The world’s number one and four-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek got a quick straight-set victory at the start of the US Open after defeating Rebecca Peterson (Sweden) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:1) in just 59 minutes of play.
Iga Swiatek was brilliant not only on the serve, but also from the baseline, never stopping to attack her opponent by taking the ball early from the bottom of the court and constantly targeting the lines.
“Frances Tiafoe told me yesterday not to make it too quick bc he doesn’t have time to warm up”, joked Iga Swiatek after the match, as Frances Tiafoe was to start playing on the same court after her match.
The next opponent for Iga Swiatek will be Daria Saville (Australia), who also recorded a convincing success by 2-0 (6:0, 6:2) over the “wild card” Clervie Ngounoue (USA).
It is a curious fact that Iga Swiontek is the first tennis player from the period 1991-1992 to win more than 40 sets with 6:0 within two seasons – the Pole already has 41 (22 in 2022 and 19 in 2023). The previous ones with this achievement were Monica Seles and Steffi Graf.
Iga Swiatek is the US Open champion from last year, her only “major” title on a non-clay surface to date.
The 18th-seeded Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) also took a convincing victory at the start of the US Open, defeating Fiona Ferro (France) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:2), while Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) eliminated Storm Hunter (Australia) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:0)
The big surprise for the day was the loss of the 8th-seeded Maria Sakkari (Greece) to Rebeka Masarova (Spain) by 0-2 (4:6, 4:6).
