Currently World No.1, Iga Swiatek of Poland survived a shock scare at the US Open on Tuesday when she narrowly managed to edge out the lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova in a very tight first-round clash from Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 2022 US Open champion fought off three set points in a tense second-set tiebreaker before eventually winning 6-4, 7-6(6) after an hour and 52 minutes in Flushing Meadows.
But after its 4-0 opening, suggesting it might be a rout, Swiatek would face the stern resistance of Rakhimova, a month after she had pushed Aryna Sabalenka to three sets in Washington. The match got very heated with much recovery by Rakhimova.
Five-time Slam winner Swiatek blew a chance to serve out the second set at 5-4, then needed to fight through a tricky tiebreaker. She moved past the milestone of 80 career Grand Slam match wins.
Four-time French Open champion Swiatek's 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024 triumphs, was seeking a second US Open title after the Pole had won the 2022 version of the Slam. With victory in 21 of her 22 first-round matches at Flushing Meadows, the Pole secures a last-64 tete-a-tete with either in-form Daria Saville or former doubles world No.4 Ena Shibahara.
In other early-round play Tuesday, America's Caroline Dolehide came from a set down to defeat 11th-seeded Danielle Collins 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, while Britain's 31st-seeded Katie Boulter battled through in three sets against Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus 7-5, 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, the 25th seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, flattened Australian wild card Taylah Preston 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and three minutes.
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