Clara Burel joined the growing list of giant-killing qualifiers at this year's US Open as she toppled Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4 6-4 in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
Hot on the heels of Ukrainian Daria Snigur's win over two-time grand slam winner Simona Halep and Colombian Daniel Galan's triumph over fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 131-ranked Burel produced an assured display to eliminate Rybakina.
Kazakhstan's Rybakina squandered six of the seven break points she earned in the first set as she racked up 19 unforced errors, committing 37 in all over the course of the match.
Former junior number one Burel capitalised on her chances to break in the fifth and ninth games.
Burel broke the Russian-born Rybakina in the opening game of the second set and won more than three-quarters of her first-serve points under hot and humid conditions.
Emma Raducanu's title defence ended at the first hurdle while two-time US Open winner Naomi Osaka was also ousted in the opening round.
British teenager Raducanu made a dream run to the title as a qualifier last year but her return to court at Flushing Meadows was less memorable as she fell 6-3 6-3 to Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.
Osaka, unseeded this year, lost 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to Australian open finalist Danielle Collins.
Venus Williams kept her thoughts on her tennis future to herself after losing to Alison van Uytvanck.
The 42-year-old is now ranked down at 1,504 and has won only one match since the Australian Open in January of last year, but she declined to say whether she will be following sister Serena into retirement after this tournament.
Broadcasters had been informed there would be a ceremony on court after Venus' match against Belgium’s Van Uytvanck but, after losing 6-1 7-6 (7-5), the American swiftly picked up her bag and headed off Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Asked about her future afterwards, the six-time grand slam singles champion said: "Right now I’m just focused on the doubles."
The sisters will play doubles together at a grand slam for the first time since 2018 as Serena makes the most of her farewell event.
A salute to a living legend.@Venuseswilliams waves to the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium. pic.twitter.com/qdl6019nms
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2022
Iga Swiatek crushed Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-0 in an authoritative display.
Appearing in New York for the first time as the world's top-ranked player, Swiatek looked the part, breaking Paolini's serve seven times and reeling off the last seven games to advance.
The Polish top seed is the favourite to win the year's final major 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 her sheen of invincibility began to crack at US Open tune-up events, where she went 4-4 in her last eight matches before putting the field on notice with her complete game on a hot and humid morning at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
"I'm pretty happy with the performance, and I feel like I have better rhythm than in Toronto and Cincinnati so that's great," Swiatek said afterwards.
"I'm trying to enjoy that. In the first set I played pretty solid, but I needed to take it up to another level. I did that at the end and in second set, so I'm pretty proud of that."
In control early!@iga_swiatek takes the first set 6-3 over Jasmine Paolini. pic.twitter.com/wBlK9iRGgM
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2022
She is likely to face a more difficult challenge in the next round when she runs into 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, who battled back to see off Belgium's Greet Minnen 1-6 6-3 6-3 to the delight of the New York fans.
"I was just fighting as hard as I can and with your guys support, you pushed me through, so thank you," she said.
Fourth seed Paula Badosa also had to come from a set down to see off Lesia Tsurenko 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, while sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka eased to a 6-1 6-3 victory over Catherine Harrison.
