Justin Lane/EPA, via Shutterstock
The opening for opportunity for men at the United States Open appeared to be, as it often is, in the one quarter of the draw without any of the Big Three — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The gap in that relatively barren quarter of the draw is much wider after the first-round losses on Tuesday of all three top-10 players placed there.
The fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem bowed out in four sets, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to 87th-ranked Thomas Fabbiano of Italy in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas also lost in four sets to the in-form Andrey Rublev, a 43rd-ranked Russian who defeated Federer at the Cincinnati Masters this month.