The first two matches on Center Court in Cincinnati today both were surprising upsets, but there was a common theme behind them. Despite their disappointing losses, moreover, neither of these results bodes poorly for Venus Williams or J-Wilfried Tsonga’s US Open hopes.

To be fair, Lucie Safarova beating Venus Williams wasn’t even technically an upset. As of this week, Safarova was ranked at No. 17 with Venus just behind her at No. 20. Safarova is a very solid player and has earned her ranking. Still, after Venus’ incredible run last week to the final in Montreal, people were expecting a bit more from her. Certainly no one expected her to be blitzed in the second set as she was, falling behind 5-1 in that set and 5-2 in the third before losing the match by a respectable scoreline of 6-7 6-3 6-4.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also lost in straight sets, 6-1 6-4 to Mikhail Youzhny. The Russian is an established talent who once reached the US Open semifinals, but he was never able to sustain a top-10 ranking and has been ranked between No. 15 and No. 40 for the past three years. Youzhny is never a pushover, but people nevertheless expected more from Tsonga, who was coming off the greatest week of his life. He defeated Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov, and Roger Federer on consecutive days en route to the Toronto title just two days ago.

Both Venus and Tsonga played just two days ago, which in turn was the fourth straight day of matches for them. There is a reason why it is very rare for players to win back-to-back Masters in consecutive weeks. It is nearly impossible to turn around so quickly and consistently play top-level tennis. When Rafael Nadal won both events last year, he was a top-eight seed in Cincinnati and therefore received a first-round bye. This gave him two full days of rest. Since neither Venus nor Tsonga had a bye, they each had to play with just one day between tournaments.

Tsonga summed it up perfectly in his post-match press conference, saying, “I just gave everything last week. Before the match, I believed I was able to play at the good level, but on the court I realized that it's going be impossible. And it was.”

Venus refused to blame the loss on fatigue and gave full credit to her opponent, but she also noted that “Maybe [it] would have been a little better to play a little later in the day.”

This phenomenon of quick turnarounds is quite common at most levels of tennis. People will play many consecutive weeks at Challenger levels. Even at ATP 250 and 500 events, we often see a finalist from the previous week playing on Tuesday. In smaller countries, players may even play five matches in each of three consecutive weeks at the Futures level. The fact is, though, that we don’t often see this at the top levels of tennis.

And, no matter who you are, it takes a lot more out of you to beat a top-20 player than a top-200 player. Players at Challengers and Futures events can sometimes remain competitive if they are a bit fatigued or not at 100%. At the Masters level, where you can face five top-25 opponents in six days, as Tsonga just did, being anything less than 100% and winning isn’t usually possible. The fact that Safarova and Youzhny are both top-25 players was also vital. If they were not as talented, it is entirely possible that Tsonga or Venus (or both) could have fought through and earned another match—and a day’s rest—here.

Therefore, it would be unwise to overreact to these two matches ahead of the US Open. Venus pointed out that she “definitely would have liked to play more matches here.” And any additional match play always helps. But the fact is that both Williams and Tsonga look to be in excellent form heading towards New York City. Venus looks tougher than she has in years, and Tsonga just played the best week of his career. We shouldn’t let one fatigued day alter those perceptions. They will be ready to come out firing and impress us in New York City.

In one other notable early match today on Court 3, Robby Ginepri made full use of his wild card in this tournament, beating Dominic Thiem in three thrilling sets. Thiem was not at his best, and Ginepri made sure he took full advantage. A slight lull cost him the second set, but Ginepri took a tight third set 7-5 for only his third win at a Masters event since 2008.

Also, Vasek Pospisil defeated Radek Stepanek in a third-set tiebreak. It is the fourth match so far this tournament that had to go to a tiebreaker in the third set, all of them in men’s action.