American Shelby Rogers has posted the first big upset of the Australian Open, outsing fourth seed Simona Halep in straight sets on Day 1.
The world No.52 needed just 75 minutes on Monday to score a 6-3 6-1 win and send Halep packing from Rod Laver Arena.
It was a sorry case of deja vu for Halep, who also crashed out in the opening round last year.
Despite spending the Christmas period in Australia acclimatising to the hot summer conditions with coach Darren Cahill, the Romanian looked uncomfortable from the outset.
She required medication after dropping the first set, but it didn’t help as the world No.4 managed to win just one game in the second.
A French Open quarterfinalist last year, Rogers will play either Australian wildcard Ashleigh Barty or German Annika Beck on Wednesday for a place in the last 32.
“I’m happy to get through and I’ll take confidence out of what I did today,” Rogers said.
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