Gibson is a more dangerous first-round draw than her record suggests. The 22-year-old has six career wins over top-40 opponents, the best of them against Jasmine Paolini at Indian Wells this year when the Italian was ranked World No. 7, and she won five of six games from 1-4 down in the second set. But she was 0-1 at this tournament and has never won a match at Roland-Garros or Wimbledon.
Vekic reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2024 and took Olympic silver in Paris weeks later. This is her 12th main draw at Flushing Meadows, more than at any other major, and the quarter-final she made in 2019 is still her best run here. Ranked No. 34, she plays American No. 29 seed Ann Li or her compatriot Antonia Ruzic next.