WHAT HAPPENED
Slices, dices, lots of court geometry, a 17-point win streak: What didn’t happen inside Louis Armstrong Stadium Tuesday at the 2026 US Open? Moments after Flavio Cobolli’s five-set comeback, 2026 French Open champion and No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva got her Flushing Meadows campaign off to an emphatic start, defeating world No. 36 Janice Tjen, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the second round for the fourth straight year.
Andreeva and Tjen—who both in their own ways take a more unorthodox approach to point construction—faced each other mere weeks ago in the third round of the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati. That encounter resulted in a mostly routine 6-1, 7-6(5) victory for Andreeva.
Still, she said she wasn’t taking any chances after their recent bout.
“[That match] was not easy and when I saw my draw I was like ‘Okay,’” she said. “She’s not an easy opponent to play against. Today I was just trying to talk to my coach to see what we could do better in order for me to feel confident on the court. I was just trying to be very aggressive, to go for my shots. Today was a better match.”
That’s a bit of an understatement. Right from the start, you could see why Andreeva finds the matchup so comfortable, despite her misgivings: Tjen’s game, which involves a lot of slice and has been compared frequently to that of Ash Barty, simply does not fluster Andreeva. Indeed, the newly-minted major champion had no qualms about returning any of Tjen’s tricky shots until she herself found an opening to change the direction of the ball or take the initiative herself. Andreeva broke early—and ultimately won the last 15 points of the set—to easily claim the first 6-2.
The second set, especially the first few games, had the feel of an exhibition. No matter where Tjen put the ball, Andreeva was there, hitting crosscourt passing shots from the doubles alley, volleying winners from just in front of the baseline. She was dominant in the longer exchanges, winning 11 of the 14 rallies played over nine shots. She sealed the victory in a tidy 68 minutes.
WHAT IT MEANS
Andreeva is looking to improve her US Open fortunes; she has made the second week of every other Grand Slam, but has never progressed past the third round in New York. Next up: world No. 98 Eva Lys. They have never faced each other before. A potential third-round encounter with the predictably unpredictable No. 30 seed Jelena Ostapenko looms. The pair previously met earlier this year on the clay in Stuttgart, with Andreeva erasing a 1-4 deficit in the third set to emerge victorious.
MATCH POINT
At just 19 years old, Andreeva now owns a 14-1 record in Grand Slam first round matches.
