Nine break points saved, then the tenth
Elena-Gabriela Ruse held on for a while. Longer than the final score suggests.
The Romanian saved nine break points across her opening service games today. Jessica Pegula kept arriving at the same place. On the tenth, Ruse cracked, and the set went with her. Pegula won 6-3, 6-2 to open her US Open.
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The break that decided both sets
Once ahead, the American never let the first set drift. The second followed the same shape: a break secured at 3-2, then a closing stretch that Ruse, ranked 64th with 991 points, had no answer for.
Pegula sits third in the world at 7,265 points. The gap between the two showed up in rally construction rather than in raw pace, which is how most of her wins look. She takes the ball early, holds her ground on return, and waits for the error rather than forcing it.
What is actually at stake
Pegula reached the final here in 2024. That run remains the deepest of her career at a major, and it is the result the rest of her season keeps being measured against.
There is a ranking angle as well. Four women can leave New York on Sept. 12 as world No. 1. Pegula is one of them, but her path is narrow: she would have to win the tournament outright. Coco Gauff faces the same condition. Both Americans arrive off a Cincinnati final that Gauff won.
Pegula’s summer had already produced a title in Washington, where she came from behind to beat Alexandra Eala.
Williams or Kenin next
The second round brings a wild card either way. Venus Williams, 46 and playing on a wild card of her own, meets Sofia Kenin on Monday. Kenin won the Australian Open in 2020. Williams has seven major titles, two of them at this tournament.
Whoever comes through that one, Pegula starts the second round as the clear favourite. The harder questions in her half of the draw arrive later in the fortnight.
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