No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan assuaged concerns about her readiness for the U.S. Open with a 74-minute victory over teenage wild card Thea Frodin on Tuesday in New York.
Rybakina prevailed 6-3, 6-2 in the first-round match, never faltering on her serve and breaking Frodin three times in six opportunities. Rybakina recorded 17 winners and committed just 11 unforced errors, while her 17-year-old opponent from Los Angeles had 11 aces among her 19 winners but also hit 21 unforced errors.
Rybakina sustained a left ankle injury and retired during her quarterfinal match against Poland’s Iga Swiatek at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati in August. This was her first match back.
“We’ll see day by day,” Rybakina said post-match about how her injury was holding up. “I’m glad I won the match. We’ll see how I’m gonna feel tomorrow because I had to take quite a break and wasn’t doing much physical. For now, it’s been OK.”
Rybakina had to wait a bit longer to get her U.S. Open underway, as action was delayed by rain for three hours and 45 minutes Tuesday morning.
Rybakina is in line to take over the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. A semifinal berth would guarantee it — and would mark her first time reaching the fourth round at Flushing Meadows — but she’ll also gain the top spot so long as current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff do not win the Grand Slam.
Frodin earned her spot in the U.S. Open by prevailing at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships. She gained a bit of fame previously by serving as the body double for the actress who played Serena Williams in the 2021 movie “King Richard.”
Gauff, seeded fourth, rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in her opener. Gauff finished with a 5-0 advantage in aces and saved four of the five break points she faced.
No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia opened her tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Indonesia’s Janice Tjen in just 69 minutes. The 19-year-old Andreeva is aiming to make it two majors in one year after winning her first Grand Slam this summer at the French Open. Her next opponent will be German Eva Lys, who beat Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3.
In the biggest WTA upset of the day, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva knocked out No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
No. 22 seed Madison Keys joked that she was feeling her age after she defeated 19-year-old Alina Korneeva of Russia, 7-5, 6-4, in their opening match.
“It’s always funny; I think I’m still a teenager, so looking across the net and seeing a teenager doesn’t make much sense to me,” said Keys, 31.
The 2017 U.S. Open finalist had 21 winners to Korneeva’s seven and earned victory despite committing 30 unforced errors. Her second-round opponent will be Hungary’s Anna Bondar, who defeated Czech qualifier Lucie Havlickova 6-3, 6-3.
Greek No. 32 seed Maria Sakkari was down a set and two breaks before rallying past Robin Montgomery 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
No. 17 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, No. 23 Elise Mertens of Belgium and No. 24 Anastasia Potapova of Austria all advanced with straight-set wins.
–Field Level Media
