By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Highest-ranked American Jessica Pegula cruised into the U.S. Open second round while 27th seed Barbora Krejcikova crashed out, as the year's final major got underway on Sunday with a record purse of $108 million up for grabs.
Dozens of ticketholders were lined up long before the action kicked off and the home crowd was rewarded as world number three Pegula beat Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-2 in the first match at the showpiece Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 2024 finalist will play the winner of a meeting between American wildcards Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin, who are due to close out the night session on Ashe later on Sunday.
The twice Grand Slam winner Krejcikova became the first seeded player to exit the tournament, saving six match points before succumbing to Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6(4) 6-2 on the outer courts.
Rakhimova, who has never made it past the third round at the majors, will play the winner of Monday's match between Japan's Aoi Ito and Spain's Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Italian Jasmine Paolini survived a scare to get past Slovenia's Veronika Erjavec 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the opening match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, firing off 36 winners to just 13 from her opponent.
The 2024 Wimbledon and French Open finalist will play the winner of a match later on Sunday between her compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini and Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska.
Guests piled into Flushing Meadows under pristine playing conditions, as the tournament entered its second year in a 15-day format with the first round played over three days.
Czech Jiri Lehecka kicked off the action on the Grandstand with a 6-1 7-6(5) 4-6 6-2 win over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta, as an injury-tinged men's field lost yet another player when the 2022 finalist and 19th seed Casper Ruud withdrew from the tournament, citing a persistent back injury.
He joined world number one Jannik Sinner and Brazilian fan-favourite Joao Fonseca among the injured absentees in Flushing Meadows.
Organisers added an extra day to the schedule in 2025 following years of runaway demand for tickets and U.S. Tennis Association chief executive Craig Tiley said that the $108 million purse, the largest in tennis history, was aimed at giving players a fair share of the revenue.
The 24-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will kick off the night session on Ashe against Argentine Mariano Navone.
With Sinner out of the tournament and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz coming to New York after a long injury layoff, this year presents a prime chance for the 39-year-old Serb to add one more major trophy to his haul.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)
