Tennis

Ukraine's Daria Snigur Stuns No. 7 Simona Halep at US Open

Snigur pulled off a big-time upset to get her first tour-level victory

Daria Snigur of Ukraine reacts after defeating Simona Halep of Romania during the Women’s Singles First Round on Day One of the 2022 U.S. Open
Julian Finney/Getty Images

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.

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.

With the win, Snigur will face the winner of Monday night’s Magdalena Frech-Rebecca Marino match in the second round.

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