Simona Halep Exits the U.S Open after First Round Loss to Kaia Kanepi

The U.S. Open was not kind to Simona Halep, the world’s No.1 ranked female tennis player. Halep stated that she doesn’t do well with the hype that follows the U.S. Open as some others do. The others she was speaking about was Kaia Kanepi, defeated Halep in two straight sets to eliminate the top-ranked player in the first round, and for some, shocking the tennis world who expected Halep to advance.

Kanepi quickly made herself known to Halep with her powerful game winning the first set 6-2 and the second 6-4. After, Halep made a quick exit as she became the first women ranked 1st to lose in the first round at the U.S. Open in more than a century.

In post-match interviews, Halep claimed jitters in the first round that have plagued her throughout her career. Halep has lost twelve of thirty-four opening matches in her career to date, which is high for a player of her stature.

Five of those opening-round losses have come at the U.S. Open, with the last being against Maria Sharapova in 2017. Commenting, Halep said,

“It’s always about the nerves,” “Even when you are there in the top, you feel the same nerves. You are human, maybe the noise in the crowd. The city is busy. So everything together, I’m a quiet person, so maybe I like the smaller places.”

US Open

This year’s Open is the first at the newly redesigned and renovated Louis Armstrong Stadium. The new stadium provides seating for 14,000 and includes a retractable roof to provide protection from extreme heat and rain. The upgraded courts are meeting expectations from players such as Kanepi, who commented that,

“The courts suit my game, and I love being in New York. I like the city, I like the weather: humid and hot.”

Halep now joins a small list of professional players who have lost opening matches at Grand Slam events. This includes Steffi Graf who lost at Wimbledon, Martina Hingis, Angelique Kerber and Virginia Ruzici. Halep was sluggish at the start of the match as she was this year at Roland Garros. However, at Roland Garros, she was able to pull off a win but not so lucky at the U.S Open.

A big part of that was due to the skill exhibited by Kanepi, who is a big hitter and won her second win against a top-ranked player, the first big win since 2015. Kanepi also succeeded in making it to the quarterfinals last year at Flushing Meadows, and her win today increased her ranking in the world to 44th.

Kanepi immediately took control of the opening matches with her serves and forehand. Sporting several strips of tape on her shoulder, Kanepi has fewer errors than Halep, even with her aggressive play that paid off. For Kanepi, her goal was to play aggressive and stay cool, that action plan paid off in the second set after leading 3-0 and watching in disbelief as Halep smashed her racket in frustration in what saw the No. 1 seeded players being warned by the umpire.

Smiling after the game, Kanepi smiled and said,

“I was thinking about that: Why did they cheer so much for her? Because normally, they cheer for the underdog. It was a bit annoying for some time, but I got over it.”

In other U.S. Open news, Milos Raonic succeeded in his opening match to advance to the second round after defeating Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 7-6, 6-4, 1-6 and 6-3 victory on Monday. Raonic served twenty-six aces and won ninety-one percent of his first serves. In comparison, Berlocq only has eleven errors compared to Raonic’s forty-five.

The Canadian will next play Gilles Simon from France, and for tennis punters looking to place bets on the U.S. Open, Raonic has a 4-1 advantage against Simon, and with sports betting sites such as bet365 offering favourable odds, Canadian punters may want to register today and take advantage of their generous sign- up bonus in advance of the U.S. Open finals.