NEW YORK: Lucie Safarova joined the US Open seeds casualty list on Tuesday when the Czech left-hander became the fourth top-10 player to lose in the first round.
Sixth-seeded Safarova slipped to a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, the woman she beat in the semi-finals in New Haven just last week.
"I talked with my coach about what to change. I changed the serve a little bit, made it a more active movement," said the 26-year-old Tsurenko of the tweaks she made from last week's clash with the Czech, who had also beaten her in New York in 2013.
"I received pretty bad because she was a lefty. This time I was playing at the back more."
Safarova, the French Open runner-up, joins seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova and Carla Suarez Navarro, the 10th seed, in failing to get out of the first round.
With world number three Maria Sharapova having pulled out of the tournament through injury, Safarova's defeat also served to ease Serena Williams's path to a calender Grand Slam.
The world number one American reached the second round on Monday when Vitalia Diatchenko retired with a foot injury after just 30 minutes.
World number two Simona Halep avoided the upsets when she reached the second round thanks to New Zealand opponent Marina Erakovic retiring with a knee injury.
Halep was leading 6-2, 3-0 when her 99th-ranked rival called it quits, having received a medical timeout for treatment on her right knee at the end of the first set.
Romanian 23-year-old Halep goes on to face either Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine or Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan for a place in the last 32.
"I had a good start. I was aggressive and played my best tennis today," said Halep, who has yet to get beyond the fourth round in New York.
"I know I can play my best tennis here. I have no expectations. Serena is there. I just want to play my best tennis."
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