Final yr’s US Open girls’s singles finalists superior to the third spherical of this yr’s occasion with straight-set wins on Wednesday in New York.
Prime-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the reigning champion, topped Russia’s Polina Kudermetova 7-6 (4), 6-2, and fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the US rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
Sabalenka improved her 2025 report in tiebreakers to 19-1 by taking the first-set tiebreaker vs. Kudermetova. The 19 tiebreaker wins in a yr signify an Open Period report, after the previous mark of 16 was shared by three gamers.
Requested to clarify her tiebreaker success, Sabalenka mentioned, “Truthfully, I do not know. I am simply making an attempt to remain aggressive. I am making an attempt to combat for each level. I do know that each level could be a key second of the set so I am simply making an attempt to remain robust.”
Subsequent up for Sabalenka is a matchup towards Thirty first-seeded Leylah Fernandez, who rallied previous France’s Elsa Jacquemot 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday. The Canadian upset Sabalenka within the semifinals of the 2021 U.S. Open.
Pegula labored a tick over an hour to get previous Blinkova.
Pegula had 30 winners and no double-faults and is about for a match towards three-time runner-up and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Friday.
Pegula has dropped solely eight whole video games in her two matches. She has now posted wins within the first two rounds for the sixth consecutive U.S. Open.
Azarenka and Pegula every have three wins of their six profession matches.
Pegula saved 4 match factors in a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Azarenka on the Charleston Open in 2024. Azarenka claimed their 2023 match within the Australian Open quarterfinals.
A former World No. 1, the 36-year-old Azarenka fell behind Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier than profiting from 25 unforced errors for a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
“She began actually robust, I needed to discover my ft and get my depth up and begin making extra first balls and dictating extra,” Azarenka mentioned. “However after a number of video games, I began to search out my type just a little bit.”
Emma Raducanu, the U.S. Open champion as a qualifier 4 years in the past, rode a dominant first serve to a straightforward win. She wanted exactly 60 minutes for a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Indonesian qualifier Janice Tjen. Raducanu, the British No. 1 participant, has solely dropped six video games by way of two matches within the 2025 U.S. Open.
“I am more than happy with how I performed at the moment within the second spherical. After two days it type of breaks the rhythm just a little bit,” Raducanu mentioned.
No. 10 seed Emma Navarro gained a matchup of Individuals, defeating Caty McNally 6-2, 6-1. She’ll face the Czech Republic’s Barbara Krejcikova, who started her match with an upset of No. 22 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada, within the third spherical.
Because the lights illuminated on the courts in Flushing, 4 seeded gamers have been upset, whereas 5 moved onto the third spherical.
The very best seed to go down was No. 17 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, who dropped a three-set determination to Australia’s Priscilla Hon. Hon, ranked No. 126, rallied to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. She reeled off 18 aces and gained 82 p.c of her first-serve factors.
Ann Li defeated No. 16 Belinda Bencic, of Switzerland, by a convincing 6-3, 6-3 margin, whereas doubles specialist Taylor Townsend eradicated No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 7-5, 6-1.
In a minor upset, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic defeated No. 32 McCartney Kessler, 7-6 (7), 6-2.
Different seeded gamers to maneuver onto the third spherical have been No. 5 Russian Mirra Andreeva, Italy’s No. 7 Jasmine Paolini, No. 9 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Belgium’s No. 19 Elise Mertens.
In a match of unseeded gamers, Cristina Busca of Spain knocked off Philippine sensation Alexa Eala, 6-4, 6-3.
–Subject Stage Media/Reuters