NEW YORK, (Reuters) – World number one Iga Swiatek got the defence of her U.S. Open crown off to an ominous start blasting Swede Rebecca Peterson 6-0 6-1 yesterday before turning the spotlight over to evening headliner Novak Djokovic, who is making his Flushing Meadows return in a prime time match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The U.S. Open will also welcome back fan favourite and twice finalist Caroline Wozniacki, who retired in 2020 to raise a family and is set to face Russia’s Tatiana Prozorova across the grounds on Louis Armstrong court.
A return to competition has been predictably bumpy for the former-world number one Dane who lost in the second round in Montreal and in the first round in Cincinnati earlier this month in her first two tournaments back.
It is not often Swiatek is the opening act but the Pole was handed the thankless task of kicking off the year’s final Grand Slam in front of a sparse sleepy morning audience.
Winner of three of the last six Grand Slams, not even the world’s best women’s player was able to inject some excitement into a lifeless contest that was little more than a practice session for the Pole and mercifully completed in under 60 minutes.
“I feel like I could play proactively from the beginning and just didn’t stop,” said Swiatek, who next meets Australian Daria Saville, who schooled 17-year-old American wildcard Clervie Ngounoue 6-0 6-2. “I’m just happy that this was such a nice first round, because first rounds are usually tricky. “Also, I’m happy that I kind of had time to implement all of the stuff that I practiced on.”
Prevented from playing in last year’s U.S. Open due to being unvaccinated against COVID-19, Djokovic will begin his quest to match Margaret Court’s all-time record haul of 24 Grand Slams against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
Coming off a win at the Cincinnati Open, Djokovic will be expected to dispose of Muller in equally snappy fashion with the 84th ranked Frenchman, who has never beaten a top 10 opponent and will be making his main draw debut at Flushing Meadows.
If the 36-year-old Serb can reach the second round he will return to world number one on Sept. 11, bumping Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz from the top spot.
Day One of the season’s final Grand Slam produced a double Spanish surprise with Roberto Carballes Baena and Rebeka Masarova pulling off upsets to claim first ever wins over top 10 ranked opponents.
Carballes Baena dispatched men’s fourth seed Holger Rune of Denmark 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-2 while Masarova showed Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari the exit 6-4 6-4.
A U.S. Open semifinalist in 2021 the early exit capped a miserable Grand Slam campaign for Sakkari, who also suffered first round losses at Wimbledon and French Open.
Norwegian fifth seed Casper Ruud, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s U.S. Open, narrowly avoided a similar fate battling past American qualifier Emilio Nava 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-4 7-6 (5).
