To reach success in this match, Viktoriya Tomova had to save four match points in the tiebreak of the second set, and the first three of them were in a row.

The match started better for world’s No 65, Ashlyn Krueger, who took the first set convincingly by 6:1.

At the beginning of the second set, Viktoriya Tomova made her first break in the match, and shortly after that she achieved a second one, with which she led 5:2. However, Ashlyn Krueger was able to erase her deficit and take things to a tiebreak. In it, the American led with 6-3 points, and the first two match points were on her serve. The Bulgarian, however, parried both of her opponent’s serves, then won another points of her own serve, and the last opportunity for Ashlyn Krueger came at 8-7 points before Viktoriya Tomova leveled the sets after 10-8 points.

In the decisive third set, the twists and turns again followed one another. First, Ashlyn Krueger led by 2:0, then Viktoriya Tomova had a 3:2 lead with a break, and the Bulgarian made another break in the ninth game to lead 5:4. She had two match points on her serve at 40-15, but then the American in turn got back into the match, winning her opponent’s serve. Immediately afterwards, however, Viktoriya Tomova made her fourth break of the set to take a 6:5 lead and this time it was enough for her to win the match.

In the second round, the Bulgarian will play with another American – the fourth-seed and 2023 US Open champion Cori Coco Gauff. So far, the two have not met in an official match.

The Canadian tennis player missed three set points in the first set, but defeated the 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider (Russia) by 2-1 (6:7, 6:3, 6:3) and advanced to the next round.

The 10th-seeded Anna Kalinskaya (Russia) defeated the qualifier Anna Bondar (Hungary) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:3) in 74 minutes.

Two more of the seeds won their first matches. The ninth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) eliminated Madison Keys (USA) after 2-0 (7:6, 6:2), and 15th in the main draw Donna Vekic (Croatia) defeated Elise Mertens (Belgium) with 2-1 (3:6, 6:1, 6:3).

In other matches, Magdalena Frech (Poland) eliminated Mai Hontama (Japan) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:4), and the qualifier Erika Andreeva (Russia) defeated Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine) with 2-0 (7:5, 6:4).