Defending US Open champion Daniil Medvedev safely made it to the next round with minimal fuss while Stefanos Tsitsipas became the biggest name to fall in the men’s bracket in the first round of the tournament.
The World No.1 swept aside American Stefan Kozlov 6-2 6-4 6-0 to mark his return to grand slam tennis after being forced to watch Wimbledon from the sidelines.
The pair traded breaks early in the first set before Medvedev found his rhythm to clinch the next four games. The Russian won the second set without much difficulty before dispatching the American in just 27 minutes in the final set to love to win his opening match.
The bigger story in the first round of the US Open was the outer of Medvedev’s Cincinnati Open conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas, the fourth seed, has never had the greatest of times at US Open and this year was no different. The Greek was beaten 6-0 6-1 3-6 7-5 by Colombian qualifier Daniel Galan.
Playing in the main draw for the first time, Galan comfortably won the first 11 games as the Greek struggled to find his strokes.
With time running out to salvage the contest, Tsitsipas managed to take the third set with ease and looked to be on his way to a comeback before Galan shattered those dreams by breaking him in the 12th game of the fourth set to cause the biggest upset yet on the men’s draw.
Meanwhile, in other contests, Andy Murray, Nick Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger Aliassime, and Caser Ruudall made it to the next round while Dominic Thiem, local hope Taylor Fritz and Roberto Bautista Agut were other major names to fall early in the US Open.
