Top-seeded Simona Halep made history with her opening round loss at the US Open

The US Open’s brand new Louis Armstrong Stadium bore witness to its first official match Monday, and Kaia Kanepi made sure it was a memorable one. The Estonian pro made history by shocking top-seeded Simona Halep, kicking off tennis’s last major of 2018 by dispatching its No. 1 player.

Kanepi blitzed out to a 6-2, 6-4 straight sets victory to earn one of the biggest victories of her 14-year professional career. The overlooked veteran was in danger of ceding a comeback in the second set when Halep won four straight points to break her and tie things at four games apiece, but Kanepi calmly broke her right back — causing the Romanian to vent her frustrations by repeatedly slamming her towel into her chair during the game break that followed.

Halep still had a chance to keep her rally alive, but Kanepi shut the door on those hopes with a dominant final game:

It was the first time a No. 1-seeded woman had ever lost in the first round of the US Open, and only the sixth time it had happened at any major in the modern era. Unfortunately for Halep, it’s a rare condition she knows too well; Monday’s defeat marked the fifth time she’s lost in the opening round as a top-five seed in her career.

The win could be a catalyst for Kanepi, the world’s 44th-ranked female tennis player. She’s only advanced as far as the quarterfinals over the course of a decade of major tournament participation, but one of those final eight showings came in last year’s Open. Getting Halep out of her way makes her path to a career-best showing much easier — but a potential fourth-round showdown with Serena Williams still looms.