By Ava Wallace
New York: It didn't feel like an opening-round match on Monday night at the US Open.
On a day chock-full of matches featuring plenty of players familiar only to tennis's most well informed, two stars lit up Arthur Ashe Stadium at nightfall. Many in the crowd stood to applaud Maria Sharapova as the five-time Grand Slam champion walked on court - in an all-black ensemble that literally sparkled - to play her first match at a major in 19 months.
They applauded even louder for her opponent, the second-seeded Simona Halep.
Sharapova upset Halep, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in thrilling fashion, but it was still early in the first set when the sellout crowd of 23,771 seemed to drop its allegiances. The fans clapped instead at the competitive play in front of them, and, it being New York, for the sheer drama of Sharapova's return.
Overwhelmed: Maria Sharapova drops to the court after winning match point.Credit: AP
They will have another chance to cheer the comeback on Wednesday, when Sharapova faces Timea Babos of Hungary in the second round.
Monday was Sharapova's first grand slam appearance since the 2016 Australian Open, when she tested positive for the recently banned heart medication meldonium after losing to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals. Although her suspension ended this April, she was not given a wild-card entry into the French Open. She planned to play the qualifying tournament at Wimbledon but pulled out because of a left thigh injury. Physical ailments have in fact plagued her comeback all season - she pulled out of tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati leading up to the US Open citing a left forearm injury.
Feeling healthy again, she made her Grand Slam reappearance in New York thanks to a wild card from the US Tennis Association, which gave her the spot as a courtesy to a former champion. Sharapova won the tournament in 2006, the second major title of her career.
Back on the US Open's main stage for the first time since 2014 - she missed the 2015 tournament with an injury - Sharapova played like she had scarcely missed a match.
Maria Sharapova is unbeaten in night matches on the Arthur Ashe Arena at the US Open.Credit: AP
The 30-year-old tested Halep's impressive defense with her usual brand of risky tennis. Sharapova dictated play from the outset, pummeling Halep with a big forehand and blasting her way to 60 winners (and 64 unforced errors). She broke Halep three times in the first set, eventually winning it on the Romanian's serve with a powerful forehand return.
Sharapova now owns a 7-0 career record against Halep. Her record at Arthur Ashe Stadium at night improves to 18-0.
Maria Sharapova is overcome with emotion.Credit: AP
The stakes of the match were higher for Halep.
The second-ranked woman in the world, Halep was one of seven women in position to take the No. 1 ranking from Karolina Pliskova at the end of the tournament. For Halep, the defeat is another lost opportunity that stings.
I thought it another day, another opportunity, another match. It was so much more. Everything you go through is so worth it.
Maria Sharapova
Halep has had three opportunities since May to grab the top ranking but has failed to do so each time. As a method of self-preservation as much as anything, she has since tried to put that summit out of her mind.
"It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy," Halep said Saturday before the match. "But I lose three times the opportunity to get there, so enough is enough."
Against Sharapova, she took a set and change to steady herself mentally but charged back in the middle of the second set. Down four games to one in the second, she took advantage of Sharapova's 27 unforced errors and muscled her way through to win five straight games to even the match.
But Sharapova went back into the locker room before the third set, collected herself and reemerged in control once again.
When Halep's final shot went long, she sunk to her knees and placed her hands over her face. She covered her mouth - almost in disbelief - before jumping up to shake hands with Halep.
"I just thought that this was another day, another opportunity, another match," Sharapova said on court afterward, "but this was so much more . . . you sometimes wonder why you put in all the work, and this is exactly why."
Sharapova cried as she left the court and hugged her team in the hallway, the end of her opening night, but not the end of her U.S. Open.
Washington Post