The twin triumphs have raised Polish hopes anew, coming as they do one day after Maks Kaśnikowski, Magdalena Fręch and Magda Linette all crashed out of the opening round.

Up on court first, Hurkacz beat Timofey Skatov 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 and will now face Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the second round. Seeded seventh, Hurkacz has traditionally struggled at Flushing Meadows, losing in the second round for the last four years.

After being forced to retire from Wimbledon in July, Hurkacz will now be looking to salvage an injury-plagued summer that also saw him miss out on the Olympic squad after failing to recover in time.

Having already won the US Open in 2022, Iga Świątek will be looking to repeat that triumph after booking her passage into the next round with a 6:4, 7-6 win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova.

For the World No. 1, victory, however, was anything but routine. After roaring into a 4-0 lead in the first set, a string of errors from Świątek allowed Rakhimova to creep back into the match.

Winning the match in a second set tie-break 8-6, Świątek was forced to dig deep after falling 6-3 down in what proved to be the deciding game.

Recording the 80th Grand Slam win of her career, the 23-year-old Pole will now meet Ena Shibahara in the second round.