Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina, 2 times US Open Champions Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams were defeated in round one. Naomi Osaka is having a tough year on tour while Elena Rybakina is struggling after not being awarded points for her victory at Wimbledon.
Qualifier Clara Burel defeats Elena Rybakina
The Wimbledon Champion was defeated in straight sets by Clara Burel by 6-4, 6-4. World number 131 Clara played a clean match and converted all of her breakpoint opportunities to assert control.
Elena Rybakina recently complained about the lack of leadership on the tour. She won the Wimbledon Championships in July but wasn’t awarded any ranking points. That has hurt her badly. If she was awarded points for her victory, she would have been world number 8. It also meant that she had to play in an obscure Court No. 12 in her opening round.
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In the first set, Burel, 21, broke to take a 3-2 lead before Rybakina tied the score at 4-4. However, the Grand Slam champion was then broken once more, and her opponent served out the set.
With Rybakina making a total of 37 unforced errors during the match, the Frenchwoman was more dominant in the second set.
Burel went up 2-0 and didn’t slow down until she won with a backhand down the line. She then raised her hands to the skies in relief after making it to the second round of the US Open for the first time.
The loss will further hurt Elena Rybakina as she struggles to build on her victory at Wimbledon.
Danielle Collins defeats 2-time Champion Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka is having a tough year on tour. She hasn’t done much damage this year at the Grand Slam level and continues to struggle for proper match fitness required on tour.
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19th seed Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins defeated Osaka 7-6, (7-5) 6-3. Danielle Collins is playing her first tournament after July. She was out due to a neck injury. Osaka was not seeded this time and her world ranking has dropped to 44.
“Honestly, I just wanted to play without my back being in pain because it’s kind of been bad for the entire hard court season since Toronto,” said Osaka. “I didn’t serve until two days ago so I was really happy with how it went.
“Everyone deals with injuries. For me, it’s been more prominent this year, but it’s something that I can learn (from).”
Alison van Uytvanck defeats Venus Williams in R1
2 time US Open Champion Venus Williams was not able to repeat her sister Serena Williams’s first-round win as she got defeated 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) by Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck.
Venus Williams will play doubles with Serena Williams after they accepted a wild card to enter. The doubles matches begin on 31st August and will mark the first time since Roland Garros 2018 that the sisters will play together.
Serena Williams is preparing to evolve away from tennis after the US Open. Venus Williams was asked if she is also planning to move away from tennis and she said – “Right now I’m just focused on the doubles.”
Van Uytvanck will face Clara Burel in the next round.
