Top seed Simona Halep makes hasty early exit from US Open

Simona Halep’s US Open campaign lasted just an hour and 15 minutes as she became the first women’s top seed in the Open era to lose in the first round.

The French Open champion arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of the hot favourites and declared herself free of pressure after breaking her grand slam duck at Roland Garros.

But it did not appear that way against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, one of the biggest hitters in the game, who blasted her way to a 6-2 6-4 victory.

Kanepi has an impressive grand slam pedigree having reached six quarter-finals, including here last year, when she progressed to the last eight as a qualifier after injury problems had seen her drop down the rankings.

Nothing in her results this season suggested she was about to derail a confident Halep but the Romanian, who lost to Maria Sharapova at the same stage last year, knew what a potentially tricky draw it was and so it proved.

Halep has now lost in the first round of slams 12 times, but she was sanguine about the result, saying: “I didn’t play great, but she played really well. I knew that she can play well here.

“Today just was not my day, the balance was not there. I couldn’t feel myself strong on the court to win this match. It is tough. But it’s OK.”

Kanepi tightened up in the second set, seeing a 3-0 lead wiped out at 4-4, but she kept swinging for the lines and, after breaking Halep for the fifth time, confidently served out one of the wins of her life.

This year’s Wimbledon saw a mass exodus of top seeds in the early rounds, and Kanepi said: “I think players are playing more equal.

“There are not many players anymore who are leading the game. Everybody can beat everybody on a good day, so that’s what I also thought, that I know Simona is number one, she plays constantly really well, but I can play really well, too.”

The good news for Halep is she is guaranteed to hold onto the world number one ranking having established a solid lead over her rivals.