Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers shock first-round loss to Daniel Galán at US Open
By Alex Edler and Jeff Seidel, Reuters
TUESDAY, July 10, 2019
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Daniel Galán beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last eight of the U.S. Open.
The 23-year-old, ranked No. 48, had previously reached four of the last five U.S. Open finals.
Galán had little trouble making the change of ends for Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas, who was No. 2 in the WTA rankings before losing to Galán, struggled with his game during the tournament, ranking among the lowest-rated players in tour history at No. 49.
“I was lucky that I beat him,” Tsitsipas said. “He was playing unbelievable and was playing great right now. We were both feeling the same and playing great. For sure I was trying to do some extra things. I’m really happy I could win today.”
Galán looked good early before faltering with the match up. He came to the court with a 2-0 lead. Tsitsipas came back, but the serve and a few errors allowed Galán to break him and take control.
Galán closed out the match on his second match point with a drop shot into a wide angle at 5-3.
(Video: US Open 2020, USTA)
Tsitsipas came back to 3-1 for the second set, but Galán broke again at 3-3 and again at 5-4.
Galán broke again at 7-5 but was broken at 0-5, and Tsitsipas held his serve. Galán came under pressure at 5-4 and Tsitsipas broke after a backhand long shot.
Galán came under further pressure serving to stay in the game at 5-4, but Tsitsipas broke again. Galán broke at 0-1 to move up by a break at 2-1 and at 5-3 but was broken at 3-4.
Galán broke again at 5-4 and Tsitsip
