In one of the biggest upsets on the opening day of US Open 2022, World No 124 and qualifier Daria Snigur of Ukraine took out the 7th seed Simona Halep in a pulsating women’s singles first-round match. The World No. 7 was beaten 2-6, 6-0, 4-6 in an hour and 40 minutes at the Louis Amstrong Stadium.
Daria Snigur showcased nerves of steel in her Grand Slam main draw debut to pick her first win on the WTA tour. The Ukrainian made it special with her father watching on in awe and shock as she converted her 4th match point and progressed to the 2nd round in New York on Monday, August 29.
Take it in, Daria Snigur!
What a moment pic.twitter.com/Of6TV1MDjt
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2022
Daria Snigur did not go away despite having been bageled in the second set. She broke Halep twice in the decider and was up 5-1. However, nerves set in for the 20-year-old who struggled to close out the match with Halep raising her game. Halep faced as many as 2 match points at 3-5 but she saved them both, the first one with a stunning cross-court backhand winner.
It looked as if Halep would ride the momentum and take the match deeper when she led 30-0 in the 10th game of the deciding set but she was let down by a set of unforced errors. It was a forgettable outing for Halep who hit as may as 30 unforced errors.
Simona, a 2-time Grand Slam champion, was not able to compete at the net and struggled with her second serve percentage.
Daria used her powerful forehand returns to good effect to put pressure on Simona and make her experienced opponent commit those unforced errors.
Simona’s fine run on the tour in the latter half of the season comes to a disappointing end as she exited the US Open in the first round for the 4th time in her career and the first time since 2018.
Simona had been in fine form in the lead-up to the US Open as she won the WTA 1000 title in Toronto earlier in August, ousting the likes of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. She had reached the semi-final of Wimbledon, showing signs of a return to peak form.
The Romanian, who won the French Open and Wimbledon women’s singles crown in 2018 and 2019 respectively, had a torrid time dealing with injuries in 2021 as she was forced to pull out French Open, Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics due to a calf injury. Halep also suffered a knee injury after the US Open last year and failed to reach the final stages of the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year.
However, Simona turned it around at Wimbledon after having joined hands with former coach of Serena Williams, Patrick Mouratoglou earlier this year.
Nonetheless, the defeat in New York on Monday is a big letdown from Simona, who was looking good to stitch a series of consistent runs in Grand Slams.
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