New York-Australian Open Champion Madison Keys was undone with 89 casual errors and was upset in the first round of the US Open 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5 by Renata Zarazua from Mexico on Monday.
The sixth placed keys, which was second at Flushing Meadows in 2017, made so many mistakes, including 14 double mistakes, which Zarazua needed to produce only eight winners to win the biggest victory of her career.
The 82nd ranking Zarazua had lost in the first or second round in all eight of her previous Grand Slam performances.
Keys earned her first major championship in Melbourne Park in January and defeated No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
In addition to her run to the New York final eight years ago before she lost to good friend Sloane Stephens, Keys was also a semi -finalist at the US Open in 2018 and 2023.
But with her left thigh heavily recorded on Monday, the large keys for pieces in Arthur Ashe Stadium struggled against the 5-foot-3 Zarazua, which came in the day with a 0-6 record against opponents arranged in the top 10.
“I am a bit small in height, so it came in, it was like:” Oh, my God. This is huge, “said Zarazua about the largest stadium in Grand Slam Tennis, which has nearly 24,000 spectators.
“When I retire, I will be really happy with it,” said Zarazua, “so I thought,” Just enjoy it. “
When the game ended with keys that still missed a forehand, Zarazua smiled as wide as possible, held her racket on top of her head while she started walking forward for a handshake and then placed a hand over her face.
This was certainly memorable, partly because it was not easy – although keys kept getting problems and Zarazua continued over 3 hours, 10 minutes of action.
The problem for Zarazua was that she had a hard time closing the deal.
She went up 4-2 in the first set and was then a point to possess it five times, but could not convert any of those opportunities. In the end, Keys converted her third set point.
In the second set, Zarazua fell behind 3-0 and then took five games in a row to Leiden 5-3. She was 6-5 behind after another run through keys, but this time came in the tiebraker to force a third set.
Zarazua led in the decision maker and served for the victory at 5-3, but Keys broke there and then 5-All.
At the end, however, Zarazua took the last two games.
While Keys was one of the 25 American players in the ladies’ snacks on their home Grand Slam tournament, Zarazua is the only participant of Mexico in the bracket.
“It is a country that we don’t have many tennis players, as you can see,” said Zarazua. “We just try to give our best. But certainly, I heard some Mexicans cheer, so that was very nice.”
What else happened on the US Open on Monday?
The Brazilian teenager João Fonseca, who turned 19, won his US open debut and defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3 for a raw crowd of his countrymen. That makes Fonseca 4-0 in the first round matches in Majors in 2025. Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, who is 35, played her last game for retirement and lost to Diane Parry 6-1, 6-0. Frances Tiafoe, Venus Williams and Carlos Alcaraz were planned to be on the field later on Monday.
Who is on Tuesday’s schedule on the US Open?
A packaged program for day 3 of the first round includes Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The opponent of Gauff is Ajla Tomljanovic, who defeated Serena Williams at the US Open in the last match of the career of the 23-way big title winner. This is Gauff’s first game since she started working with Biomechanics coach Gavin Macmillan in an attempt to improve her serve.
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