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Aryna Sabalenka beat the qualifier Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes to extend her US Open winning streak to 16 matches. Jessica Pegula needed 56 minutes to beat Sofia Kenin without facing a break point, and Karolina Muchova conceded one game to Katie Boulter. Every seeded woman in action on Wednesday won, five of them going to three sets.
New York, United States: Fourteen seeded women played second-round matches on Wednesday. Fourteen of them won.
That is not how the men’s draw has gone — three seeds fell on the same day — and it is not how the first round had suggested things might go. It was, in the end, an afternoon of the expected, delivered at the top of the draw at considerable speed.
Fifty-Three Minutes
Sabalenka lost two games. She broke Iatcenko six times, was broken once herself, landed 76 per cent of her first serves and won three-quarters of the points behind them. The qualifier, who had come through a three-set first round, had no way of holding a rally against her.
It is 16 consecutive wins at Flushing Meadows for the two-time defending champion. A third straight title would put her alongside Serena Williams and Chris Evert as the only women in the Open era to win the US Open three years running. Kamilla Rakhimova, who removed Barbora Krejcikova in the first round, is next.
Pegula’s Hour
Pegula was barely slower. She broke Kenin for 3-1 in the opening set, hit 18 winners against eight unforced errors, dropped seven points on serve across the match and never faced a break point in a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Kenin had beaten Venus Williams at two in the morning on Sunday, the latest first-round finish in the tournament’s history. This was the opposite kind of match. Pegula, the 2024 runner-up here, observed afterwards that getting off court in under an hour does not happen every day.
Muchova Drops One Game
The most emphatic result of the day belonged to Karolina Muchova, who beat Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-0 in 58 minutes. She has reached at least the quarter-finals in each of her last three appearances here.
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Marta Kostyuk removed Sloane Stephens, the 2017 champion, 6-1, 7-5 in a little under 90 minutes. Stephens arrived at this tournament ranked 209th in the world after a run of injuries. Linda Noskova, the Wimbledon champion, beat Lanlana Tararudee 6-4, 6-2, and Diana Shnaider ended Karolina Pliskova’s run 6-1, 7-6.
Five Go the Distance
A third of the day’s seeded winners needed three sets. Maya Joint took the second on a tiebreak against Elina Svitolina before the ninth seed closed it out 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.
Ekaterina Alexandrova dropped the second set to Kimberly Birrell and Anna Kalinskaya the second to Wang Xinyu, both recovering in the decider. Ann Li went a set down to Donna Vekic before winning 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
Emma Navarro also lost the opening set, to her compatriot Caty McNally, and came back through a rain interruption to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Muchova is her reward.
The Rest
Jasmine Paolini beat Lucrezia Stefanini 6-4, 6-1, Sorana Cirstea beat Diane Parry 6-2, 7-5, and Leylah Fernandez conceded five games to Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
The four women still contesting the world No. 1 ranking — Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Pegula and Coco Gauff — all remain in the draw, with Rybakina guaranteed the top spot if she reaches the semi-finals. Rybakina and Gauff play their second-round matches on Thursday.
Women’s singles results — US Open, Wednesday 2 September, second round
[1] A. Sabalenka d. P. Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1
[3] J. Pegula d. S. Kenin 6-3, 6-1
[6] L. Noskova d. L. Tararudee 6-4, 6-2
[7] K. Muchova d. K. Boulter 6-1, 6-0
[9] E. Svitolina d. M. Joint 6-2, 6-7, 6-4
[11] M. Kostyuk d. S. Stephens 6-1, 7-5
[15] D. Shnaider d. K. Pliskova 6-1, 7-6
[16] S. Cirstea d. D. Parry 6-2, 7-5
[18] E. Alexandrova d. K. Birrell 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
[19] J. Paolini d. L. Stefanini 6-4, 6-1
[21] A. Kalinskaya d. X. Wang 7-5, 2-6, 6-3
[26] E. Navarro d. C. McNally 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
[29] A. Li d. D. Vekic 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
[31] L. Fernandez d. M. Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York
