4 shocking results from Day 1 at US Open 2024 ft. Holger Rune's straight-sets loss, Maria Sakkari's mid-match exit
Day 1 of the US Open 2024 began with much fanfare on Monday, August 26. Defending champions in singles Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff won their opening-round duels without breaking a sweat. The former beat Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, while the latter defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-2, 6-0.
Zheng Qinwen rallied from a set down to beat Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Her fellow top 10 cohorts Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova advanced to the second round courtesy of straight set victories. Ben Shelton brought an end to Dominic Thiem's Grand Slam career as he sent him packing in the first round.
Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Andrey Rublev, and Taylor Fritz were some of the other notable names to emerge victorious. However, not all big names survived the first day in New York.
On that note, here's a look at some of the shocking results from Day 1 of the US Open:
#4 - Alexander Bublik
Bublik was shown the door by rising teen star Shang Juncheng in the first round. The Kazakh went down a set but got back on track after claiming the next two sets. However, he lost the plot after that as the teenager staged a comeback to beat him 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
This was Bublik's second consecutive first-round exit from the US Open. He underperformed at the Majors once again this year, finishing the season with a 3-4 record in them. His best showing was a third-round appearance at Wimbledon.
#3 - Maria Sakkari
Sakkari bid a tearful adieu to the US Open as a shoulder injury forced her to throw in the towel shortly after the conclusion of the first set. Wang Yafan took the opening set 6-2 against the Greek, following which she took a medical time-out, and eventually retired.
Sakkari hadn't competed since the Paris Olympics due to the same issue. Regardless of her physical woes, this marked another early exit from a Major tournament for her. She reached the top 10 of the WTA rankings on the heels of semifinal appearances at the French Open and the US Open in 2021.
However, Sakkari hasn't lived up to the expectations of being a top player at a Major after that. Since the start of the 2022 season, she has reached the fourth round of a Major only once. She lost in the second and third round on three occasions each, and crashed out in the first round five times.
Sakkari's results in other WTA events are pretty decent, so her dismal outing at the Majors sure is puzzling. As for Wang, this marked the second straight year she upset a top 10 player in the first round, having ousted Caroline Garcia in her opener last year. She will face Diane Parry in the second round.
#2 - Holger Rune
Brandon Nakashima was always going to be a tricky first-round opponent, and Rune's inability to counter him showed why. The American had already beaten two top 20 players this month, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, and stepped up his game to beat the Dane 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the US Open.
While Rune has been quite inconsistent this season, he continued his trend of crashing out early in New York. This was his third first-round exit from four appearances.
The Dane has struggled to put together good results in consecutive weeks. A deep run has been followed by an early exit for most of this season. As the indoor swing will commence soon, Rune will look to do some damage during that time.
#1 - Sloane Stephens
Stephens, who was crowned the US Open champion in 2017, bowed out in the first round this time. She was cruising towards an easy win against Clara Burel as she raced to a 6-0, 3-0 lead in a little over 30 minutes.
Burel turned the match on its head and stopped Stephens from closing out the match as she fought to take the second set. The American led by a break twice in the third set, and even served for the match a second time at 5-4.
However, Burel made one final push as she swept the next three games for a 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 comeback win. This was Stephens' fourth consecutive loss, and she has lost 10 of her last 12 matches. As for the Frenchwoman, she has a second-round date with another Major champion, Victoria Azarenka.