Thursday at the US Open, there will be appetizing action all throughout the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer resume their campaigns. Meanwhile the rising stars of the sport will be bidding to make their mark.
Roger Federer vs. Benoit Paire
Roger Federer will move to the day session on Thursday, scheduled second on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Federer is 6-0 lifetime against Paire, but their last match was quite the entanglement. Earlier this year in Halle, Roger had to save two match points to survive a third set tiebreak. As has been the pattern in his career, Paire’s backhand failed him under pressure at the end of that match. Federer looked extremely sharp in his opening round, but will need to stay on his toes against Paire. The veteran Frenchman can cause headaches for his opponents, though he can also self-destruct on court. We know he’s capable of upsetting top players in New York: he took out Kei Nishikori in the opening round in 2015. But if Federer plays as well as he did on Tuesday, Paire should not be able to cause him much grief.
Aryna Sabalenka vs. Vera Zvonareva
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The 20-year-old Sabalenka has been the revelation of the summer on the WTA tour. In the US Open Series, she defeated six top 20 players. Aryna was a semifinalist in Cincinnati, and won her first WTA title just last week in New Haven. She was pushed by American Danielle Collins in her opening round here, but fought through to prevail 6-4 in the third. Her opponent on Thursday is a 33-year-old former US Open finalist, playing in the main draw of the Open for the first time since 2011. Zvonareva came through qualifying to get into her first Major since the 2015 Australian Open, after a few years of retirement. In her final round of qualifying in New York, she had to save match points to come back from a big third-set deficit. Then in the first round of the main draw, her opponent served for the match before Vera mounted another comeback. This is of course their first meeting, and Sabalenka should get through this based on her recent form. But Aryna must be a bit drained after playing so much tennis over the past few weeks, and the past few days have shown us the fighting spirit of Zvonareva. This is an intriguing matchup to start the day out on Court 13. The winner may face Petra Kvitova on Saturday.
Dominika Cibulkova vs. Su-Wei Hsieh
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This match will open the day’s play on Court 11. These are two of the most fun players on the WTA tour to watch. Hsieh played in two of the most entertaining women’s matches of 2018: her three-set loss to Angelique Kerber at the Australian Open, and her upset of World No.1 Simona Halep at Wimbledon. Her unorthodox style of slices mixed with flat groundstrokes can drive her opposition crazy. Meanwhile the 5’3” Cibulkova is one of the toughest competitors out there, with a great defense-to-offense skillset. Dominika has won all three of their previous matches in straight sets, and was the player who defeated Hsieh at Wimbledon following her upset of Halep. However, it’s worth reiterating Hsieh’s success at the Majors this year. Still Cibulkova should be favored here, and would possibly face Angelique Kerber in an enticing third round matchup.
Frances Tiafoe vs. Alex De Minaur
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This ATP Next Gen battle will be the last match of the day on Court 17. Their only previous meeting was last year in Brisbane, where De Minaur, as an Australian wild card, defeated Tiafoe in a tight three-setter. A year later in Brisbane is when Alex really made a name for himself with his run to the semifinals. The very next week in Sydney, the 19-year-old made the final. And earlier this summer in Washington DC, De Minaur advanced to his second tour-level final. 2018 has also been a breakout year for Tiafoe, who won his first ATP title in Delray Beach. In addition, Frances was a finalist on the clay of Estoril earlier this year. He recently reached a career-best ranking of 38th in the world. Both players got their first-ever US Open wins on Tuesday. The defensive skills of De Minaur could frustrate Tiafoe, but Frances will look to use the energy of the American crowd as he did in his opening round. This should be a good one, and could be a matchup we see deciding tournament titles in years to come.
Kei Nishikori vs. Gael Monfils
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Starting off the night session on Louis Armstrong Stadium will be a meeting of two very fast movers around the court who have often been held back by injuries over the years. Nishikori of course is a former finalist in New York, and was a semifinalist the last time he played here in 2016. Kei missed last year’s event, and about six months of action overall, due to a wrist injury. His results this year have been sporadic as he’s worked to get back to 100%. He was a finalist in Monte Carlo, and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. Nishikori though went just 3-3 during the US Open Series. Monfils was also a semifinalist here two years ago, where he contributed a bizarre effort (or lack thereof). He appeared to be tanking during his semifinal against Djokovic, a strategy which proved successful in disrupting and annoying Novak for a bit. But in the two years that have followed, Monfils hasn’t gotten farther than the fourth round at any Major, and did not play any events in the US Open Series due to injury. Kei owns a 3-1 record over Gael, though Monfils won their most recent meeting last year at the Rogers Cup in a third set tiebreak. That avenged Nishikori’s win at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Kei saved match points to advance to the medal rounds. I like Nishikori’s chances to advance against the ever-unpredictable Monfils.
Other notable matches on Day 4:
- Wimbledon Champion Angelique Kerber vs. Johanna Larsson
- Wimbledon Champion Novak Djokovic vs. American Tennys Sandgren, a quarterfinalist this year in Australia
- Plus Major Champions Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, and Marin Cilic all in action.
ORDER OF PLAY DAY 4 – FULL SCHEDULE
Play begins 16:00 GMT unless otherwise stated
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM (Play begins 17:00 GMT)
J.Larsson (SWE) vs A.Kerber (GER) [4]
B.Paire (FRA) vs. R.Federer (SUI) [2]
Play begins no sooner than 00:00 GMT
N.Djokovic (SRB) [6] vs. T.Sandgren (USA)
M.SHarapova (RUS) [22] vs. S.Cirstea (ROU)
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
P.Kvitova (CZE) [5] vs. Y.Wang (CHN)
N.Mahut (FRA) vs. A.Zverev (GER) [4]
M.Keys (USA) [14] vs. B.Pera (USA)
Play begins no sooner than 00:00 GMT
G.Monfils (FRA) vs. K.Nishikori (JPN) [21]
L.Tsurenko (UKR) vs. C.Wozniacki (DEN) [2]
GRANDSTAND
A.Sasnovich (BLR) vs. D.Kasatkina (RUS) [11]
C.Garcia (FRA) [6] vs. M.Puig (PUR)
L.Pouille (FRA) [17] vs. M.Baghdatis (CYP)
Play begins no sooner than 00:00 GMT
M.CIlic (CRO) [7] vs. H.Hurkacz (POL)
COURT 17
N.Osaka (JPN) [20] vs. J.Glushko (ISR)
N.Kyrgios (AUS) [30] vs. P.Herbert (FRA)
E.Bouchard (CAN) vs. M.Vondrousova (CZE)
A.de Minaur (AUS) vs. F.Tiafoe (USA)
COURT 5 (Play begins at 17:00 GMT)
F.Fognini (ITA) [14] vs. J.Millman (AUS)
T.Townsend (USA) vs. J.Ostapenko (LAT) [10]
K.Mladenovic (FRA) vs. C.Suarez Navarro (ESP) [30]
L.Djere (SRB) vs. R.Gasquet (FRA) [26]
COURT 10
M.Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. H.Chung (KOR) [23]
K.Bertens (NED) [13] vs. F.Di Lorenzo (USA)
R.Haase (NED) vs. D.Goffin (BEL) [10]
K.Siniakova (CZE) vs. A.Tomljanovic (AUS)
COURT 13
V.Zvonareva (RUS) vs. A.Sabalenka (BLR) [26]
D.Schwartzman (ARG) [13] vs. J.Munar (ESP)
A.Krunic (SRB) vs. K.Flipkens (BEL)
COURT 7
J.Sousa vs. P.Carreno Busta (ESP) [12]
COURT 11
D.Cibulkova (SVK) [29] vs. S.Hsieh (TPE)
J.Benneteau (FRA) vs. J.Struff (GER)
COURT 12
M.Ebden (AUS) vs. P.Kohlschreiber (GER)