Veronika Erjavec will make her first Grand Slam main-draw appearance in New York against Jasmine Paolini in the first round of the US Open. The Slovenian enters as the only woman from her country directly placed in the singles draw, with the match set for the tournament’s opening round.
Erjavec said, “Kar zanimiv žreb. Jasmine ima za seboj nekaj odličnih sezon, nanizala je zavidljive rezultate. Vsekakor bo težka tekma. Je pa res, da bo to zanjo prvi turnir po Wimbledonu in da so prva kola vedno nervozna. Upam, da to obrnem sebi v prid. Predvsem si želim sestaviti, kar kažem na treningih, in to prenesti na tekmo,” as she sized up a matchup against the 19th seed.
Paolini in the first round
Paolini will be Erjavec’s first opponent at the US Open in New York, and the two have never played each other before. Sašo Pistotnik is accompanying Erjavec on the American tour, giving her a familiar presence as she steps into a main draw at a grand slam for the first time in New York.
New York on Sunday
The US Open in New York begins on Sunday and runs for three weeks, with first-round prize money described as a record this year. The men’s and women’s singles winners will each receive 4.73 million euros, a scale that puts Erjavec’s opening match inside the season’s largest stage.
For Erjavec, the immediate task is simple: carry the level she says she shows in training into a match against a seeded opponent. That is the first test of her main-draw debut, and it comes before she can think about anything beyond Paolini.
