World No.1 Iga Swiatek sent out a serious signal of intent to her rivals on Monday.

The Pole ignited her US Open title defence with a commanding 6-0, 6-1 win over world No. 86 Rebecca Peterson.

Among men, fourth-seeded Holgar Rune stumbled at the first hurdle. The Dane lost 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 to Roberto Carballés Baena of Spain.

Dominic Thiem of Austria, the 2020 champion, defeated No. 25 seed Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

The 22-year-old Swiatek seemed relaxed, connecting with fans with some high-fives on the walkout, but swiftly changed into business mode.

An ace in the opening point set the tone, as Swiatek rushed the Swede and forced Peterson to play extra shots with exquisite brick-wall defence.

The Pole’s pinpoint serving was all-encompassing and earned the world No. 1 her mind-boggling 42nd set for the season with a 6-0 or 6-1 scoreline.

Swiatek did gift a few more errors and Peterson was rewarded for her persistence with an opening game with 37 minutes on the match
clock.

At 1-1 with trouble looming at deuce, Swiatek constructed a point of world-class quality and Peterson played her part too with sublime retrieval skills.

The Pole’s deft drop shot, then overhead, then arrowed backhand pass provided the catalyst to regain the momentum to race towards victory.

“I really wanted to play solid and start the tournament with everything I was focusing on in practice for the whole week here,” stated Swiatek, eager to block outside
noise.

“I’m happy that I could play such a great game, and with all the pressure and expectations, that I can just have fun on court.”

Easy for Azarenka

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka downed Fiona Ferro of France 6-1, 6-2 for her 15th first-round win at Flushing Meadows.

Azarenka is a three-time finalist at the US Open, last reaching the final in 2020, where she was beaten by Naomi Osaka.

Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 15 seed, advanced to the second round by beating Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-4. Spain’s Rebeka Masarova ousted Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4.

Czech Karolina Muchova was the first player into the second round after completing a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Storm Hunter.

Written with inputs from Reuters