The first day of the 2018 US Open was largely a successful day for seeds, with the exception of, well, No.1 seed Simona Halep, who suffered a straight-set loss to Kaia Kanepi in the first ever match in new Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens advanced, as well as the Williams sisters, with Venus defeating a much tougher first-round opponent, the 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, while Serena faced Poland’s world No.68 Magda Linette. Venus fought on the court for almost three hours and even changed outfits, so we got to see two tanks from her new EleVen Prima Donna collection. Serena wore the black version of her Nike x Virgil Abloh one-sleeve ballerina dress.
Also making it to the second round on Day 1 were Victoria Azarenka, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova (dressed in a star-print from head to toe), Garbine Muguruza, Julia Goerges, and others.
Agnieszka Radwanska couldn’t handle the humidity and lost to Tatjana Maria in straight sets, while Russian seed No.27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was upset by Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson in three sets.
This Monday at the 2018 US Open set an all-time single-day attendance record of 67,832. The day session drew an opening day session record of 40,541, while the night session attendance of 27,291 set the record for a single night session. The opening night ceremony featured Kelly Clarkson‘s performance and Maxwell singing national anthem.
MORE US OPEN 2018 PHOTOS:
- Sunday, August 26th: Cibulkova, Sharapova, Keys, Kvitova practice
- Saturday, August 25th: Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day with Kerber, Keys, Williams
- Friday, August 24th: Final round of WTA qualifying + Media Day
- Wednesday, August 22nd: First round of qualifying completes + Sharapova, Svitolina focus on practice
- Tuesday, August 21st: First round of qualifying + Kerber, Wozniacki, Keys practice sessions
