Key events17m agoPreambleJasmine Paolini is hitting the ball so hard and Erjavec cannot stay in the rallies. Paolini cannot convert a break point though after catching the tape. The Italian quickly sets up another with a rocket that hits the line. Another error from Paolini sends it back to deuce. A brutal backhand creates a third break point but again Paolini hits the tape. A wry smile, another error and Erjavec stands strong for 3-3.Rakhimova rolls through her service game to take a 3-2 lead over Krejcikova.Krejcikova gets in a muddle after squandering a 40-0 lead on serve. Deuce. She fights back though. Wins the game with a lovely serve down the T. All square at 2-2.Paolini delivers a dominant effort on serve to change ends at 3-2 up.Over to Louis Armstrong and Erjavec defends superbly to set up two game points to level the first set at 2-2 against Paolini. The underdogs holding their own early doors.The gameplan looks clear for Krejcikova. Max power. She is trying to hit Rakhimova clear off the court and it goes rather well as she gets the 30-15 lead against serve. Critical early point incoming and she nails the return to set up two break points. A big serve saves one and an error saves the other. Rakhimova gets a boost with the hold from deuce for 2-1. Nice serving under pressure.A pair of big aces for Barbora Krejcikova kicks her off nicely for the easiest of holds and 1-1. Your move, Kamilla.Meanwhile, Paolini and Erjavec have traded breaks of sevre for 1-1.Barbora Krejcikova leads the head-to head 1-0 over Kamilla Rakhimova with a win at this very tournament in 2021. A third round 6-4, 6-2 stroll for the Czech.And they are underway, Rakhimova takes a 30-0 lead but Krejcikova takes control with some heavy hitting to square it up. A shank after some moon ball antics hands the Uzbek the game point and she takes a 1-0 lead after the return is dumped into the net.Barbora Krejcikova and Kamilla Rakhimova are on Court 17 as they take their picture at the net. They start rolling through some groundies as we are almost nearing the start of play. Serves now, come on, get going!Jasmine Paolini is warming up on Louis Armstrong. Her opponent Veronika Erjavec is ranked 106 in the world but is enjoying a strong year getting up to a career high of 84 in May. The 26-year-old Slovene has only won one match at a slam and is featuring for the first time in the main draw at Flushing Meadows.Meanwhile Paolini’s best result in New York is the fourth round in 2024, the same year she was a beaten finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.More reading comes Novak Djokovic who is chasing down a 25th grand slam title at Flushing Meadows. The 39-year-old Serb, who is playing in the third match on Arthur Ashe tonight, is hungry to make a mark with the men’s draw wide open without Jannik Sinner in New York. Can he do it?If you missed it here is Tumaini Carayol’s preview of the tournament. He promises drama. Let’s go!PreambleHi, hello and welcome to the last grand slam of the season. After the mixed doubles hors d’oeuvre, comes the two-week feast of singles for us to get stuck into. And I can’t wait, so what is on the menu today.Jessica Pegula, Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic are the big names opening their US Open accounts while a handful of British hopes – Cam Norrie, Toby Samuel, Jacob Fearnley and Katie Boulter – also will be getting down to business in the next few hours. Nine Brits are in the main draw, the most since 1981, which is fantastic considering Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu are missing in action.Our early focus will be on the women’s singles where 19th seed Jasmine Paolini faces Veronika Erjavec and 27th seed Barbora Krejcikova who meets Kamilla Rakhimova for a place in the second round. Two-time slam winner Krejcikova is in a bit of a slump having not won a match for over a month so will be keen for a hot start. Both matches begin at 4pm BST/11am local time.I’ll do my utmost to keep across everything, of course, but drop me a line with big moments I’ll inevitably miss. Share your thoughts on what might happen and who might be crowned champion when the dust settles. Cheers to a cracking couple of weeks.