No.2 seed Diana Shnaider and No.15 seed Wang Yafan delivered impressive performances to reach the second round of US Open qualifying on Day 2.
No.85-ranked Shnaider, who cracked the Top 100 earlier this year while still playing at NCAA level for North Carolina State, overpowered Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-4 in just 77 minutes. Shnaider dropped just three points behind her first serve, and was not broken in the contest. The 19-year-old, who reached her first tour-level semifinal in Hamburg last month, will next face former Roland Garros junior champion Elsa Jacquemot.
Diana Shnaider's fearless approach to tennis and fashion
Former World No.47 Wang inflicted a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash in just 53 minutes on 17-year-old Sara Bejlek, extending her winning streak to eight matches after capturing the Stanford WTA 125 title as a qualifier last week. Against Bejlek, Wang conceded just nine points -- and did not face game point -- over the last nine games of the contest.
Wang, who missed seven months of action in 2022 and was ranked No.696 in March, has soared back up to No.115 this week after compiling a 54-10 record at ITF and WTA 125 level this year. She will next face Ann Li, who advanced past Carlota Martinez Cirez 7-6(1), 6-2.
Hibino, Niemeier, Fruhvirtova among seeded exits
A raft of upsets saw nine seeded players lose their openers on the second day of action. No.1 Nao Hibino, who won her third career title in Prague three weeks ago, fell 7-6(3), 6-3 to Louisa Chirico despite leading by an early break in the first set. The result was a measure of revenge for the No.225-ranked American. This was the third time in the past five Grand Slams that the pair had faced each other in the first round of qualifying, and Hibino had won the previous two, at the US Open last year 6-3, 7-6(3) and the Australian Open in January 7-6(3), 2-6, 7-6[5].
Elsewhere, Despina Papamichail scored her third career Top 100 win with a 6-3, 6-4 upset of No.4 seed and former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Jule Niemeier; and No.363-ranked wild card and University of Florida alumna McCartney Kessler stunned No.7 seed Yuan Yue 4-6, 6-2, 7-6[4] in a 2-hour, 41-minute thriller that came down to a match tiebreak.
Japan's Moyuka Uchijima was in superb form as she dominated No.21 seed Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-1, 6-2 in just 75 minutes. Fruhvirtova, 16, had entered the tournament on a 10-match winning streak after capturing a pair of ITF clay-court titles in Germany this month, but the Czech teenager had few answers as Uchijima swatted away repeated drive volley winners.
This time last year, No.23 seed Daria Snigur delivered one of the most significant upsets of 2022 as she defeated Simona Halep in the first round of the main draw. The Ukrainian could not reproduce that form on her return, though, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Britain's Yuriko Lily Miyazaki.
Arango, Parrizas Diaz, Bassols Ribera, Glozman save match points to advance
Four players pulled off escapes from the brink of defeat on Day 2, taking the total number of first-round winners from match point down to six.
Emiliana Arango fought off five match points in one of the best contests of the day to defeat Ipek Oz 4-6, 6-1, 7-6[7] in 2 hours and 52 minutes. The 22-year-old Colombian trailed 4-1 in the third set, but fended off one match point at 5-4 on her own serve and four more at 6-5, including three in a row. Arango's greater aggression and willingness to come forward then saw her take control of the ensuing match tiebreak.
No.22 seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz trailed Cyprus's Raluka Serban by a set and 5-3 before the former World No.45 turned the contest around to win 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours and 52 minutes. Serban served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but was unable to convert three match points in that game.
No.32 seed Marina Bassols Ribera claimed victory in the longest match of the first round, saving two match points in the second-set tiebreak to overcome Arina Rodionova 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4 in 3 hours and 7 minutes.
Wild card Valerie Glozman, 16, saved two match points serving at 5-6 in the second set before defeating former World No.35 Olga Govortsova 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1. This is just the second professional event of Glozman's career following last year's US Open qualifying, where she also won a round against Dalila Jakupovic.
Zvonareva moves on, Vandeweghe falls
There were contrasting fortunes for two former Top 10 players in action. Vera Zvonareva, the 2010 runner-up, needed only 68 minutes to dismiss Jaimee Fourlis 6-3, 6-0. However, 2017 semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe fell 6-0, 6-2 to Germany's Eva Lys in the same length of time, committing 49 unforced errors in total.
Two youngsters who enjoyed breakthrough WTA debuts last month were unable to sustain their momentum. Maria Timofeeva captured the Budapest title as a lucky loser playing her first WTA main draw, but the 19-year-old No.27 seed was edged 7-6(4), 7-5 on her Flushing Meadows debut by Elvina Kalieva. No.183-ranked American Kalieva led 5-0 in the first set before Timofeeva levelled, but closed it out in a tiebreak; in the second set, she overturned a 4-0 deficit to win seven of the last eight games.
Four weeks ago Noma Noha Akugue, 19, reached the final of her home tournament in Hamburg as a wild card in her first WTA main draw. However, the German teenager fell to Irina Bara 6-2, 6-4, undone by a lack of consistency in the face of Bara's canny defense.