Just over two hours into the U.S. Open, two of the top seven women are already out. Seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic lost her first-round match Monday, but it wasn’t much of an upset. She had a tough draw against Dominika Cibulkova, a former top-10 player and Australian Open runner-up whose ranking had fallen to 50th because of injury.
Cibulkova won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the tournament’s first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She had undergone surgery on her left Achilles in February and missed more than four months.
Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champ and a former No. 1 player, was one of the few women in the field who have defeated Serena Williams in a Grand Slam match, beating her at the 2014 Australian Open. Cibulkova went on to reach the final at that tournament, losing to li Na.
Cibulkova was the seeded player being upset in the first round of the past two U.S. Opens, including a loss to 15-year-old American CiCi Bellis a year ago.
Third-seeded Maria Sharapova withdrew from the U.S. Open on Sunday because of a lingering right leg injury.
Joining Ivanovic out of the US Open was last year’s finalist and fourth seeded Kei Nishikori who lost in five sets to Frenchman Benoit Paire. The Frenchman stretched the Japanese player in a match lasting 3 hours and 14 minutes. In the end, the Frenchman prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. Incidentally, Nishikori had two opportunities to close out the match in the fourth set tiebreak but he failed to make the best of both.
Fish keeps battle alive
Mardy Fish won’t be retiring just yet.
The former top-10 player will stick around at the U.S. Open for at least a couple of more days after winning his first-round match at what he says will be his final tournament.
Fish got a favorable draw against 102nd-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy, who was making his Grand Slam debut and is now 0-7 in tour-level matches.
Fish, whose has struggled with anxiety disorder, decided to wrap up his career at the U.S. Open to try to make some new memories at his home Grand Slam tournament. In 2012, Fish had to withdraw before his fourth-round match because of a panic attack. He hadn’t played here since.