New York,

The US Open started with a bang as world No. 1 Simona Halep christened the newly renovated Louis Armstrong Stadium with a shock 6-2 6-4 loss to unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi on Monday, becoming the first top seed to lose an opening match at Flushing Meadows. It was the second consecutive year the Romanian French Open champion exited in the US Open first round. On a hot and humid day, Halep failed to sustain any kind of service rhythm and her usually stout defence proved no match for the powerful Kanepi’s bruising groundstrokes and deft drop shots.  Elina Svitolina beat S Vickery 6-3 1-6 6-1 and I Begu beat J Brady 6-3 6-3 in the other matches of the day.