US Open Tennis 2017 Results: Maria Sharapova Wins in Grand Slam Return

The U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam of the 2017 season, began on Monday in New York, with a number of top players opening their tournament. 

Below, we'll break down the day's results and top storylines.

Men's Results

No. 5 Marin Cilic def. Tennys Sandgren, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

No. 10 John Isner def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Marius Copil, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4

No. 19 Gilles Muller def. Bernard Tomic, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Kyle Edmund def. No. 32 Robin Haase, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3

Mikhail Kukushkin def. No. 21 David Ferrer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1

No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta def. Evan King, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5

No. 28 Kevin Anderson def. JC Aragone, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

No. 29 Diego Schwartzman def. Carlos Berlocq, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3

Yen-Hsun Lu def. No. 25 Karen Khachanov, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3

Florian Mayer def. Rogerio Dutra Silva, 7-5, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4

Hyeon Chung def. Horacio Zeballos, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3

Cameron Norrie def. Dmitry Tursunov, 7-6, 6-1 (ret.)

Steve Johnson def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6

Evgeny Donskoy def. Andreas Haider-Maurer, 6-5, 5-1 (ret.)

Benoit Paire def. Lukas Lacko, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6

Ernests Gulbis def. Alessandro Giannessi, 6-4 6-7, 6-2, 7-5

Radu Albot def. Ernesto Escobedo, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Dudi Sela def. Christopher Eubanks, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2

No. 20 Albert Ramos-Vinolas def. Denis Istomin, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-7, 7-5

No. 23 Mischa Zverev def. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Paolo Lorenzi def. Joao Sousa, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-3

Denis Shapovalov def. Daniil Medvedev, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2

No. 17 Sam Querrey def. Gilles Simon, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Marton Fucsovics, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6

Thomas Fabbiano def. John-Patrick Smith, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6

No. 16 Lucas Pouille def. Ruben Bemelmans, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Jared Donaldson def. Nikoloz Basilashvili, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6

Borna Coric def. Jiri Vesely, 7-6, 7-6, 6-2

Jordan Thompson def. No. 13 Jack Sock, 6-2, 7-6, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4

No. 4 Alexander Zverev def. Darian King, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4

Women's Results

Maria Sharapova def. No. 2 Simona Halep, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

No. 9 Venus Williams def. Viktoria Kuzmova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

No. 3 Garbine Muguruza def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-0, 6-3

No. 13 Petra Kvitova def. Jelena Jankovic, 7-5, 7-5

No. 16 Anastasija Sevastova def. Carina Witthoeft, 7-5, 6-1

Maria Sakkari def. No. 24 Kiki Bertens, 6-3, 6-4

Sofia Kenin def. No. 32 Lauren Davis, 7-5, 7-5

No. 18 Caroline Garcia def. Tereza Martincova, 6-0, 6-1

No. 31 Magdalena Rybarikova def. Camila Giorgi, 6-3, 6-4

No. 30 Julia Goerges def. Annika Beck, 6-0, 6-1

Aleksandra Krunic def. No. 7 Johanna Konta, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Kristyna Pliskova def. Misa Eguchi, 6-2, 6-2

Arina Rodionova def. Richel Hogenkamp, 7-5, 7-5

Ekaterina Alexandrova def. Anna Zaja, 6-2, 6-3

Alize Cornet def. Heather Watson, 6-4, 6-4

Sachia Vickery def. Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1

Ying-Ying Duan def. Claire Liu, 7-6, 7-6

Kateryna Kozlova def. Irina Begu, 6-2, 7-6

Donna Vekic def. Beatriz Haddad Maia, 6-2, 6-1

Saisai Zheng def. Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1

Ekaterina Makarova def. Mona Barthel, 6-2, 6-1

Sloane Stephens def. Roberta Vinci, 7-5, 6-1

Ajla Tomljanovic def. Johanna Larsson, 7-5, 6-4

No. 29 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni def. Monica Puig, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6

Aliaksandra Sasnovich def. Julia Boserup, 6-2, 6-2

Ashleigh Barty def. No. 21 Ana Konjuh, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1

Oceane Dodin def. Pauline Parmentier, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6

No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki def. Mihaela Buzarnescu, 6-1, 7-5

No. 22 Peng Shuai def. Amandine Hesse, 6-4, 6-1

Timea Babos def. Viktorija Golubic, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5

Carla Suarez-Navarro def. Ipek Soylu, 6-4, 6-2

No. 11 Dominika Cibulkova def. Jana Cepelova, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2

Recap

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Monday's opening day wasn't without its share of upsets. Perhaps none was bigger than No. 7 Johanna Konta dropping to Aleksandra Krunic after taking the first set.

Krunic, to her credit, has reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open before, so she was hardly a pushover. But Konta's service game abandoned her, and she largely fell apart after opening the match up 4-1.

Konta wasn't the only top-10 seed to lose in the women's draw. Maria Sharapova, who is on the comeback trail after she was suspended in 2016 for violating the sport's anti-doping policy, outlasted No. 2 Simona Halep in a showdown between two of the biggest names in the tournament. 

It was a back-and-forth affair that resembled a semifinal or final more than a first-round match, and Sharapova was notably emotional after prevailing in the decisive third set and eliminating one of the title threats.

On the men's side, No. 21 David Ferrer's loss was a stunner as well. While Ferrer hasn't had a great season, he came into New York in fine form, having advanced to the semifinals in Cincinnati two weeks ago. That run included victories over Dominic Thiem and Pablo Carreno Busta.

The top contenders in action remained unscathed, however. While No. 5 Cilic advanced, he acknowledged he wasn't at his best after dropping a set to Sandgren.

"I feel just a little bit rusty," he said in his on-court interview, per Eurosport. "I need a few matches to get in the rhythm. I was hitting some good shots and then making some unforced errors."

No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cruised, meanwhile, winning an incredible 94 percent of his first-serve points, per USOpen.org. No. 10 John Isner wasn't quite that clinical, though he did bash 22 aces, showing off his impressive power.

For the women, No. 9 Venus Williams won and maintained an impressive streak in the process, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Kuzmova didn't make things easy, however, taking a set from Williams.

"I didn't do a lot wrong, she just stepped it up," Williams acknowledged, per BBC Sport.

Williams, who hasn't won a major since 2008, could return to the top of the rankings for the first time since 2002, though that wasn't on her mind on Monday.

"I just want to win, and if you win you get the ranking," she noted. "Winning is all I want to do."

Garbine Muguruza, meanwhile, maintained her status as tournament favorite with a strong performance on Monday, as SI.com's Jon Wertheim wrote: 

 "With Serena Williams assuming the status of expectant mother, Spain's Muguruza has assumed the status as the favorite to win the women’s title. This would mean backing up her Wimbledon triumph and—more relevant—continuing the hardcourt prowess she showed off earlier this month in Cincinnati. Muguruza has four career titles and two of them are Slams, the encapsulation of an up-and-down career. Sometimes she’s Mugu-ruthless. Other times Mugu-rueful. At the U.S. Open, she’s never been past the second round. On Monday, she kicked off the tournament with a dazzling performance, beating Varvara Lepchenko, the American veteran, 6-0, 6-3 in roughly the time it takes to read this item. Intentional or not, Muguruza fired off a message to the field today."

There's a lot of tennis left to be played, of course. But at the moment, it doesn't look like any of the women in contention are going to derail Muguruza.