In the next round Garcia, who arrived in New York crowned with her WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati, will face another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya (60th), who eliminated Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson (92nd) a few minutes earlier.
At 28, Garcia is participating in her 10th US Open, where she has never gone beyond the 3rd round. The New York Major is the least successful for her since she reached the round of 16 in the other three (Australian Open, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) and reached the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros in 2017 .
Faced with Rakhimova, the former world N.4 (33 winning strokes, 18 unforced errors) imposed her power and speed, especially in service (6 aces) and in return of service, to stifle her opponent.
The Lyonnaise scored the break twice at the start of the match to break away 4-0 and conclude the first set without ever shaking on her serve. Then she made the decisive break to lead 3-2 in the second and win on a shutout without having to save a single break point in the game.
