Sloane Stephens and Stefanos Tsitsipas win notable first round matches at U.S. Open

Sloane Stephens (Robbie Mendelson, Wikimedia Commons)

Sloane Stephens of Plantation, Florida, and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Athens, Greece won the two most notable matches on the first day of the first round of the 2021 United States Open. Stephens defeated fellow American Madison Keys 6-3, 1-6, 7-6, while Tsitsipas, the third-seed on the men’s side, defeated Andy Murray of Great Britain, 2-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in a five-set thriller.

The Stephens/Keys match was a rematch of the 2017 United States Open women’s singles final, a match Stephens won 6-3, 6-0. A major reason for the Stephens win on Monday came down to unforced errors. Keys had 37, while Stephens only had 25 unforced errors. Despite the fact Stephens and Keys were in the U.S. Open final four years ago, they were both unseeded in 2021. Stephens entered the U.S. Open seeded 66th in the world, and Keys entered the U.S. Open 42nd in the world.

Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open finalist, meanwhile took four hours and 49 minutes to beat Murray. It was in fact the third longest match in Murray’s tennis career, according to ESPN. Murray previously beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia in four hours and 54 minutes in the 2012 United States Open final, 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, and then lost to Djokovic in four hours and 50 minutes in the 2012 Australian Open semifinal, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5.

Six men’s seeds lost in the first round on Monday. In an all-American battle, Brandon Nakashima beat the 19th-ranked John Isner, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. Other seeded players to lose were Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, Ugo Humbert of France, Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, and Marin Cilic of Croatia. Only one female seed lost on Monday. That was Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

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