Jessica Pegula cruises to victory in U.S. Open first round

Third-seeded Jessica Pegula shook off some early nerves and rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Sunday in the opening round of the U.S. Open in New York.

Pegula, the 2024 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, squandered eight break-point opportunities in the third game before finally breaking Ruse two games later. Once she did, the top-ranked American settled in and took control, eventually winning the match without ever having her own serve broken.

"A lot of nerves today," Pegula said on court after the match. "I feel there's a ton of nerves. Everybody's freaking out for the next three days, but I'm glad that it's over with, it's done with now."

Pegula finished with 26 winners against 14 unforced errors and generated 18 break points, converting four. Ruse managed just one break-point chance against Pegula.

The 32-year-old Pegula, making her 10th U.S. Open appearance, will face another American in the second round. She gets the winner of Sunday night's meeting between two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams and 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin.

While Pegula avoided an opening-day surprise, Czech No. 27 seed Barbora Krejcikova wasn't as fortunate.

Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova knocked off the two-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (4), 6-2, converting her seventh match point to send the first seeded player out of the women's draw in the early portion of Sunday's schedule. Krejcikova fought off six match points before Rakhimova finally closed it out.

"It's funny. I watched the highlights of her previous match (against Taylor Townsend) and she saved eight match points and won," Rakhimova said. "I was trying not to think about it."

Rakhimova won the final five games and advanced to the second round at the U.S. Open for the second time in her career.

No. 19 Jasmine Paolini of Italy also had to work to survive her opener, getting past Slovenia's Veronika Erjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Playing her first match in more than seven weeks after a foot injury sidelined her following Wimbledon, Paolini recovered after dropping the second set and built a 4-1 advantage in the decider before finishing off the victory.

"Coming back from injury is never easy," Paolini said. "I was feeling a little too nervous and I think that affected my legs."

Two other seeded players advanced in straight sets. No. 11 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated Australia's Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-1, while Canadian No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up, dispatched China's Shuai Zhang 6-3, 6-2.

--Field Level Media