Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Naomi Osaka put on a vintage display in her return to the U.S. Open as she took down No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 in one of the highlights of the first round Tuesday in New York.

The four-time major winner and two-time U.S. Open champion (2018, 2020) from Japan notched her first win over a top-10 opponent in more than four years, needing just 64 minutes to do so.

Osaka sat out the 2023 season after delivering her first child. She was emotional in her post-match interview.

“I was trying not to cry when I was walking out,” Osaka said. “Last year I was watching Coco (Gauff) play, and I so badly wanted to step on these courts again. I didn’t know if I could. … Just to win this match and just to be in this atmosphere means so much to me.”

Osaka fired nine aces without a double fault, went 3-for-3 in converting break points and saved both break points she faced. Ostapenko finished with a slight edge in winners (21-19) but committed 21 unforced errors, while Osaka limited herself to five.

Osaka hasn’t moved past the third round in New York since her 2020 title. Her next opponent will be Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Katie Volynets.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland had to work a bit for her opening-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia. Down 6-3 in a second-set tiebreaker, Swiatek saved triple set point and pushed ahead for a 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory.

Swiatek had a 30-9 advantage in winners but committed 41 unforced errors.

“She’s not playing too fast, which kind of makes you want to speed up,” Swiatek said of her opponent. “But you can’t do that in these conditions sometimes because it’s too risky. So I guess I feel like I made a lot of mistakes, because sometimes she was kind of provoking it.”

Swiatek’s next test will come against Japan’s Ena Shibahara, who outlasted Australia’s Daria Saville 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6).

No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan took care of business against Australia’s Destanee Aiava, 6-1, 7-6 (1). No. 5 Jasmine Paolini of Italy rallied past Canada’s Bianca Andreescu 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4.

No. 11 Danielle Collins saw her final U.S. Open end just as soon as it began. The soon-to-retire Collins fell to fellow American Caroline Dolehide 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Approached by the tournament director, who was carrying flowers, Collins waved off a potential ceremony in her honor and left the court.

“I’m not somebody that likes to celebrate my accomplishments,” Collins said after the match. “I’ve struggled with feeling guilt around success, and that’s something I have had to work on. … But I feel like I’ve gotten enough attention to last a lifetime.”

Other seeded players to win Tuesday included No. 15 Anna Kalinskaya, No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova, No. 18 Diana Shnaider, No. 21 Mirra Andreeva and No. 25 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, all of Russia, plus No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, No. 30 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan and No. 31 Katie Boulter of Great Britain. Mexico’s Renata Zarazua upset No. 28 Caroline Garcia of France 6-1, 6-4.

Both 2021 U.S. Open finalists were eliminated in the opening round. The 2021 champion, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu, fell to the United States’ Sofia Kenin 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. The 2021 runner-up, 23rd-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada, lost to Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Also advancing were Italians Sara Errani and Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Americans Ashlyn Krueger and Varvara Lepchenko, France’s Jessika Ponchet, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and Clara Tauson, Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Sara Sorribes Tormo, Hungary’s Anna Bondar, China’s Xinyu Wang and the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Marie Bouzkova.

The final match of the night was an all-U.S. contest featuring sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula and Shelby Rogers.

–Field Level Media