The second round begins on Wednesday, headlined by Major champions Serena, Rafa, Wawrinka, Halep, Azarenka, and Thiem.
In a US Open rematch from three weeks ago, Serena will face fellow mom Tsvetana Pironkova, who owns three victories at Majors over her sister Venus. The men’s finalists from the last two years, Nadal and Thiem, will face Americans who, at their best, are fully capable of challenging top players. And one of the WTA’s best clay courters will take on a resurgent 2012 French Open finalist. With little chance of rain on Wednesday, we should be in for a full day of tennis around the grounds.
Serena Williams (6) vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
21 days ago in New York, Pironkova took the first set off Serena before succumbing to the 23-time Major champion. That was Tsvetana’s first tournament at any level since Wimbledon 2017, and she astonishingly advanced to the quarterfinals of a Major for the fourth time in her career. Pironkova upset two top 20 seeds along the way. While Tsvetana is 3-1 lifetime against sister Venus, she is 0-5 against Serena. But these conditions do Serena no favors. She is a Florida resident who admittedly dislikes playing in cold weather. The heavy conditions will force Williams to hit many more balls, which will come back in varying speeds and spins off the racquet of Pironkova. Kristie Ahn mixed up her shots accordingly on Monday, which flustered Serena for the first hour of their first round encounter. Despite their lopsided head-to-head, this is a dangerous draw for Serena in her continued quest for Major No.24.
Kiki Bertens (5) vs. Sara Errani
Errani was the runner-up here in 2012, losing to Maria Sharapova. She would also go on to reach the quarterfinals or better the next three years. But it’s been a rough few years for the 33-year-old Italian, who was suspended in 2017 for a drug test failure. Errani has mostly played lower-level events since that time. Her resounding 6-2, 6-1 victory over 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig on Monday was her first win at a Major in over three years. By contrast, Bertens has exceled in recent seasons, especially on this surface. Since 2016, Kiki is 82-23 on clay, and was a semifinalist here four years ago. However, Bertens is only 5-3 at this event since that run to the semis, and just 3-2 on the dirt this year. Last week in Strasbourg, she had to retire due to a leg injury. And Bertens is 0-5 lifetime against Errani, though they haven’t played in over four years. Based on the way Sara stormed through three rounds of qualifying and her opener in the main draw without dropping a set, she has a great opportunity to get her biggest win in many years.
Dominic Thiem (3) vs. Jack Sock (Q)
These two have played twice in this city, though both those matches took place at the Paris Indoors on a hard court. Sock defeated Thiem in 2016, while a much-improved Dominic on hard courts avenged that loss two years later. It was in between those two years when Sock was the surprising champion of that event, which qualified him for the ATP Finals. Jack’s singles results went steeply downhill from that point on, going 9-22 in 2018, and 0-8 at all levels last year. Sock has refocused and gotten into better shape this season, and the results have begun to follow. He took out Pablo Cuevas in a five-setter at the US Open, and came through qualifying here to then defeat fellow American Reilly Opelka in the first round. While this should be a fun, big-hitting affair, Thiem remains a solid favorite. The newly-minted Major champion is 23-4 here since 2016, and 3-1 in his career against Sock. Jack does not have much in his game that should bother the US Open winner, especially in these heavy conditions.
Casper Ruud (28) vs Tommy Paul
The winner of this match between two exciting ATP youngsters will see the winner of Thiem/Sock in the next round. 21-year-old Ruud is 16-4 on clay this season, which as per the ATP is the most clay court wins in 2020. He was the champion in Buenos Aires and a finalist in Santiago prior to the tour shutdown, and reached the semis of both Rome and Hamburg since the tour restart. 23-year-old Paul earned 13 match wins pre-pandemic (including qualifying rounds), and notably upset Grigor Dimitrov in five sets at the Australian Open. He also came through qualifying last week in Hamburg, and took out Kevin Anderson. In addition, a year ago at this event, he thoroughly tested Thiem in a tight four-setter. Both men are good movers with well-rounded games. Paul claimed their only previous meeting, though that was three years ago on an American hard court in a match Ruud retired from. Casper is the favorite to avenge that loss today in what should be a prolonged, entertaining battle.
Iga Swiatek vs. Su-Wei Hsieh
Speaking of entertaining, this could be downright delightful. Few players possess more clubs in their bag than these two women, neither of whom are your typical modern-day baseliner. 19-year-old Swiatek reached the round of 16 here a year ago, and on Monday dominated Marketa Vondrousova, last year’s runner-up, with the loss of just three games. 34-year-old Hsieh has also upset top names at Majors, most notably taking out Simona Halep at Wimbledon two years ago. While Su-Wei can flummox opponents with unorthodox style, Swiatek is far from a one-dimensional player, with plenty of variety of her own. And clay is far from Hsieh’s best surface, with a career record at Roland Garros of 5-9. Swiatek is the favorite in their first career meeting.
Other Notable Matches on Day 4:
19-time Major champion Rafael Nadal (2) vs. Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon two years ago.
Three-time Major champion Stan Wawrinka (16) vs. Dominik Koepfer, who came through qualifying to reach the quarterfinals of Rome two weeks ago.
Two-time Slam champ Simona Halep (1) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu. Halep is 7-0 against her fellow Romanian.
Two-time Slam champ Victoria Azarenka (10) vs. Anna Karolian Schmiedlova, who took out Venus Williams on Sunday.
US Open finalist Sascha Zverev (6) vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a 29-year-old Frenchman who, with Nicolas Mahut, owns a career Grand Slam in doubles.
Wednesday’s full schedule is here.
