US Open 2024: Tsitsipas’s bad luck in New York continues as the Greek suffers first-round exit

Stefanos Tsitsipas’s US Open woes continued as he suffered a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round on Tuesday.

After losing a close first set in a tiebreak, Tsitsipas rallied to win the second and level the match, but appeared to have an abdominal issue late on before slumping to defeat in three hours and 54 minutes.

Tsitsipas, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, has a poor record at Flushing Meadows and has never made it past the third round of the US Open.

He also struggled in the build-up to the tournament, winning just one of his three matches at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Masters.

For Kokkinakis, it was a first win at the New York Grand Slam since 2019.

“I had a five-set battle with him a couple of years ago at the Australian Open and I was expecting a war,” Kokkinakis said in his on-court interview.

“It was physical out there and I have a tendency to sometimes drag these matches on and have some real long battles, but I just tried to stay focused, stay the course and just tried to play every point,” the Australian said.

He next faces either Nuno Borges or Federico Coria.