Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers shock first-round loss to Daniel Galán at US Open: ‘I played as good as I could’
The world No.7, who is a former US Open runner-up, suffered a major shock on the opening weekend of the US Open in New York as Galán beat him 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 but in a match that lasted only 75 minutes due to rain, the second-seeded Tsitsipas lost his title defence.
He has been through a bad patch this year and finished runner-up in Rome and Dubai but with the win over Galán, his only major scalp, he has only once played in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final before this year’s US Open.
He said: ‘The first game was hard, but I had momentum. I played as good as I could, and I knew I made few mistakes. I think I hit a couple of balls that I shouldn’t have hit,’ he said.
‘I had a good breakpoint, but I was hoping to get up 4-2 in the second. That didn’t happen. I played the first 45 minutes to the best of my ability because we were both serving well and if it was one of us serving better the match would have come quicker.
‘I played the same way in Rome and Dubai, but this time I thought I was playing better tennis. Sometimes things don’t go your way, it might be my opponent’s fault or the weather will have played a role in it.’
But now, he is a step closer to winning a masters 1000 in New Haven this week and a masters 1000 at the ATP World Tour Finals in London next month. He has played in a second career masters 1000 final and now has a one-shot lead with a win over Andreas Seppi on Wednesday, before getting past a tricky German Adrian Mannarino on Thursday – the last match of the tournament.
‘I have never won a masters 1000 before, I don’t think I’ll win it this week. But it is important to reach the level where you can defend your title. It is something I really want, but it is not easy to win. It is a great tournament. I hope I could make the final,’ he said.
For their part, the winner