U.S. Open: Live Updates From Day 1

The first day of the 2018 U.S. Open is underway, and it’s been a wild ride so far!

The u.s. open updates is a live blog that will be updated with the latest news and information from the first day of the U.S. Open.

Simona Halep of Romania is on to the second round.

Romania’s Simona Halep has advanced to the second round. Credit… Shutterstock/EPA/Jason Szenes

Simona Halep, the 12th seed, won the most difficult of Monday’s opening matches at the US Open. On the Grandstand court, she defeated Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Halep, a two-time Grand Slam winner, has not won a match since injuring a calf muscle in her left leg at the Italian Open in Rome in May. She didn’t play in the French Open or defend her Wimbledon title after that. She returned to the tour this month in Montreal, but lost her opening match against Danielle Collins and then withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters tournament before her second-round match against Jessica Pegula.

Giorgi’s recent form makes her one of the least attractive unseeded players’ first-round opponents.

For much of her career, Giorgi has been renowned for her power — she shocked sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the third round of the 2013 U.S. Open — but she has had more misses than hits. She did, however, win the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal this summer, despite a stacked competition. Elise Mertens, Nadia Podoroska, Petra Kvitova, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Karolina Pliskova, her six opponents in Montreal, have all advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam in the past year.

Against Halep’s counterpunching, Giorgi unexpectedly had an edge in lengthier rallies, winning 20 of the 35 exchanges that lasted five or more strokes. Giorgi’s hopes were wrecked by a series of unforced mistakes in the final three points, as Halep advanced to the second round.

Garbie Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam tournament winner, defeated Armstrong in the first round on Monday afternoon. Muguruza, the ninth seed, beat Donna Vekic 7-6 (4), 7-6. (5). Sam Sumyk, Muguruza’s previous coach, is Vekic’s coach.

Yulia Putintseva, the 31st seed and a quarterfinalist here last year, was the first seeded woman to be knocked out of the US Open, losing 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi.

Kanepi, 36, has been to the quarterfinals of six Grand Slam tournaments in her career.

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Credit: Reuters/Andrew Kelly/USA Today Sports

In the opening hour of the event, fans accessing the grounds of the US Open encountered huge queues and lengthy delays.

The competition started at 11 a.m. on Monday, and spectators began forming lines as soon as they exited the Willets Point metro station. Some others claimed to have waited in line for two hours.

Betty Gruber of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, was towards the end of the line and claimed she had been waiting 35 minutes and still had a long way to go before reaching the checkpoints.

She said, “And then they let hundreds of people go straight by us.” “I’m 82 years old, and there are children and adults who need to use the restroom here. It’s very disorganized.”

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