Stefanos Tsitsipas leaves tennis world confused after tumbling out of US Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered perhaps the biggest upset of day one at the US Open by losing to world number 94 Daniel Elahi Galan.
The world number five came into New York seeded fourth and off the back of a run to the final of the Cincinnati Masters, his second appearance in a hard court Masters final.
But he lost to his Colombian opponent 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in a perplexing display on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Not only that, but Tsitsipas even went 6-0, 5-0 down to begin the match as he struggled to get any kind of foothold against Galan.
The Greek was not the only top pro to exit on day one though. Six seeds in the men’s draw alone went out, including Taylor Fritz and Francisco Cerundolo, who lost to 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray.
Tsitsipas joined them, plus Roberto Bautista Agut, Maxime Cressy and Nikoloz Basilashvili in saying goodbye to Flushing Meadows. This is the second time Tsitsipas has gone out in the first round of the US Open, after doing so at the 2019 event. Moreover, the 24-year-old has never been beyond the third round there, the only Slam where he is yet to do so.
He was one of five men in with a chance of topping the ATP rankings after the US Open, but that dream will have to wait.
āI was very motivated and pumped before theĀ US Open started because I knew I could use this tournament to get closer to the number one spot,ā Tsitsipas said after the loss.Ā āIt just didnāt go as planned.”
Galan, 26, is a newly-crowned top 100 player after breaking that barrier at the end of July.Ā He is now provisionally into the top 80 in the live rankings with victory over Tsitsipas as he faces world number 102 Jordan Thompson of Australia next.
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