By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - American Jessica Pegula kicked off her latest campaign for a maiden major title with a little extra motivation on Sunday, cruising past Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-2 with a shot at the top of the rankings on the line at the U.S. Open.
The 2024 finalist is one of four players who could walk out of Flushing Meadows as the world number one and third-ranked Pegula tamed early nerves to ease into the second round with 26 winners to just 14 from her opponent,
closing it out with an unreturnable forehand.
"To put myself in that position is great, especially with the depth that we have in women's tennis," said Pegula, who would need to win the tournament and have second-ranked Elena Rybakina lose before the semi-finals in order to become world number one.
"It's definitely extra motivation, and I think it's something that would be amazing, but again, it's very, very, very, very far away."
The women's singles main draw kicked off on Sunday with some major question marks in the field, with Aryna Sabalenka's dismal back half of the season clouding her campaign for a third successive title and Rybakina arriving with injury concerns.
"When I was younger, I never really said I wanted to win Wimbledon or I wanted to win the U.S. Open. I actually wanted to be No. 1 in the world," she told reporters. "When I was seven years old, I was just like, 'Oh, this is the coolest thing, like you're the best in the world at something'."
EARLY NERVES GIVE WAY TO PRISTINE PLAY
She will have two days' rest before the second round under the 15-day schedule the tournament rolled out last year, and will next play the winner of a match later on Sunday on Ashe between American wildcards Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin.
"I felt really nervous before I went out there," said Pegula, a veteran who is competing in her 10th U.S. Open and reached the semi-finals last year.
"That's always comforting to know that I was able to get through it somewhat straightforward today, but she's a good player, so I think it was a little bit tougher maybe than the score probably seemed."
The nerves were apparent in a tricky opening set, where Ruse saved eight break points in a marathon third game but sent a shot wide to hand a break to Pegula in the fifth.
The Romanian held her arms aloft after surviving an entertaining cat-and-mouse exchange at the net to save break point in the seventh with a perfect backhand slice.
But Pegula took control of the match from there, cruising through her next service game before breaking Ruse with a forehand winner to close out the set.
Pegula sprinted through the next set, where she won all of her first-serve points and broke in the sixth and eighth games.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
