Defending champ Aryna Sabalenka wins 1st-round US Open match

NEW YORK — Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka moved into the second round of the US Open on Sunday after weathering a challenging first set in her first match.

The No. 1-ranked player took down Swiss player Rebeka Masarova 7-5, 6-1, but it wasn’t without struggle. Sabalenka went down a break early in the first set, keeping the two neck-and-neck until the defending champion was able to pull away from their 5-5 deadlock.

Sabalenka then dominated the second set, dropping only one game en route to her eventual victory.

“I feel like I didn’t start my best in the first games, but then I found my rhythm. Happy with the level I played today,” she said after the win.

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She credited the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium for helping her make it through that tight first set.

“When I won that set point and you were cheering me up, I had goosebumps while I was sitting,” Sabalenka said on the court. “Your support means a lot to me, and thank you so much.”

Since the start of 2023, Sabalenka has won 59 major matches to lead all women. She is bidding to become the first woman to successfully defend her US Open title since Serena Williams in 2014. This run of 10 straight US Opens without a back-to-back champion on the women’s side is the longest since the tournament eliminated the Challenge Round in 1912.

The three-time Slam champion has gone through three of this year’s four Grand Slams without a title.

Sabalenka will next face Polina Kudermetova, who became the first player to advance at this year’s tournament when her opponent Nuria Parrizas Diaz retired after only four games.

Sabalenka defeated Kudermetova in their most recent matchup in Dubai in February.

In other women’s singles results Sunday, Janice Tjen took down No. 24 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to become the first Indonesian player to win a major match since Angelique Widjaja at Wimbledon in 2003.

“It means a lot. I feel proud to be able to do this for my country,” Tjen said. “Hopefully [my] appearance here will help inspire more … younger kids to play tennis and also believe they can be here too.”

Tjen, who played college tennis at Oregon and finished her career at Pepperdine, qualified her way into the main draw. From May to July, she won 27 consecutive ITF matches, a run that included five titles.

Earlier Sunday, Emma Raducanu won a match in New York for the first time since she captured the 2021 US Open title, eliminating Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2. Raducanu needed just 62 minutes to reach the second round, the fastest major match win of her career.

American Jessica Pegula, the 2024 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, was up against Mayar Sherif in the last match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.