Pegula cruises, Krejcikova crashes out as US Open begins

At Flushing Meadows, the US Open kicked off with Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American, sweeping past Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, at Arthur Ashe Stadium. This marked the first round of play, featuring a record $108 million prize pool. The sport's highest-ranked player will now face the winner of Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin's match.

Pegula's opponent, 27th-seeded Barbora Krejcikova, exited the tournament in a dramatic fashion, saving six match points before losing to Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova, 7-6(4), 6-2. Rakhimova, who has yet to reach the third round at the majors, will face the winner of a match between Japan's Aoi Ito and Spain's Oksana Selekhmeteva.

In another match, Jasmine Paolini, an Italian and 2024 Wimbledon and French Open finalist, survived a scare against Slovenia's Veronika Erjavec, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and will play a winner from a later match between her compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini and Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska. Disruptions to the field included Czech Jiri Lehecka's 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 victory over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and Casper Ruud's withdrawal due to a back injury.

This year's US Open, running for a second year in 15 days, saw guests flock to Flushing Meadows despite pristine playing conditions. The tournament also announced an additional day to the schedule due to high demand.