Defending champion Iga Swiatek moved into monster mode on Monday as she crushed Swede Rebecca Peterson with the loss of just one game to effortlessly power into the second round of the US Open.
The Pole, who needed a few recovery days last week after losing to Coco Gauff in the Cincinnati semis, was ruthless in her demolition of Swiatek which took just 58 minutes.
Swiatek won her 54th match of the season against nine defeats. She now takes on Australian Daria Saville, a 6-0, 6-2 win nover over Wimbledon junior champion Clervie Ngounoue of the US.
Saville, who once stood 20th, is coming back from a nine-month ACL knee injury saga.
“For sure I’m really happy,” Swiatek said. “I feel like I could play proactively from the beginning and just didn’t stop.
“I’m just happy that this was such a nice first round, because first rounds are usually tricky.
“Also, I’m happy that I had time to implement all of the stuff that I practised.”
Swiatek fired 20 winners while holding Peterson to a mere two, with the top seed winning her 18th set this season to love.
The winner faced her only three break points in the opening game of the rout, batting them all away; she has now won 16 consecutive first-round matches in straight sets.
Fourth seed Elena Rybakina began with a revenge win, defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1; victory made up for a loss in Adelaide last January to the Ukrainian.
Eighth seed Maria Sakkari was bundled out on Day 1 6-4, 6-4 by Spain’s Rebecca Masarova, who notched the first Top 10 win of her career.
The Greek seed will end the Grand Slam season without a match win since Australia eight months ago.
Wimbledon finalist Karolina Muchova dispatched Aussie Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-0.
The 10th-seeded Czech claimed the first victory of the fortnight thanks to a late-morning start on a cloudy day at Flushing Meadows.
Muchova, Cincinnati runner-up to Gauff, said she concentrated on the challenge at hand.
“I was trying to be focused more on myself, play my game. I was happy to finish the second set with my serve.
“I got a little loose after the first set, but I played the rallies. I was going for my points.
“It was working; I’m pretty pleased with my performance today.”
Main photo:-Iga Swiatek winning first round match in less than one hour today – by Jimmie48/WTATennis.com
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