The first day of the end of the Grand Slam season was rife with excitement, surprising struggles by seeds, and all-around great tennis. From the first ball to an exciting last match (even with the lopsided scoreline), the day did not disappoint. Here were the standouts, for better or worse, of Day 1 at the US Open.

Honor Roll:

Novak Djokovic (defeated Diego Schwartzman 61 62 64):  First of all, we need to give credit to the world No. 1. After disappointing performances in Toronto and Cincinnati, we weren’t quite sure what to expect from Novak. He did very well to beat an inspired youngster with little trouble. Schwartzman hit the ball with power throughout and made some insane highlight-reel plays. But even with the crowd chanting, “Go Diego Go,” Djokovic came through with no trouble whatsoever.

Michael Llodra (defeated Gimeno-Traver 64 63 75):  Some questioned whether or not it was proper for the French wild card to be given to Llodra. After all, he had lost his last 13 sets against top-300 players. He played solid tennis and was surprisingly strong from the baseline. This is his last Slam, and he earned himself at least one more chance to make it memorable.

Nick Kyrgios (defeated Youzhny 75 76 26 76): This was more than just a good upset from an up-and-coming youngster. This was Kyrgios reminding us what he was capable of at Wimbledon this year. His serve was formidable, although he was broken four times. Still, he played clutch when it came down to it. He hasn’t quite had enough Tour-level experience this year, so it was nice to see that he hasn’t lost anything from his form at Wimbledon.

Room for Improvement:

Andy Murray (defeated Haase 63 76 16 75)- Murray played well for the majority of this match, but there was a long stretch where he basically just stopped moving. He looked physically out of it and lost the third set in embarrassing fashion. He dug an early hole in the fourth set as well before finally pulling out of it and taking the match. There’s no nice way to describe how he played for almost an hour, though. 

Radek Stepanek (lost to Bachinger 36 26 26)- Stepanek is not quite the player he once was, and it is unfair to expect too much from him on a consistent basis. While he did challenge Djokovic for several hours at Wimbledon this year, he is also prone to mediocrity in these later stages of his career. That’s no excuse for this match, though. He just played an out-and-out poor tennis match from start to finish. It’s disappointing from Stepanek, whom we know is capable of so much more.

Vasek Pospisil (lost to Bolelli 62 46 26 63 63)- This wasn’t a thoroughly poor match from Pospisil. This was a tight match from both players and was really pretty intense. Still, Pospisil has shown he is capable of more on this surface and a good showing would have been great from him here. It wasn’t meant to be, though, as he was upset by Bolelli in five sets.

Match of the Day:

There are two real choices I could pick here (with Rola/Verdasco coming in second), but I am going to go with the all-French matchup between Julien Benneteau and Benoit Paire. The “Battle of the Bennys” was a tense, back-and-forth affair. No one really gained any momentum for long stretches, and each set came down to who settled their nerves best in the closing moments. The fifth set was no different than the rest of the match. Paire broke Benneteau to open it, but Benneteau responded by breaking Paire’s next two service games. He couldn’t hold on to the rest of the match and build off of his Cincinnati success, unfortunately. He in turn was broken in his final two service games of the match, giving Paire the 76 57 64 46 64 upset.