Danielle Collins' Grand Slam career ends in Dolehide loss as Boulter and Muchova impress at US Open

Danielle Collins has played her last ever Grand Slam match after being beaten in the first round of the 2024 US Open by Caroline Dolehide on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Collins who will retire at the end of 2024 now only has a few tournaments left until she leaves the sport after an up and down season. She ascended the sports highest heights but has struggled in recent months.

Ever since the Olympic Games where she lost controversially to Iga Swiatek, Collins has not been in action and played Monterrey last week losing to Erika Andreeva. In Dolehide, she faced a player firmly on the up and was punished. She eased through the first set 6-1. But she was then edged past 7-5, 6-4 by the American.

Never one for big grand gestures despite her on court persona, Collins seemed to be getting a ceremony but stormed off the court before they could start it. But the 30-year-old now leaves the US Open without the fairytale ending that 2024 has been thus far.

Katie Boulter and Karolina Muchova were two of the other leading players through to the second round already on Day Two of the 2024 US Open.

Boulter had to fight hard to seal her spot through into a tie against Petra Martic or Jessica Bouzas Maniero. Losing in the third round to Peyton Stearns last year, she saw off a tricky qualifier in the resurgent Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

It was a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win for the brilliant Brit as the 31st seed weathered the early storm narrowly losing the opening set after Sasnovich turned around a 2-0 and 3-2 deficit to lead 5-3 before breaks between the pair sent it the distance only for Sasnovich to break and hold to claim the opener.

But Boulter in particular picked her moments on her serve as she staved off pressure and broke twice pretty comfortably to wrestle back the tie in her direction in the second set as she claimed it 6-2. The third set was all on the opening game as she staved off four break points and held serve before breaking to make it 3-1 and a double break sent her on her way with the Belarusian unable to fight back.

Karolina Muchova will take all the plaudits in her win over Katie Volynets 6-3, 7-5 for the utterly epic trick shot which saw her hit a lob from behind her back.

But it was a classy win from the Czech ace overall who is aiming to stave off a pretty dramatic ranking drop. She could fall up to 150 places over the next two weeks and barely sits inside the top 200 on her live ranking currently.

It was a pretty comfortable opening set for Muchova in what was a pretty tough opening round. Volynets continues to improve and will be knocking on the door soon amid a glut of American talent. But the second set was a break fest as Muchova went 3-1 up only for constant breaks until 5-5 where Volynets saved a match point but Muchova broke at the right time and sealed the win 7-5.