Kerber’s title defence lasts one round
Angelique Kerber left the U.S. Open last year on top of women’s tennis, with a second Grand Slam title and the No. 1 ranking. She leaves this year after one match, unsure of exactly what went wrong during a season-long slump. The sixth-seeded German was beaten by Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-3, 6-1, becoming just the second defending women’s champion in the Open era to be eliminated in the first round of the U.S. Open.
“I think, yeah, it was not my day, completely not my day today,” Kerber said.
Not her year, actually. Kerber is on her way out of the top 10 after losing one of the only matches that was completed before most of the schedule was washed out on a rainy Tuesday in New York.
Among those whose matches were postponed a day were Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil. Denis Shapovalov will play Wednesday as well. Shapovalov and Bouchard will be on covered courts, while Pospisil is on an outside court.
Not since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005 had the defending U.S. Open women’s champion been ousted so early. But perhaps it wasn’t too surprising after Kerber played so poorly following her breakthrough 2016, when she also won the Australian Open and lost to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final before ascending to No. 1 with her victory in Flushing Meadows. This year, she fell in the first round of the French Open, the first time that had ever happened to the women’s No. 1 seed in that tournament.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer overcame a slow start, then a late lapse, before winning a topsy-turvy firstround match in five sets against 19-year-old American Frances Tiafoe. The No. 3-seeded Federer got broken in the first game and dropped the opening set, and then appeared to take control before letting a lead slip away. He eventually edged the 70th-ranked Tiafoe 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 by breaking serve in the last game.