Petra Kvitova stunned in opening round by Alexandra Dulgheru

Kvitova had set point in the opener but lost it on a tiebreak before making error after error in the second as she went down 7-6, 6-3. It gave her the dubious distinction of being the first female Wimbledon champion in the Open Era to lose in the first round of the US Open. We should not have been surprised. Kvitova has struggled to deal with the unique pressures of being Wimbledon champion and her game has been lacking all summer. Strangely enough she endured exactly the same post-Wimbledon slump last year having reached the semis in SW19 as a raw 20 year old.

Dulgheru is a feisty competitor and she worked out early on that she could afford to simply keep the ball in court, work her opponent around and let Kvitova blow herself out. 52 unforced errors from the Czech tells all you need to know.

You could not help but feel for her afterwards. She looked close to tears as she walked off court while Dulgheru soaked up the applause of the Louis Armstrong stadium crowd.

"(Being a major champion), it's something new for me," she told the press afterwards. "Everything is in the head. If you are thinking on-court negatively, it's bad."