Pegula finds form to reach second round of US Open

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula has had a rough time on the courts over the past few weeks. After winning the Bad Homburg title, the 31-year-old American has won only two matches in four events, including a first-round loss at Wimbledon.

But getting back to Flushing Meadows, where she reached her first Grand Slam final 12 months ago, has seemed to give her a boost as the World No. 4 advanced into the second round of the US Open with a straight-sets win over Egypt's Mayar Sherif.

Playing the night session match on Ashe Stadium, Pegula got off to a blistering start to win the first set 6-0. In the second set, Sherif found her rhythm and broke the American to take a 4-1 lead. However, Pegula regained her focus and her form to win five games in a row and complete the 6-0, 6-4 win in one hour and 15 minutes.

She will next meet Anna Blinkova, who defeated Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-1 in another first-round clash on Sunday.

Other notable results

• Also on Sunday evening, seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, who reached the finals in Cincinnati earlier this month, advanced to the second round of the US Open for the third time in six main draw appearances after a straight sets win over Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava.
  
  After winning the first set 6-2, Paolini had to work a lot harder to overcome the spirited Australian in the second set as both players held their service games to take the set into a tiebreak. The two-time Grand Slam runner-up's experience pulled her through for a 6-2, 7-6(4) win to set up a second-round showdown against the experienced 31-year-old Aliaksandra Sasnovich or rising teen Iva Jovic.
  
  
• On a day full of wildly fluctuating three-setters, Japan's Moyuka Uchijima pulled off the greatest escape, saving seven match points to defeat Olga Danilovic 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6[9]. Uchijima faced triple match point twice -- as Danilovic served at 5-3 in the third set, then on her own serve trailing 6-5. In the super-tiebreak, Uchijima let a 6-1 lead slip and had to save a seventh match point trailing 9-8 before converting her first on a Danilovic double fault. At 3 hours and 9 minutes, it was the longest match of Day 1.
  
  Uchijima, who was in tears as she bowed to all four corners of the court afterwards, snapped a 10-match losing streak dating back to the Paris WTA 125 in May. It's also the fourth time she's won from match point down in 2025, following her defeats of Magda Linette at the Australian Open, Anca Todoni in Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers and Lois Boisson in Rouen. Uchijima is tied with Madison Keys for the most wins from match point down of the season so far.
  
  

• Two years after reaching the US Open girls' final, 18-year-old qualifier Tereza Valentova's surge on to the main tour continued with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Lucia Bronzetti. On her US Open debut, the Czech teenager fired 34 winners to Bronzetti's nine to notch her fourth career Top 100 win and extend her 2025 record to 43-9. Valentova also showed fortitude to hold after missing her first two match points at 5-2 in the third set, eventually converting her fifth.
• Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova also had to hold off a late charge by her opponent, qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva. The pair had also met in the first round of Roland Garros in May, with Vondrousova winning 6-4, 6-4. In the reprise, she held her first two match points at 5-2 in the second set, but lapsed into passivity while Selekhmeteva's play grew bolder. Five match points came and went for Vondrousova before she regained control in the tiebreak.
• On a day full of twists and turns wherever you looked, one of the few players to keep it simple was, naturally, Jelena Ostapenko. The No. 25 seed is normally known for her three-set rollercoasters, but delivered an efficient 6-4, 6-3 win over qualifier Wang Xiyu in 1 hour and 37 minutes. The result was Ostapenko's first straight-sets win at a major since Wimbledon 2024.