There will be no shortage of Czech representation in the second round as 22nd seed Karolina Pliskova beat Poland's Magda Linette 6-2 4-6 7-6 (10-8) to set up a match against Marie Bouzkova. Spanish ninth seed Garbine Muguruza also reached the second round, beating Dane Clara Tauson 6-3 7-6 (7-5), while 16th seed Jelena Ostapenko was defeated 6-3 3-6 6-4 by Chinese world number 39 Qinwen Zheng.Īmerican 24th seed Amanda Anisimova, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, fell at the first hurdle here, losing 6-3 6-3 to Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, while 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin of the United States was beaten in straight sets by Germany's Jule Niemeier. Van Uytvanck will face Rybakina's conqueror Burel in the next round. The Williams sisters will team up in the women's doubles for what is expected to be the last time as younger sister and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena prepares to "evolve away" from tennis, while Venus' future in the sport remains unknown.Īsked after her defeat if she too might be preparing to evolve away from the sport, Venus replied: "Right now I'm just focused on the doubles." Williams, the US Open champion in 20, committed three double faults and hit 13 unforced errors as Van Uytvanck dominated the first set, but found her feet in the second to force a tie-break - though her efforts eventually proved fruitless. Making her 91st Grand Slam singles main draw appearance, the 42-year-old could not follow in younger sibling Serena's footsteps in progressing on Arthur Ashe Stadium. There will be only one Williams sister in the singles second round in New York after Venus Williams was beaten 6-1 7-6 (7-5) by Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck. "I think when you face as many challenges as I've faced with some of the things I've been dealing with, you're more grateful to be out here." Venus Williams exits in first round Venus Williams first competed in the US Open 25 years ago, losing in the 1997 final to Martina Hingis as a 17-year-old "I felt happy just to be out here playing. "I lost to Naomi three times before, so going into the match I had a lot of information on what I needed to do better, areas I could improve," said Collins, who will play Spain's Cristina Bucsa in the next round. For me, it's been more prominent this year, but it's something that I can learn (from)."Ĭollins, 28, lost to Ash Barty at the Australian Open in January, but had not played since July because of a neck injury. "I didn't serve until two days ago so I was really happy with how it went. "Honestly, I just wanted to play without my back being in pain because it's kind of been bad for the entire hard court season since Toronto," said Osaka. Japan's former world number one Osaka, 24, has had an inconsistent year on tour and has dropped to 44th in the world rankings, having missed the entire grasscourt season and losing in the first round in Toronto and Cincinnati.Ī winner at Flushing Meadows in 20, she was unseeded this time and has not won back-to-back matches since a run to the Miami final in April. The Frenchwoman was more dominant in the second set as Rybakina helped her opponent with a total of 37 unforced errors in the match.īurel went 2-0 up and remained ahead until she claimed victory with a backhand down the line before raising her hands to the sky in relief at reaching the US Open second round for the first time. With her ranking instead down at 25, she was scheduled on the relative obscurity of court 12 in New York.īurel, 21, broke to go 3-2 up in the first set, before Rybakina levelled things at 4-4 but the Grand Slam winner was immediately broken again and her opponent served out the set. Moscow-born Rybakina, who now represents Kazakhstan, would have moved into the world's top eight if ranking points - which were stripped because Wimbledon had banned Russian and Belarusian players - had counted. The US Open is the only major where men and women use different balls. Two-time French Open winner Swiatek is one of several female players to complain about the "horrible" balls being used at Flushing Meadows. Poland's Swiatek, 21, needed just one hour and six minutes to beat Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-0 in New York and faces 2017 winner Sloane Stephens next.Īmerican Stephens came back from 6-1 3-1 down to beat Belgium's Greet Minnen 1-6 6-3 6-3.
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