Australian Open: Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens main casualties from America's 'Blue Monday'

The opening day of the Australian Open saw 12 Americans, out of a total 15, felled in the first round

Venus Williams was knocked out by Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic (Getty)

Fifteen Americans went into battle here today on the first day of the Australian Open but only three of them progressed to the second round. On one of the worst days for American tennis in recent years at a Grand Slam tournament, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Coco Vandeweghe, Jack Sock and John Isner were among the 12 who fell at the first hurdle.

The tone for the day was set by the first match in Margaret Court Arena, which is the second show court at Melbourne Park. Stephens, who won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open four months ago, was beaten 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 by China’s Zhang Shuai, despite having served for the match in the second set.

Zhang, who as the world No 34 is the highest-ranked player in the women’s field not to be seeded, beat Simona Halep here two years ago and eventually lost to Johanna Konta in the quarter-finals.

Stephens has lost all eight matches she has played since beating Madison Keys in the final at Flushing Meadows last year. “Tennis is definitely a roller coaster,” Stephens said. “But I have learned to just not panic. It will be OK.”

Remarkably, three of the four women’s semi-finalists from New York went out on the first day here. Williams was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, while Vandeweghe lost a bad-tempered contest against Hungary’s Timea Babos 7-6, 6-2.

Williams had won all four of her previous meetings with 20-year-old Bencic, but the world No 5 could not match her opponent’s consistent ball-striking.

“I don’t think I played a bad match,” Williams said afterwards. “She just played above and beyond. I just have to give her credit for that.”

This was Williams’ 18th Australian Open, the 37-year-old American having made her debut in 1998, when Bencic was just 10 months old. Williams reached the final here last year before losing to her sister Serena and was also runner-up at Wimbledon later in the summer.

Belinda Bencic celebrates her surprise victory over Venus Williams (Getty)

Bencic is ranked No 78 in the world after injuries disrupted her 2017 campaign, but she is a former top 10 player and said she had benefited from the experience of partnering Roger Federer to victory in the Hopman Cup mixed team event in the first week of this year in Perth. Federer’s parents watched her match here from her player box.

“I think I had a little bit too much respect, played a little bit careful and safe,” Bencic said of her previous meetings with Williams. “This time I really tried to come out and hit it big.”

Vandeweghe, a semi-finalist here and at the US Open last year, was handed two code violations during her defeat, the first of them after an argument with the umpire over a lack of bananas on court.

“How are they not on court?” Vandeweghe asked the umpire. “That’s not my fault. Why do I have to play under a different set of rules? I don’t have to make myself uncomfortable because it’s ill-prepared. I have needs and it’s not my fault that this court is ill prepared.”

Vandeweghe’s Australian Open campaign came to an end in heated fashion (Getty)

The world No 9, who refused to continue playing at the end of the first set until she was provided with the bananas, was penalised again and docked a point in the second set after apparently swearing at Babos because she felt the Hungarian had been “in her face”.

Sock, who capped a memorable 2017 by reaching the semi-finals on his debut at the ATP Finals in London, was beaten 6-1, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 by Japan’s Yuichi Sugita. The 25-year-old American has yet to win a match this year, having lost in the first round in Auckland to Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in his only previous appearance in 2018.

Isner, the world No 16, who has rarely played well here, slumped to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat against Australia’s Matthew Ebden.

Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal, Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios all eased to comfortable first-round victories. Nadal crushed the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, Dimitrov beat Austria’s Dennis Novak 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, and Kyrgios recorded a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Caroline Wozniacki, the world No 2, also made a confident start. The 27-year-old Dane, who last topped the world rankings six years ago, beat Romania’s Michaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-3.