{"id":60593,"date":"2026-08-30T20:35:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/60593\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T20:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:35:19","slug":"jessica-pegula-shakes-off-nerves-to-win-her-opening-match-at-the-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/60593\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Pegula shakes off nerves to win her opening match at the US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Third-ranked Jessica Pegula<\/a> shook off nerves that contributed to a slow start against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, winning her opening match at the U.S. Open<\/a> on Sunday in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Leading off at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 32-year-old American missed her first nine opportunities to break Ruse but found a rhythm and began dominating. Coming off a trip to the final at the Cincinnati Open, which she lost<\/a> to Coco Gauff, Pegula won 92% of her first-serve points on the way to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in 83 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so nervous,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cI was like sending GIFs of what I felt like. It was GIFs of people freaking out and stuff. … The first round of a slam, there\u2019s always a ton of nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe a little more this time, given what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n

Pegula leads the women\u2019s tour with 46 wins this season. She has two titles and has reached three other finals. Pegula can become No. 1 in the women\u2019s rankings if she wins her first major title and No. 2 Elena Rybakina loses before the semifinals. <\/p>\n

Pegula next faces the winner of the match between Venus Williams<\/a> and fellow wild card Sofia Kenin. They\u2019re set to play in the nightcap at Ashe, and Williams and sister Serena are scheduled to play doubles<\/a> together.<\/p>\n

A Sunday start but the champions don\u2019t begin until Monday<\/p>\n

It was the second year of a Sunday start, though some of the biggest headliners don\u2019t begin until Monday. Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> plays her opening match against Camila Osorio, before Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, who won his second U.S. Open title last year, plays his first singles match since April after recovering from a right wrist injury.<\/p>\n

Past U.S. Open champions Naomi Osaka, Iga Swiatek, Sloane Stephens and Stan Wawrinka<\/a> are also on the Monday schedule, along with Wimbledon women\u2019s champion Linda Noskova and men\u2019s contenders such as Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Frances Tiafoe.<\/p>\n

Other early winners Sunday included No. 19 Jasmine Paolini and No. 31 Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up. But No. 27 seed Barbora Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, lost 7-6 (4), 6-2 to Kamilla Rakhimova. <\/p>\n

On the men\u2019s side, Daniil Medvedev was up next at Ashe against Hugo Gaston. Novak Djokovic begins<\/a> his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title on Sunday night against Mariano Navone.<\/p>\n

Djokovic at 39 most recently lost his opening match<\/a> earlier this month at Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Maric Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, and 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud both withdrew with injuries on the opening day.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Open is in the process of getting a new look<\/p>\n

Though the main draws didn\u2019t begin until Sunday, action at the U.S. Open has already been going on for nearly a week. The mixed doubles tournament<\/a>, an exhibition headlined by Roger Federer\u2019s return to Flushing Meadows<\/a> and the singles qualifying tournaments drew large crowds, with admission to the grounds free.<\/p>\n

Fans who came for the first time Sunday may have noticed a tournament in transition. The U.S. Open is in the second year of a three-year renovation project<\/a> of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the main venue at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The improvements in the $800 million project include the addition of some lower-level seating, upgrades and additions of entertainment areas and the construction of a player performance center. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlease pardon our appearance while we are reimagining spectacular,\u201d reads a sign above the entrance to Ashe.<\/p>\n

The project is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2027 U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full tennis coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Third-ranked Jessica Pegula shook off nerves that contributed to a slow start against Elena-Gabriela…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[256,217,1485,1218,419,137,271,897,185,1021,9472,246,244,1550,259,247,887,183,2904,5130,9981,1510,270,84,2034,139,118,1916,1915,22998,50,262,28,1646,463,747],"class_list":["post-60593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us-open","tag-arthur-fils","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-athlete-injuries","tag-barbora-krejcikova","tag-ben-shelton","tag-billie-jean-king","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-casper-ruud","tag-coco-gauff","tag-daniil-medvedev","tag-elena-ruse","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-frances-tiafoe","tag-hugo-gaston","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-jasmine-paolini","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-kamilla-rakhimova","tag-linda-noskova","tag-maria-camila-osorio-serrano","tag-mariano-navone","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-roger-federer","tag-sloane-stephens","tag-sofia-kenin","tag-sophia-kenin","tag-sports","tag-stanislas-wawrinka","tag-tennis","tag-u-s-open-tennis-championships","tag-us-open","tag-venus-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}