steamy Monday as he opened his account with a ruthless 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 performance against one of the title contenders.
"The first time I came here last week, one week ago for practice, seeing, looking around a little bit," Wawrinka said.
"Two years ago was something very special, of course, amazing memories after the final.
"So it was great to come back, that’s for sure."
Meanwhile, Venus Williams moved to the second round by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a matchup of past US Open champions.
Williams, the No.16 seed and a semi-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, could play younger sister Serena in the third round.
Also through to the second round is Sloane Stephens.
The defending champion, who is also the No.3 seed, defeated Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 6-1, 7-5 in the rebuilt Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The Washington Post, Reuters
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