No. 4 seed Simona Halep falls to Shelby Rogers at Australian Open

MELBOURNE - American Shelby Rogers made the first noise at the Australian Open when she upset fourth seed Simona Halep 6-3, 6-1 in the opening match of the tournament on Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

The 52nd-ranked Rogers handed the Romanian her second consecutive first-round loss at the Australian Open. Last year, Halep fell to qualifier Zhang Shuai in the opening round.

The fourth-ranked Halep's best Grand Slam result was reaching the 2014 French Open final where she fell to Maria Sharapova.

Rogers, who reached the quarterfinals at the Hobart tournament en route to Melbourne, was 1-4 against Top 10 opponents ahead of her victory over Halep.

In 2016, Rogers posted her best result at a Grand Slam when journeying to the French Open quarterfinals, defeating seeds Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania en route to losing to eventual champion Garbine Muguruza.

Rogers saved the one break point she offered to Halep in the 1 hour, 15 minute match and capably broke Halep’s serve on four of 11 opportunities.

Rogers will play the winner of the match between Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Annika Beck of Germany in the second round.

PHOTOS: AUSTRALIAN OPEN