Round one of US Open women’s qualifying is in the books on several outer courts, and two of the results now line up into second-round matches worth following. Here is a quick look at what happened, and where the edge sits heading into round two.

Round one recaps

J. Pareja d. K. Day [9], 6-3, 6-1

Pareja lost four games total against the 9th seed. She is 17, unseeded, and this was her first senior Grand Slam qualifying appearance. Day carries a career-high ranking well inside the top 100, so on paper this should have been competitive. It wasn’t. The junior results back up the level: Wimbledon girls’ singles finalist and French Open girls’ quarterfinalist in 2025.

I. Shymanovich d. R. Masarova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Masarova won the middle set and still lost the match, which usually means the initiative flipped late rather than a one-sided beatdown. Shymanovich is outside the top 200 with no WTA Tour title in a decade on tour, but she has now reached round two of US Open qualifying in three consecutive years, and that’s the relevant number here, not the ranking. Masarova, a career-high No. 62, still hasn’t strung two strong results together since that peak.

M. Brengle d. A. Gasanova, 6-4, 6-1

No real resistance after the opening game of set two. Brengle is 36, more than a decade removed from her career-high No. 35, and this was a hold-serve, break-when-needed win, the pattern that has kept her return-heavy game relevant well past the point most careers end.

L. Stefanini [28] d. A. Aksu, 6-2, 6-3

The seed did what seeds are supposed to do: broke in the opening game of both sets and never gave the lead back. Career-high No. 99, currently the higher-ranked player in this draw by a wide margin, and it showed in the scoreline.

Round two: what to watch

J. Pareja vs I. Shymanovich

M. Brengle vs L. Stefanini

Both matches carry the same underlying tension: recent form against accumulated experience. Shymanovich needed a decider to get past a struggling opponent, while Pareja won hers in the most efficient way possible, and that gap in efficiency is the clearest signal in either matchup. Stefanini holds a real ranking advantage over Brengle, but her round-one win was clean rather than dominant, and Brengle’s return numbers have historically punched above her ranking on hard courts.

Neither matchup is a formality despite what the rankings suggest. The higher-ranked player in each pairing (Shymanovich, Stefanini) enters with more qualifying pedigree, but the player coming off the sharper performance (Pareja, Brengle) is the one carrying momentum into round two, and at Grand Slam qualifying level, that has historically mattered more than seeding on paper.