The last Grand Slam tournament of 2022 begins with several surprises. The favorite banner weighs heavily on venues like the US Open, and some of those who carried it couldn't bear it. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who arrived after being defeated in the final of the Masters 1,000 in Cincinnati by Borna Coric, could not in the first round with the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galán, number 94 in the world. Another prominent name, that of Dominic Thiem, will not continue in the tournament either. The US Open champion in 2020, who went through an ordeal with injuries in 2021 and 2022, fell against a Pablo Carreño who continues his good form after winning the 1,000 Canadian Masters. Taylor Fritz was another of the great disappointments of this first round, losing to Brandon Holt, number 303 in the world.
Tsitsipas has taken a step back in 2022 in the fight for Grand Slam titles. In 2021 he proved capable of going far in the most demanding tournaments by advancing to the Roland Garros final, but this year he did not perform up to expectations. He reached the semifinals in Australia, but then fell in the fourth round at the French Open and the third at Wimbledon.
At the US Open he has only had time to debut. In front of him was Daniel Elahi Galán, a Colombian tennis player who distorted his rival and achieved the most important victory of his career (6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5). He only dropped one of the first 13 games of the match and crushed the Greek in the first two sets. "Galán played like a world class and I like an amateur," said the number five in the world afterwards.
Pablo Carreño, for his part, continues at a high level in this second half of the season. He conquered his first Masters 1,000 tournament in Canada a few weeks ago, defeating Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in the final. Despite crashing at his premiere in Cincinnati, he shows tremendous confidence on the track.
In his US Open debut he outclassed 2020 champion Dominic Thiem (7-5, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3). The Austrian occupies position 211 in the ranking, having suffered constant injury problems throughout 2021 and 2022, but he is still a threat on the North American hard court. The Spaniard needed three hours and twenty minutes to break a Thiem who resisted, but ended up giving in to the regularity and solidity of the world number 15.
Finally, Taylor Fritz, twelfth in the ATP ranking, was also weighed down by favoritism. The Californian giant, champion on the hard court of Indian Wells in 2022 after defeating Rafa Nadal in the final, had the added pressure of playing at home. Just like his rival, Brandon Holt, although he is light years away in the individual classification (number 303).
Little mattered the odds, statistics and numbers on this opening day. The tenth seed of the tournament fell with a crash to Holt (6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4), who thus achieved his first victory at the ATP level in style. "I feel like an idiot for thinking I could win this US Open," Fritz declared.
