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US Open Day 1: Navarro Survives Boisson's Rage in Tense Duel
Lois Boisson’s racquet-smashing rage lit up day one of the US Open, but it was Emma Navarro’s composure that carried the scoreboard.
The 26th-seeded American outlasted the Frenchwoman 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-3 in a tense, jagged first-round duel that ended with one player waving to the crowd and the other obliterating a racquet in the back of the court.
Boisson boils over as comeback stalls again
For Boisson, this was more than another early exit. It was another crack in a comeback that has yet to find its rhythm.
A French Open semifinalist in 2025 and a proven winner on the WTA Tour, the 23-year-old once surged as high as No. 34 in the world this February. She did that despite not striking a ball in competition between September 2025 and April, a stretch ruined by injuries and rehab rooms.
Since then, the slide has been brutal. Boisson has plummeted to No. 237, her calendar littered with early exits as she searches for the ferocious form that briefly made her one of the most dangerous floaters in any draw.
New York offered no reprieve. A third consecutive first-round loss at a major this year pushed the frustration to breaking point.
The match itself had been tight, nervous, and at times scrappy. Navarro edged the opening set in a tiebreak, Boisson hit back with a superb breaker of her own in the second, and the third set turned on a few thin margins and one failed attempt at finesse.
Serving to stay alive, Boisson tried to feather a backhand slice, but it died meekly in the net. Navarro had her 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-3 win. Boisson had seen enough.
She hurled her racquet to the court in disgust. The handshake at the net was civil, Navarro turning to acknowledge the crowd. Behind her, the Frenchwoman stalked to her bag, grabbed a fresh frame and obliterated it with three violent slams into the hard court, then flung it again for emphasis.
It was raw, unfiltered anger from a player who knows she belongs higher than a triple-digit ranking and another first-round goodbye.
Boisson will now have to piece together what remains of her season and her confidence. Navarro moves on, set to face either fellow American Caty McNally or Dutch qualifier Anouk Koevermans in the second round.
Sabalenka starts title defence with a statement
On the main stage, Aryna Sabalenka looked every inch the woman to beat.
The world No. 1, chasing a third straight US Open crown, opened her campaign with a brisk 6-2, 6-4 win over Camila Osorio in the first match of the day on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sabalenka has been wrestling with her own standards in recent months, shut out of finals since March and visibly irked at her inability to dominate as she once did. This, though, felt more like the old version.
She tore into the Colombian’s serve, belting 32 winners and controlling almost every exchange. The scoreline never truly flattered Osorio; Sabalenka kept her at arm’s length, then closed the door in straight sets.
"I'm happy with my performance. She's a tough opponent, makes you work really hard to get every point," Sabalenka said on court. "So I'm happy that I was able to close the match in straight sets."
Next up for the top seed is Russian Polina Iatcenko in the second round, a match that will offer another chance to sharpen the edges of a title defence that suddenly looks even more significant.
Men’s draw shaken again as Fils falls
The men’s event, already rocked by Novak Djokovic’s shock first-round exit, took another hit when 10th seed Arthur Fils crashed out on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Fresh from his Cincinnati title and tipped as one of the form players of the summer, Fils ran into a stubborn, recalibrated Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek dropped the first set but then wrested control, winning 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4 to book a second-round date with South African Lloyd Harris.
Once Tsitsipas dragged the match into a tiebreak in the second set, the mood shifted. Fils, so assured in recent weeks, faltered. Tsitsipas seized the breaker, then steamrolled the third set 6-1 and never truly looked back.
With Djokovic gone and Fils joining him on the scrapheap of early casualties, the top half of the men’s draw now carries a gaping hole and a sense of opportunity.
Rain had already stretched the schedule. Seven matches on the outer courts were suspended on Sunday night and resumed on Monday, the organisers leaning on their new three-day first-round window after expanding the main draw to 15 days in 2025. The weather eased, but the draw did not.
Muchova, Zheng and Anisimova march on
Karolina Muchova, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, wasted no time on the Grandstand. The Czech seventh seed dismissed Austrian Sinja Kraus 6-3, 6-0, a clean, controlled performance that sent a small warning to the rest of her quarter. She now faces Britain’s Katie Boulter in the second round.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen had a rougher route. Forced to navigate qualifying just two years after reaching the US Open quarterfinals, Zheng again had to dig deep, coming from a set down to beat Kristina Liutova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Once she found her range, the match flipped sharply in her favour.
On Louis Armstrong, another storyline carried a lighter tone.
Amanda Anisimova, last year’s runner-up in New York, celebrated her 25th birthday by cruising past fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-3. The world No. 10 shook off early pressure, saving three break points to hold for 2-1 in the first set, then ran away with it.
The second set opened with traded breaks, but Anisimova never loosened her grip. She broke Krueger again in the final game, wrapping up the win in just an hour and 12 minutes.
"Ashlyn's a great player so I knew it was going to be a tough match," she said in her on-court interview, moments before the stadium serenaded her with “Happy Birthday.”
Next, she meets Austrian Lilli Tagger, with the memory of last year’s final still fresh and the path to another deep run starting to take shape.
On a day that delivered a meltdown, a title defence, and another shock in a men’s draw suddenly stripped of some of its giants, the US Open reminded everyone of its favourite habit: ripping up the script before the first week is even done.
