Two-time major champion Barbora Krejcikova ousted No. 22 seed Victoria Mboko in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday.
Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian who won her first WTA title of any kind at the National Bank Open in her home country earlier this month, struggled with her right wrist heavily taped. While she landed 64 percent of her first serves, Mboko also suffered from 10 double faults while winning only 36 of her 70 service points.
Krejcikova, 29, entered the U.S. Open unranked but is coming off a run to the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open. The Wimbledon champion in 2024 and winner of the 2021 French Open, Krejcikova dominated from the outset against Mboko, winning 69 total points to her opponents’ 49.
Krejcikova will next face unranked Moyuka Uchijima from Japan in the second round.
“I’ve been really busy, we’ve been really practicing and also we enjoyed the city,” Krejcikova said in her on-court interview after the match. “We discovered a lot of good ice creams around the city and a lot of nice restaurants.
“I’m enjoying it. So, it’s been good, and I hope I can be here as long as I can.”
No. 17 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia also advanced by rallying for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over China’s Yuan Yue.
Samsonova had 10 aces to two for Yue while saving six of nine break points.
No. 30 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine was eliminated 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 by Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova despite having 43 winners to 19 for her opponent. Yastremska was undone by 53 unforced errors.
Also advancing out of the first round was Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who was a 6-4, 7-6 (4) winner over Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, while Australia’s Priscilla Hon won 6-3, 7-5 over France’s Leolia Jeanjean. France’s Diane Parry was an easy 6-1, 6-0 winner over Czechia’s Petra Kvitova and No. 19 Elise Mertens of Belgium did the same over American Alyssa Ahn.
