World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland nearly delivered her second-round opponent a double bagel, instead settling for a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara at the U.S. Open on Thursday in New York.
The match lasted just 65 minutes, though much of that was eaten up by the second game of the second set, where Shibahara rallied from a 40-15 deficit to win a game that featured eight deuces. That got Shibahara on the board, but it was all Swiatek the rest of the way.
Swiatek’s victory was much more dominant than her first-round trial against Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, which ended 6-4, 7-6 (6).
“I wasn’t really focusing on a score,” Swiatek said post-match. “I just wanted to focus on technicalities and what I practiced yesterday and trying to convert it to my match. I was just trying to stay in the zone. It didn’t matter to me if it was 3-all or 6-1. I just want to keep playing the same way.”
Swiatek’s serve overpowered Shibahara. The top seed won 20 of 24 points on her first serve (83.3 percent) as well as 8 of 10 on her second serve (80 percent). She never faced break point and had just six unforced errors to Shibahara’s 28.
The big news of the afternoon was Kazakh fourth seed Elena Rybakina withdrawing from the major due to injuries. France’s Jessika Ponchet advanced to the third round via walkover.
“Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from my match today due to my injuries,” Rybakina said in a statement. “I did not want to finish the last Grand Slam of the year this way, but I have to listen to my body, and I hope I can close out the remainder of the year strong.”
No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy moved on to the next round when Czech opponent Karolina Pliskova retired due to injury three points into the match.
No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula defeated fellow American Sofia Kenin 7-6 (4), 6-3 to push ahead into the Round of 32. Pegula, who has had a red-hot summer with a WTA 1000 title in Toronto followed by an appearance in the Cincinnati final, has never made it to the semifinal of any Grand Slam event.
Pegula’s Round of 32 opponent will be Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who took out No. 31 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain 7-5, 7-5.
Ashlyn Krueger of the U.S. upset No. 21 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Krueger, a 20-year-old from Missouri, is on to the third round after never making it past the first round at a major.
Other winners Thursday included No. 15 seed Anna Kalinskaya, No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova and No. 18 Diana Shnaider, all of Russia; No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil; No. 30 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan; Sara Errani of Italy; and Anastasia Potapova of Russia.
Three matches remained Thursday evening, including Japan’s Naomi Osaka taking on the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova.
–Field Level Media
