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Elena Rybakina overcame an ankle problem to win her US Open first-round match, while Madison Keys bounced back from last year's shock exit with a battling victory over Alina Korneeva.
Elena Rybakina, who retired from her Cincinnati quarter-final against Iga Swiatek on August 20th due to an ankle problem, appeared sharp and motivated as she began her US Open campaign with a first-round victory over 17-year-old American wild card Frodin in oppressive humidity.
The twice Grand Slam winner expressed cautious optimism about her fitness after the match, noting that she had to take a break during the contest but that the ankle felt okay for now. Rybakina acknowledged that she had previously struggled in Grand Slam finals and insisted that while reaching another final would be an amazing achievement, she needed to remain focused on her recovery and keep pushing forward rather than thinking too far ahead.
Her participation in Cincinnati had cast doubt over her readiness for Flushing Meadows, but her opening performance suggested she had managed her recovery well enough to compete. Meanwhile, Madison Keys exorcised the demons of her early exit a year ago at the US Open with a hard-fought 7-5 6-4 first-round victory over Russian teenager Alina Korneeva on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Just months after winning her first Grand Slam title at the 2025 Australian Open, Keys had crashed out in the first round at Flushing Meadows after being overcome by debilitating nerves, and she admitted that returning to the same court for another opening-round match was emotionally difficult. The 2017 US Open runner-up said that dealing with the lingering memory of that tough loss was challenging, but she managed to steady her game as the match progressed, improving her first-serve percentage from 48 per cent in the first set to nearly 70 per cent in the second.
Keys raced out to a 3-0 lead but was pegged back when she hit a forehand wildly out of bounds in the fifth game, allowing Korneeva to break. After trading breaks again, Keys broke her opponent on her third set point with a fine backhand strike and lifted her level across the board in a competitive second set.
Down 4-2 in the second, Korneeva produced a nifty cat-and-mouse exchange near the net to break back, but her relief was short-lived as she dropped serve again in the eighth game after being left scrambling for a backhand just out of reach. Keys handed the break back with a handful of mistakes in the ninth game but regained her composure to clinch the match in the next game with one of her signature forehand strikes.
Keys will next face either Czech Lucie Havlickova or Hungarian Anna Bondar in the second round as she looks to build momentum and put last year's painful loss firmly behind her
US Open Elena Rybakina Madison Keys Tennis Grand Slam
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