NEW YORK: Greek fourth-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas struck himself out of the five-way chase for the world No. 1 ranking when he went down to qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round of the US Open late on Monday. The 24-year-old, who struggled to get started, trailed 0-6, 0-5 before opening his account on the scoreboard.
For the 26-year-old Colombian, it was the biggest win of his career. Galan rallied from 2-4 in the fourth set and converted on his ninth match point after two hours and 48-minutes of play.
Tsitsipas, who had the trainer on court, attending to his right hand, didn't appear to be struggling physically. "I was very motivated and pumped before the US Open started, I knew I could use this tournament to get closer to the No. 1 spot," Tsitsipas said later.
"It is something I wanted since I was a kid. It (today) just didn't go as planned. Sometimes you just need to let it go, you don't need to overthink it, but at the same time it's difficult because there was this open opportunity right in front of you."
Tsitsipas' loss makes it a four-way race now between defending champion Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.
In another shock result, Brandon Holt, the 24-year-old American qualifier, who is the son of two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin, shocked his tenth-seeded compatriot Taylor Fritz 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. Holt, ranked 303, had not won a Tour-level match coming into the tournament.
