US Open: Number one seed Simona Halep is out in the first round

Simona Halep vented her anger on anything she could possibly grab: she smashed a racket, shot balls in the stands, and repeatedly tortured her towel. It did not help, she lost her first game at the US Open against Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) with 2: 6, 4: 6.

The Romanian is only the sixth top player in the history of professional tennis, which fails in a grand slam tournament at kick off.

Kanepi was bolder this morning at the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, repeatedly pushing her opponent into the corners of the field with a clawing forehand strike, consistently moving to the net and finishing scores of points with soulful stops. Halep, on the other hand, was nervous and made a lot of mistakes, losing 4-2 in the second set despite a 40-15 lead. The comeback that had suggested it was over. "The key was that I remained aggressive in the tricky phase in the second set and did not get nervous," Kanepi said. "It's especially good to have won the first official game in this new stadium."

It remains exciting in women's tennis. In Wimbledon, no top-ten player had reached the second week, now the number one seed fails in the first round, and each of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments have been won by a different player each time. That could be good news for those who are superstitious and have not won any of the four major tournaments yet.