And it wasn’t a good beginning for the defending women’s champion, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 5th of the tournament. She lost to fellow country woman Ekaterina Bychkova, ranked 97th in the world, 6-3, 6-2. From what I have read, Kuznetsova has been hampered by a back injury. Still a surprise. Unfortunately for her, she made history with the loss.
On the men’s side, 9th seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina lost to American Brian Baker, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, 6-4. A rather big surprise, seeing that Baker appears to have just turned pro a few weeks ago, and is ranked 195th in the world.
It will be very interesting to see how Andre Agassi does. This appears to be his last shot at the US Open. Other Americans have done well in their last shots; John McEnroe, Jimmy Conners, and Peter Sampras.
August 30th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
I see Henman’s crashed out already. What a bloody surprise. NOT.