Karolina through to U.S. Open second round

The top seeded Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic opened her title quest with a 6/4, 6/0 victory over Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, ranked 145 in the world. It was the opening match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium and the winner extended her impressive winning record in the event.

Pliskova lost the opening game of the match, as she conceded a break but Kalinina could not consolidate. Pliskova dropped only one point to win the third game for a 2-1 lead. In the third game, Pliskova delivered two forehand winners to win the fourth game for a 3-1 lead. She extended the lead to 4-1.

Kalinina struggled and held serve in the sixth game. In the seventh, an unsuccessful challenge gave Kalinina the lead and she broke her opponent at love. In the ninth game, Pliskova made two consecutive double faults to fall behind 0-30 but won four straight points to lead 5-4. A missed forehand gave her the game. The Ukrainian lady dropped the first two points on her serve and did not recover before losing the game and set 6-4.

Pliskova held serve to lead 1-0 in the second set, while Kalinina led 30-0 but lost four points in a row to drop her service game. From then on, the top seed was on a roll and dropped just two points to hold serve for a commanding 3-0 lead. She took her opponent’s serve to stretch the lead and held her serve to lead 5-0. Serving to stay in the match, Kalinina did not get a point in conceding the game, set and match after two minutes.

Pliskova was given the top position in seeding because the world number one Ashleigh Barty of Australian opted to stay away on concerns about COVID-19 pandemic. So did Simona Halep of Romania and the 2019 champion, Bianca Andreescu of Canada.