Aug 27, 2018; New York, NY, USA; Simona Halep of Romania hits to Kaia Kanepi (not pictured) of Estonia on day one of the 2018 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
August 27, 2018
NEW YORK (Reuters) – World number one Simona Halep was upset 6-2 6-4 by unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi in the U.S. Open first round on Monday, the second consecutive year the Romanian has lost her opening match at Flushing Meadows.
Playing in the first match on the newly renovated Louis Armstrong Stadium court, the French Open champion failed to sustain any kind of service rhythm and her usually stout defense proved no match for Kanepi’s bruising groundstrokes and deft drop shots.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Ed Osmond)
