Defending champ Daniil Medvedev starts smoothly as Stefanos Tsitsipas goes home

Defending champion Daniil Medvedev made a smooth start to his US Open campaign but “half dead” Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a shock defeat by Daniel Elahi Galan.

It was not just the loss but the manner of it that was so surprising as Tsitsipas, one of five men who could have ended the tournament ranked world number one, lost the first 11 games.

From there he rallied and took the third set but Colombian Galan, ranked 94, was not to be denied the best win of his career, finally clinching his ninth match point for a 6-0 6-1 3-6 7-5 triumph.

Tsitsipas had treatment on his right arm but did not use that as an excuse, saying: “I was very motivated and pumped before the US Open started because I knew I can use this tournament to get closer to the number one spot.

“It would be very weird if it didn’t cross my mind because this is something I wanted since I was a kid and I know this is my chance now to step it up. It just didn’t go as planned.

“My arm was pretty tired, nothing was coming off of my strokes. He returned extremely well. He did a great job, he dominated the game completely. I just couldn’t get into the match at all. It was as if I was half dead.”

There were no such problems for Medvedev, who dropped just six games in a 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory over American Stefan Kozlov.

The Russian, who defeated Novak Djokovic 12 months ago to lift his first grand slam trophy, is hoping to draw on his positive memories, saying: “I definitely don’t want to forget about them. It’s a little bit (of) extra pressure but mostly I don’t feel it.

“I know that I want to play well and, if I don’t do it, I will not care that I won it last year, I will just be disappointed that this year didn’t work out my way.

“For sure it gives me a lot of