Eight break points squandered, and it still looked easy
Jessica Pegula opened her US Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Sunday in New York. The scoreline reads clean. The tennis was not, at least not early.
The third seed burned eight break points in the third game before she finally broke the Romanian two games later. After that she settled. Ruse created a single break point in the whole match and Pegula never lost serve. Twenty-six winners against 14 unforced errors is the kind of ratio that wins first rounds without drama.
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“Everyone’s panicking in the first three days”
The 32-year-old did not pretend otherwise on court afterwards. “A lot of nerves today,” she said. “Everyone’s panicking in the first three days, so I’m glad that’s out of the way.”
That is unusually candid for a player at her 10th US Open. The context explains it. She is still the highest-ranked American woman, she reached the final here in 2024 before losing to Aryna Sabalenka, and every August since has arrived with a home crowd that makes its hopes very obvious.
An American against an American, and one very long night
Sofia Kenin is next. The 2020 Australian Open champion, in on a wild card, beat Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6 (6) in a night session that started at 12:13 a.m. and did not end until 2:01 a.m.
The women’s opening day had its casualty too. Barbora Krejcikova, seeded 27th and a two-time major winner, went out to Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan 7-6 (4), 6-2, having saved six match points along the way. Jasmine Paolini, the 19th seed, needed three sets to get past Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec in her first match after seven weeks out with a foot injury.
Pegula’s half of the draw has thinned out early. Before 2024 she rarely reached the second week here, and a jittery opener is not the ideal way to change that pattern. Kenin, who has beaten better players on less sleep, will not care either way.
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