Wimbledon champions Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek get off to good starts at the US Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Iga Swiatek is trying to do something no woman has done since Serena Williams in 2012: win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in the same season.

Jannik Sinner is trying to do something no man has done since Roger Federer in 2008: repeat as U.S. Open champion.

By the looks of things on Tuesday in Arthur Ashe Stadium as the now-three-day first round wrapped up, the two players who triumphed at the All England Club last month — and who both served short doping-related bans last year — look ready to contend again in New York. And how.

The second-seeded Swiatek was up first in the U.S. Open's main arena and needed merely an hour to dismiss Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-1, 6-2. No. 1 Sinner then took only 39 minutes more to finish off his 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic.

“Obviously, every year is different," said Sinner, sporting the white arm sleeve he began wearing after hurting his elbow in a fall during Wimbledon. "You come here starting this tournament, hopefully, the best possible way — which I did.”

He certainly showed no signs of the virus that forced him to quit in the first set of the Cincinnati Open final against his biggest rival, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, last week.

Either Sinner or Alcaraz, who have combined to win the past seven major titles, can own the top ATP ranking after these 15 days. Similarly, Swiatek, Coco Gauff or No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the defending champion, can leave New York atop the WTA.

On Tuesday, Sinner saved both break points he faced and won 33 of 40 first-serve points.

Swiatek was even more dominant, not only never facing a break point but never even being taken to deuce in any of her eight service games, while accumulating a 26-5 edge in winners.

There was a time when some folks, perhaps swayed by Swiatek's dominance on the French Open's red clay, thought she couldn't succeed on the speedier surfaces of hard and grass courts. That certainly was not the case, as her championships at Wimbledon in July and at the U.S. Open in 2022 make obvious.

Ten women have split the past 11 trophies in New York; only Naomi Osaka, in 2018 and 2020, won more than one in that span. And Williams, with three in a row from 2012 to 2014, was the last woman to leave as the champion in consecutive years.

As for the men, no one has collected two in a row at the U.S. Open since Federer's five straight titles from 2004 to 2008, before he lost in the 2009 final to Juan Martin del Potro.

Sinner was asked why that might be.

“We are heading towards end of the season, so some players, they are tired. Some players, they are feeling different. Many things can change. It’s also the last big trophy of the year. ... I always say that the future is unpredictable," he said. "So I don’t know what’s going to happen this time.”

Seeded winners included 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, No. 8 Amanda Anisimova, No. 18 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 23 Naomi Osaka and No. 27 Marta Kostyuk among the women, and No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 10 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 19 Francisco Cerundolo, No. 23 Alexander Bublik — who eliminated 2014 champion Marin Cilic — and No. 27 Denis Shapovalov among the men. Gauff defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5, and Zverev was a 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner against Alejandro Tabilo in a match that ended a little before 1 a.m.

Sabalenka, Alcaraz, 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic and 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Jessica Pegula are on the Day 4 schedule as the second round begins.

Naomi Osaka, of Japan, serves to Greet Minnen, of Belgium, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Alexander Zverev, of Germany, returns a shot against Alejandro Tabilo, of Chile, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Coco Gauff, of the United States, celebrates winning a match agains Ajla Tomljanovic, of Australia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns a shot to Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, returns a shot to Vit Kopriva, of the Czech Republic, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, reacts after scoring a point against Emiliana Arango, of Colombia, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jannik Sinner, of Italy, serves to Vit Kopriva, of the Czech Republic, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.

Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.

The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.

In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.

Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.

Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.

“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.

Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.

Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.

The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.

“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.

The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.

Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.

The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.

The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.

The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.

Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.

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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.

Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)