Match of the day: [5] Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs. Linda Noskova (CZE)
For Ons Jabeur, this year's North American summer has been a struggle so far.
She needed treatment on her foot during her Cincinnati quarterfinal loss to Aryna Sabalenka. Then she became sick ahead of the US Open, and needed a doctor's visit and medicine en route to completing an arduous 7-5, 7-6(4) first-round win over Camila Osorio.
US Open 2023: Draw | Order of play | Scores | 411
And aside from her health issues, Jabeur is still competing under the cloud of her Wimbledon final loss to Marketa Vondrousova. She admitted in Flushing Meadows that it "still hurts," and those emotions are evident in her scrappy tennis, far from the free-flowing genius that saw her defeat Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina to reach the final.
No wonder, when Osorio enquired at net whether Jabeur was OK, the Tunisian's response was, "Not really."
A second-round date with Linda Noskova is unlikely to help. The 18-year-old World No.41 is the second-highest ranked teenager in the world behind Coco Gauff. She's coming off a strong hard-court swing that saw her reach her first Hologic WTA Tour final on home soil in Prague, then take down compatriot Petra Kvitova in Cincinnati for her third Top 10 win of the season.
The second of those had been a statement win over Jabeur all the way back in January, when Noskova stunned the top seed 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the Adelaide semifinals. Noskova's run in that tournament, just her fifth tour-level main draw, also featured upsets of Daria Kasatkina and Victoria Azarenka.
The Czech youngster's season since has been more about consolidation than consistency, but there's no doubt about the easy firepower and clean technique she possesses. Noskova's 6-1, 6-2 rout of Madison Brengle in the first round was only her second Grand Slam main-draw victory, but a big-stage run feels inevitable sooner rather than later. Jabeur will need both her health and her form to improve significantly if she's to hold that prospect off this week.
Three more to watch
Martina Trevisan (ITA) vs. [9] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
A first-time encounter between two left-handers who impressed in different ways in their openers. Wimbledon champion Vondrousova was calm and composed in how she first got to grips with, then dissected qualifier Han Na-Lae's idiosyncratic game. She's shown no sign of a dip following her first major crown, and her section of the draw is an inviting one.
Former Roland Garros semifinalist Trevisan will be a tough out, though. The Italian overcame Yulia Putintseva in the longest match of the first round, 0-6, 7-6(0), 7-6[8] in 3 hours and 19 minutes. Her improvement on hard courts this year was evident in a Miami quarterfinal run in March, and Vondrousova will need to keep her intensity high to prevent Trevisan from unleashing on her forehand too much.
[26] Elina Svitolina (UKR) vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
At this year's Roland Garros, Svitolina and Pavlyuchenkova were ranked No.192 and No.333 respectively, and had entered the clay-court major with protected rankings following their comebacks from maternity leave and injury. They both delivered stirring quarterfinal runs, and departed Paris as official tour-level players again.
Svitolina kept going all summer, reaching the Wimbledon semifinals and Washington quarterfinals, and a mere five months since making her return is already the No.26 seed here. Former Roland Garros finalist Pavlyuchenkova has also returned to the Top 100, and now sits at No.99. The pair have been facing each other since 2013, but this will be their first meeting since Rome 2020, when Svitolina won 6-3, 7-6(4) in the second round. Pavlyuchenkova leads the overall head-to-head 3-2, including 2-1 on outdoor hard courts.
[13] Daria Kasatkina vs. Sofia Kenin (USA)
Former Australian Open champion Kenin was another player whose comeback trail finally led her back into the Top 100 this summer. But after upsetting Coco Gauff en route to the third round of Wimbledon, Kenin suffered another setback when a thigh injury ruled her out of the North American hard-court warm-ups. Now ranked No.101, the American made a positive return to action this week with a 7-6(2), 6-4 first-round win over Ana Bogdan.
Kenin also owns a 2-1 head-to-head lead over Kasatkina, who needed to come from a set down to quell big-serving Alycia Parks 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in her opener. However, Kasatkina won their most recent encounter 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of Sydney 2022.
Also in action
Montreal champion and No.3 seed Jessica Pegula faces former World No.56 Patricia Maria Tig for the first time. Tig, 29, is making another comeback this year after being sidelined for 18 months due to a back injury, during which time she also separated from coach and husband Razvan Sabau. Now ranked No.700, her 7-6(6), 7-6(1) first-round win over Rebecca Marino was her first at tour level since Bad Homburg 2021.
No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka will aim to keep her hopes of ascending to World No.1 alive as she takes on No.96-ranked Britain Jodie Burrage for the first time.
Two former US Open finalists will take the court as No.17 seed Madison Keys faces lucky loser Yanina Wickmayer, and No.25 seed Karolina Pliskova meets former junior No.1 Clara Burel.
No.23 seed Zheng Qinwen, who claimed her first WTA title last month in Palermo, was impressive in her first round, racing past Nadia Podoroska 6-1, 6-0. She next faces two-time US Open quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi, the 38-year-old Estonian who first played qualifying at Flushing Meadows in 2002 -- two months before Zheng was born.
