Daria Snigur’s first tour-level victory came on one of tennis’ biggest stages.
The 20-year-old Ukrainian entered the 2022 U.S. Open with just two WTA matches to her name. On Monday, she faced off against the seventh-ranked player in the world, Simona Halep, and walked away with a major upset.
Snigur advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 victory in her first Grand Slam appearance. She seized a 5-1 lead in the final set before fending off Halep’s comeback attempt to seal the deal.
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Snigur secured her spot in the main draw after winning three matches in the qualifying tournament last week. In 2021’s U.S. Open, Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam.
No. 124 Snigur became the lowest-ranked player to beat Halep in five years, when Maria Sharapova did it as the 146th-ranked player. That result also happened at the U.S. Open, which has been a challenging event for Halep in years past. She now has three first-round exits in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., since 2017, and her lone semifinals appearance at the tournament came in 2015.
The two-time Grand Slam champion had won 19 of her last 22 matches entering the 2022 U.S. Open, but she was unable to get past Snigur and her unconventional playing style.
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With the win, Snigur will face the winner of Monday night’s Magdalena Frech-Rebecca Marino match in the second round.
