US Open: Third Slam first-round exit in a row for Sakkari, Masarova through

Spaniard Rebeka Masarova beat Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 8 seed, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday evening.

Sakkari’s last win at Grand Slam level came in January, when she beat Diana Shnaider 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open, having defeated Yue Yuan 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.

Since then, however, she lost to Karolina Muchova 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the first round at Roland-Garros, and Marta Kostyuk 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of Wimbledon.

Her form arriving in New York had been patchy; after reaching the final of the Citi Open, beating Leylah Fernandez, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula on the way, she lost in the first round in Montreal to Danielle Collins, and in the second round of Cincinnati to Muchova.

Sakkari was visibly distraught in her post-match press conference, breaking down in tears at one point as she digested another painful Grand Slam loss.

The Greek No 1 said that she couldn’t rule out taking a break from tennis at this point, as she considers how best to move forward.

Masarova, meanwhile, will face the winner of the match between Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl next.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):

• Maryna Zanevska vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Greet Minnen vs. Venus Williams
• Ana Bogdan vs. Sofia Kenin
• Anna Blinkova vs. Jodie Burrage
• Sachia Vickery vs. Donna Vekic
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Robin Montgomery vs. Eva Lys
• Barbora Strycova vs. Kaia Kanepi
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Nadia Podoroska
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Fiona Crawley
• Clara Tauson vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Clara Burel
• Karolina Pliskova vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Alycia Parks
• Patricia Maria Tig vs. Rebecca Marino
• Elina Svitolina vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam
• Peyton Stearns vs. Viktoriya Tomova
• Camila Giorgi vs. Jessica Pegula
• Tatjana Maria vs. Petra Martic
• Yanina Wickmayer vs. Vera Zvonareva
• Na-Lae Han vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Martina Trevisan vs. Yulia Putintseva
• Elsa Jacquemot vs. Lesia Tsurenko
• Caroline Garcia vs. Yafan Wang
• Arantxa Rus vs. Madison Keys
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Linda Noskova vs. Madison Brengle
• Ons Jabeur vs. Camila Osorio
• Irina-Camelia Begu vs. Tamara Korpatsch
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Claire Liu
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Katie Boulter vs. Diane Parry
• Tatiana Prozorova vs. Caroline Wozniacki
• Laura Siegemund vs. Coco Gauff
• Petra Kvitova vs. Cristina Bucsa
• Kayla Day vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Olivia Gadecki vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Alize Cornet vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs. Magda Linette
• Panna Udvardy vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Elena Rybakina vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Elise Mertens vs. Mirjam Bjorklund
• Kimberly Birrell vs. Jennifer Brady
• Julia Grabher vs. Xiyu Wang
• Katie Volynets vs. Xinyu Wang
• Yuriko Miyazaki vs. Margarita Betova
• Lin Zhu vs. Mayar Sherif
• Danielle Collins vs. Linda Fruhvirtova
• Bernarda Pera vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Kaja Juvan vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
• Sloane Stephens vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Lauren Davis vs. Danka Kovinic: monday
• Iga Swiatek vs. Rebecca Peterson: monday
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs. Kateryna Baindl: monday
• Taylor Townsend beat Varvara Gracheva: 6-4, 6-2
• Magdalena Frech vs. Emma Navarro: monday
• Karolina Muchova (10) beat Storm Hunter (WC): 6-4, 6-0
• Kamilla Rakhimova vs. Belinda Bencic: monday
• Victoria Azarenka (18) beat Fiona Ferro (WC): 6-1, 6-2
• Daria Saville beat Clervie Ngounoue (WC): 6-0, 6-2