Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has suffered a shock first-round exit from the US Open as the Greek went down to Colombian qualifier Daniel Galan in four sets on Monday.
Galan capitalized on a disastrous showing from Tsitsipas to win 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, taking the contest on the ninth match point. At one stage, Tsitsipas lost 11 straight games to his world number 94 rival.
While the 24-year-old Greek has typically fared better at the Australian and French Opens down the years – reaching the semifinals three times in Melbourne and last year’s final in Paris – he was still expected to challenge into the second week in New York.
But that will not be the case as Galan, 26, set up a second-round meeting with Australia’s Jordan Thompson for what will be the first time the Colombian has ever reached this stage at Flushing Meadows.
“Definitely one of the best moments of my career,” Galan said afterwards.
“Definitely the best match of my career, not only because of the circumstances, also the opponent. I’m really happy.”
Tsitsipas, meanwhile, has suffered two first-round exits in his five US Open appearances, and produced 57 unforced errors in one of his worst displays in recent memory.
The loss comes after the Greek had defeated Russian world number one Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters in the build-up to New York.
“He dominated the match, I just couldn't get into it,” Tsitsipas said of his loss to Galan.
Elsewhere, there was another upset in the men’s draw as American 10th seed Taylor Fritz came undone in four sets against compatriot Brandon Holt, who is the son of two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin.
Holt, 24, came through qualifying to reach the main draw and next faces Pedro Cachin of Argentina in the second round.
Top seed and defending champion Medvedev negotiated his first-round match at Flushing Meadows on Monday, defeating Stefan Kozlov of the US in straight sets to earn a match-up with Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech on Wednesday.