NEW YORK, (Reuters) – World number one Iga Swiatek kicked off her defense of her US Open crown yesterday by blasting Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-0 6-1 before turning the spotlight on the evening’s headliner Novak Djokovic, who makes his return to Flushing Meadows first. time trial match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The US Open will also welcome back fan favorite and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki, who retired in 2020 to raise a family and is set to face Russia’s Tatiana Prozorova on the Louis Armstrong court.
As expected, it has been a bumpy return to competition for the former world number one Dane who lost in the second round in Montreal and the first round in Cincinnati earlier this month in her first two tournaments. back.
It’s not often that Swiatek opens, but the Pole was given the thankless task of kicking off the last Grand Slam of the year in front of a sparse and sleepy morning crowd.
Winner of three of the last six Grand Slam tournaments, even the best player in the world failed to inject some enthusiasm into a lifeless competition that was little more than a training session for the Pole and, fortunately, was over in less than 60 minutes.
“I feel like I was able to play proactively from the start and didn’t stop,” said Swiatek, who will next meet Australian Daria Saville, who trained the 17-year-old U.S. wildcard years Clervie Ngounoue 6-0 6-2. “I’m just happy it was such a good first round, because the first few rounds are usually tricky. “Plus, I’m glad I had time to implement everything I’ve been training on.”
Prevented from playing at the US Open last year due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19, Djokovic will begin his quest to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slams against France’s Alexandre Müller.
After winning the Cincinnati Open, Djokovic will have to dispose of Muller in equally sharp fashion with the 84th-ranked Frenchman, who has never beaten a top 10 opponent and will make his main draw debut at Flushing Meadows.
If the 36-year-old Serbian manages to reach the second round, he will become world number one again on September 11, overtaking Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz for first place.
The first day of the final Grand Slam of the season produced a Spanish double upset with Roberto Carballes Baena and Rebeka Masarova pulling off the upset to claim the first ever victory against top-10 ranked opponents.
Carballes Baena knocked out men’s fourth seed Holger Rune of Denmark 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-2 while Masarova showed Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari to a 6-4 6-4 exit.
A 2021 US Open semi-finalist, the early exit capped a miserable Grand Slam campaign for Sakkari, who also suffered first-round defeats at Wimbledon and the French Open.
Norwegian fifth seed Casper Ruud, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s US Open, narrowly avoided a similar fate by beating American qualifier Emilio Nava 7-6 (5) 3-6 6- 4 7-6 (5).
