Round 1: No. 1 Ashleigh Barty (AUS) vs. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Arthur Ashe Stadium — Day Session — Second Match
- With a long-coveted Wimbledon title to her credit, Barty will now turn her attention to the US Open, where she’s likely to be tested from the get-go. Her opening-round opponent, after all, is Vera Zvonareva of Russia, who played her way into Wimbledon and US Open finals back in 2010, the same year she reached a career-high No. 2.
- At 36, Zvonareva has shown she has some staying power. Earlier this year on clay in Rome, she stunned then-10th-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to reach the Round of 16.
- The World No. 1 Barty has been the WTA’s standout player of late, an all-court athlete who boasts a tour-best five titles on the year, including Melbourne (Yarra Valley Classic), Miami, Stuttgart, Wimbledon and Cincinnati. The top seed credits her self-belief for her on-court success in 2021, which has seen the Craig Tyzzer-coached Australian win 40 of 47 matches.
- “For me, it’s keeping it simple. It’s enjoying my tennis, going out there and playing with freedom. It’s being really clear with, tactically, how I want to play," she explained. "Then it just comes down to execution. Some days, I’m going to be able to execute better than others. Some days, I’m going to have to go into the toolbox a little bit, find different things, rely on different things in my game. I think knowing that I have the confidence to go out there and trust myself is massive.”
- On paper, Barty comes in the favorite, but don’t expect the 25-year-old to take her veteran foe lightly. As she reminded us in April in Charleston, where she fell to Spain’s Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals, these days you have to be ready to fight from the first round on. “There are a helluva lot of good players out here," she said. "It’s important to respect that. Of course, I respect all of my opponents. I know that every single time that I walk on the court, I have to compete at my very best to be able to match up with them.”
