Poland's Iga Swiatek crushed Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-0 to reach the second round of the US Open on Tuesday.
Appearing in New York for the first time as the world's top ranked player, Swiatek looked the part, reeling off the last seven games to set up a meeting with either Belgium's Greet Minnen or American Sloane Stephens.
Top seed Swiatek is the favourite to win the year's final Grand Slam after she dominated the French Open in June and went on a 37-match winning streak that was snapped in the third round of Wimbledon.
But she had looked less impressive in recent outings, going 4-4 in her last eight matches before putting the field on notice on a hot and humid morning at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Eighth-seeded American Jessica Pegula had no problems in defeating Swiss player Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-2 at Grandstand. Pegula’s second-round opponent will be either Italian qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto or Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
Sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka and ninth seed Garbine Muguruza also progressed to the second round. While Belarusian Sabalenka defeated American Catherine Harrison 6-1, 6-3, Spaniard Muguruza was made to work hard for her 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Dane Clara Tauson.
Muguruza will next face Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova who beat China’s Xinyu Wang 6-3, 6-4. Another teenager, China’s Qinwen Zheng, upset 16th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
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