The Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur produced the performance of her career to upset the two-times grand slam winner Simona Halep, winning 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 in the first round of the US Open.
The 20-year-old Snigur showed poise beyond her years to break Halep in the opening game and again in the third as she capitalised on a mounting number of unforced errors from the Romanian.
Snigur’s form completely fell apart in the second set as Halep won it in 24 minutes at Louis Armstrong Stadium. But Halep, who won the Canadian Open earlier this month before pulling out of Cincinnati with an injury, failed to maintain that momentum.
The No 7 seed dropped her serve in the first and fifth games, before breaking Snigur in the eighth game to stay alive and fending off two match points in the next game. It looked like the pressure might tell but Snigur kept her nerve to seal victory before bursting into tears.
She then formed a heart shape with her hands around the Ukraine ribbon pinned to her shirt. “I’m very, very, very nervous but I tried to do my best,” she said, her voice shaking, in an on-court interview. “For Ukraine, for my family... I want to say, thank you all.” Reuters
Time to close this blog down, but we’ll be back very soon with live coverage of Serena Williams v Danko Kovinic. Thanks for joining us.
