Aryna Sabalenka wins again as US Open seeds advance

The leading women’s seeds continued to progress at the US Open, with Aryna Sabalenka again avoiding an early setback. Jelena Ostapenko was the only seeded player to fall in Wednesday’s late programme, leaving the tournament’s top 20 seeds largely intact since the opening rounds, apart from Belinda Bencic.

The world number one, a two-time defending champion who could surrender the top ranking after the tournament, defeated Polina Iatchenko 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes. Sabalenka’s next opponent will be Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova. Sixth seed Linda Noskova, the reigning Wimbledon champion, also advanced by beating Lanlana Taradudee 6-4, 6-2 in 77 minutes without dropping serve. Noskova will face 28th seed Ann Li, who overcame Donna Vekic 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 after 2 hours and 44 minutes.

Ninth seed Elina Svitolina survived Maya Joint 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 in a match containing 13 breaks. She next meets 23rd seed Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Xinyu Wang in three sets. Fourteenth seed Iva Jovic beat Magda Frech 7-5, 6-3, while 19th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Kimberly Birrell 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

Ostapenko, seeded 32nd, lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to world number 83 Tatjana Maria. Ostapenko hit 15 double faults as Maria completed the session’s only seeded upset.