US Open 2022: Champs Daniil Medvedev, Andy Murray win as Simona Halep and Stefanos Tsitsipas crash out

Daniil Medvedev had an easy start to his U.S. Open title defense, beating Stefan Kozlov 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Simona Halep had another early exit, this one coming in a memorable first tour-level win for Ukrainian Daria Snigur. Snigur upset the No. 7 seed 6-2, 0-6, 6-4, then struggled through tears to explain what the victory meant to her family and her country, which is at war with Russia.

On the same Arthur Ashe Stadium court where Serena Williams began what could be the final tournament of her career with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinic on Monday night, the top-seeded Medvedev looked just as strong as he did in sweeping past Novak Djokovic in last year's final for his first major title.

Medvedev advanced to face Arthur Rinderknech of France. The Russian is trying to become the first repeat champion at the US Open since Roger Federer won five straight from 2004-08. “I need to be at my best on Wednesday and I'm going to try to make it,” Medvedev said.

Andy Murray was another early winner, 10 years after winning the first of his three Grand Slam titles in Flushing Meadows. He had one of the first upsets of the tournament by beating No. 24 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

Djokovic couldn’t travel to the tournament this year because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas won’t be staying in it after dropping the first 11 games to qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan before falling 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.

Many fans arriving for the day session at the final Grand Slam event of the season were focused on the match that would lead off the action at night. Williams, the 23-time major champion, has said she is preparing to end her tennis career. Coco Gauff wasn’t going to miss it, saying she was going to change plans and attend instead of watching on TV in her hotel room.

Leading 3-0 in the third set, Medvedev told the chair umpire he wanted a bag of ice so he could put it on his head. “It was pretty hot today and humid,” Medvedev said. “I see the other guys coming from five-setters in the locker room, pretty red faces. That's also fun in a way sometimes to get through these conditions. Even today, the match was maybe not that intensive and long, but, yeah, I sweated a lot and it was not easy.”

_The defending champion Daniil Medvedev started US Open 2022 campaign with an impressive win over Stefan Kozlov 6-2 6-4 6-0 #USOpen pic.twitter.com/Rc1TgMTadR — the Net magazine (@thenet_m) August 29, 2022

Halep had won 19 of her last 22 matches and recently returned to the top 10, but the U.S. Open has been the most challenging major for the two-time Grand Slam champion. She is 21-11 in New York and has lost in the first round of three of her last five appearances.

Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, needed three sets to get past Harmony Tan, the French player who beat Williams in the first round at Wimbledon. Two other past champions had short stays. Dominic Thiem, the 2020 champion who missed last year because of injury, fell to Pablo Carreno Busta in four sets. The 2016 winner, Stan Wawrinka, retired from his match against Corentin Moutet after losing a second-set tiebreaker. He has been plagued by injuries in recent years.

(with PTI inputs)