Fourth seed Simona Halep was stunned by American Shelby Rogers. The win is one of the biggest first round upsets at Melbourne Park.
Simona Halep faced another tough first round match at Melbourne Park.
The world No. 4 was also upset in 2016. Despite only having faced Rogers once before, there was no doubt going into first round action that the Romanian tennis player was favored.
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The upset by Rogers is the biggest thus far in women’s singles action at the 2017 Australian Open. She defeated Halep with ease, winning 6-3, 6-1 over the world No. 4.
Halep cited knee problems since the WTA Finals in Singapore as a contributing factor to her loss. She even called upon the trainer to address a lower leg issue after dropping the first set.
“I can play about 45, 50 minutes without pain. And then it comes.”
Injury or not, the match is big for Shelby Rogers. She advances through to second round action. Her furthest appearance in a Grand Slam is a quarterfinals match at the 2016 French Open. The American looks to continue her strong start at Melbourne Park later this week.
Other first round action saw wins for 2016 Olympics star Monica Puig, Venus Williams, Eugenie Bouchard, Carla Suárez Navarro, and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber.
Shuai Zhang, who upset Simona Halep in the 2016 major tournament, also moves on at Melbourne Park. Top women’s singles players such as American Serena Williams and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki are still to play their first round matches.
Stay tuned for updates on the early action in women’s singles tennis at Melbourne Park.
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