By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The singles main draws got underway at the U.S. Open in good conditions on Sunday, with a record purse of $108 million (£80 million) up for grabs at the year's final major at Flushing Meadows.
Dozens of ticketholders were lined up long before Italian Jasmine Paolini kicked off the action at 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) against Slovenia's Veronika Erjavec at Louis Armstrong Stadium, while Czech Jiri Lehecka faced Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta out at the Grandstand.
Highest-ranked American woman Jessica Pegula will play the first match at the showpiece Arthur Ashe Stadium at against Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse. The 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev was due to play in the second match against France's Hugo Gaston.
Guests piled into Flushing Meadows under sunny skies with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, as the tournament entered its second year in a 15-day format with the first round played over three days.
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 world number one Jannik 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.
The 46-year-old Venus Williams will close out the night session against fellow American wildcard Sofia Kenin.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)
