It was a tough opening day of the US Open for Emageo Group tennis players Casey Dellacqua and Matt Ebden, with both Australians going down in straight sets.
With both players scheduled first on court at 11am local time, Dellacqua lost to Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 7-5 6-2 before Ebden succumbed 6-4 6-2 6-4 to 17th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Dellacqua struggled to find her rhythm from the outset, as Kontaveit took an all or nothing approach.
“Unfortunately I didn’t bring my best stuff” Dellacqua said.
“I came up against a girl who was full of confidence after coming through qualifying and she played some really good tennis.”
The Estonian hit winner after winner, showing she is a real star on the rise.
Dellacqua had her moments.
When breaking to go two nil up at the start of the second a fight back looked likely.
But Kontaveit continued to go for broke and it paid off, winning six straight games to claim the match.
“She’s young, she’s 20 and had nothing to lose.”
“She was always going to throw the kitchen sink at me and she did it well.”
If there’s a positive Dellacqua can now focus soley on doubles where she is the tournaments 4th seed alongside Yaroslava Shvedova.
While Ebden can take plenty of positives out of his Open campaign despite a first round loss.
After breezing through qualifying, Ebden took it right up to the big hitting DImitrov but with his serve not clicking, he lacked the firepower against the tournament’s 17th seed.
“I didn’t serve really good that was probably the biggest difference he served a lot better than I did”
“I obviously had to play a good level today and in patches there was some good things but I didn’t take my chances and you can’t do that against a player like Grigor” Ebden said
A couple of missed break opportunites early proved telling.
Dimitrov was able to use his huge serve to get himself out of trouble and from there was relentless wth his power.
“You always want to do better but in a way I’m on a good path for this year.”
” I think I’ve won more matches this year than any other year up until now but I’ve got to play more guys like Grigor week in week out to elevate my game and get use to that level all the time.”
After being on the road for four months, Ebden will return home for a short break before returning to action in Asia.
Listen to Casey Dellacqua’s post match press conference below
Listen to Matt Ebden’s post match press conference below