Rybakina allays injury fears with first-round US Open win over Frodin

[p]The Kazakh withdrew from the Cincinnati tune-up ‌tournament with a leg injury, raising questions over ‌whether she would even compete in New ‌York, but appeared untroubled as she launched her bid for the title and the world number ‌one ranking.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rybakina-elena/UDzElXdm/"]Rybakina[/a], a two-time Grand Slam ⁠champion, will next ‌face either Czech [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vidmanova-darja/lAVWhl4h/"]Darja Vidmanova[/a] or Spain's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bouzas-maneiro-jessica/Gj20DdaG/"]Jessica Bouzas ​Maneiro[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/frodin-thea/6u2PqMUb/"]Frodin[/a] was making her Grand Slam main-draw debut five years after portraying ​a young Serena Williams in the Oscar-winning film [b][i]King Richard[/i][/b].[/p][p]The 17-year-old tennis-playing double for the film ⁠showed flashes of ​brilliance, with 11 aces, after fans waited nearly four hours through a rain delay to watch her on the Grandstand.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="4865adeb-d565-4f28-b354-bb737bf06a71" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="b08af57b-a506-4353-a052-3d130c420812" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]But she struggled to trouble ‌the Australian Open champion in her first tour-level match, as Rybakina broke in the sixth game on the way to taking a largely uneventful opening set and maintained control in the second.[/p][p]Frodin drew some of the loudest cheers of the match when she saved three match points with aces in the ‌penultimate game, but Rybakina sealed victory with ​an ace of her own.[/p][p][b]"She played really ‌well today, and she has great shots," Rybakina said before pausing as she packed her kit to join the crowd's ovation for Frodin.[/b][/p][p][b]"It was not easy, and I'm ⁠just happy to ⁠be here, playing ‌here."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/frodin-t-6u2PqMUb/rybakina-e-UDzElXdm/?mid=n53kj9Ra"]Check out the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/p]