Third round singles action begins on Friday in New York.
A year ago in the quarterfinals, Frances Tiafoe was the favorite to reach his second consecutive US Open semifinal. However, fellow American Ben Shelton spoiled Tiafoe’s plans. On Friday, we get the rematch, with an in-form Tiafoe looking to avenge that painful loss.
Day 5 also features plenty of other clashes between seeded players, on the first day that happens in the singles draws. Defending women’s champion Coco Gauff faces Elina Svitolina, while defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic plays recent Montreal champ Alexei Popyrin.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Friday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
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Elina Svitolina (27) vs. Coco Gauff (3) – 12:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Gauff came into this tournament with a whole lot of pressure, and with very little confidence. However, she’s stormed through her first two rounds, dropping just six games across four sets. Coco is now 39-14 on the year, as she looks to make the fourth round at her fifth consecutive Major.
But Svitolina is a huge step up in competition from Gauff’s first two opponents. Elina collected her 30th victory of the season on Wednesday, and while she’s underperformed outside of the Majors, she continues to be a threat at Slam level. Since returning to the tour from child birth, Svitolina has reached the second week at five of the six Majors she’s played, though the sole time she failed to do so was at this tournament a year ago.
Their head-to-head stands at 1-1, with Svitolina winning three years ago in the second round of the Australian Open, and Gauff taking a tight three-setter in the final of Auckland at the start of 2024. That’s the last time Coco reached a singles final, and with the weight of expectations that comes with defending a Major title for the first time, I would be surprised if Gauff makes a deep run here. However, the defending champ remains the favorite to prevail in this third round contest, as Coco holds advantages over Elina in both power and speed.
Emma Navarro (13) vs. Marta Kostyuk (19) – Second on Louis Armstrong Stadium
The past year has simply been phenomenal for Emma Navarro. She’s won 68 matches at all levels across the last 52 weeks, and has seen her ranking go from No.61 to No.12. The 23-year-old native New Yorker achieved her first Major quarterfinal at Wimbledon, when she simply hit Coco Gauff right off of Centre Court. Emma won both of her first two rounds this week by the score of 6-1, 6-1, which were also her first two victories at this event.
Kostyuk has also had a great season, achieving her own first Major quarterfinal in Melbourne, and advancing to finals in both San Diego and Stuttgart. Marta also is yet to drop a set, though her first set on Wednesday against Harriet Dart went all the way to 12-10 in the tiebreak.
Their only previous meeting took place just a few weeks ago in Toronto, where Navarro was victorious 7-5, 7-5. Emma is a slight favorite on paper to win again, but I would not be shocked if Marta evens their head-to-head on Friday, as there’s not too much that separates these two.
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Ben Shelton (13) vs. Frances Tiafoe (20) – Second on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Tiafoe went into a slump following his loss to Shelton at last year’s US Open, with a losing record during the first six months of 2024. But after adding David Witt to his team, Frances rediscovered his mojo this summer on American hard courts, advancing to the semifinals in Washington, and the final in Cincinnati. Tiafoe has dropped one set to this stage, as he vies to reach the fourth round of the tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
Shelton is yet to achieve a big result following his semifinal here a year ago, with his only 2024 title coming at a 250 event in Houston, where he again beat Tiafoe in that final. Ben was also a semifinalist in Washington, and reached the quarters in Cincy, but as per Tennis Abstract, he’s 0-7 against top 20 opposition this season.
Tiafoe is the player bringing more momentum and confidence into this match, and likely feels he has more to prove after last year’s quarterfinal loss. I like Frances’ chances of earning his first victory over Shelton on Friday.
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Alexei Popyrin (28) vs. Novak Djokovic (2) – 7:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Popyrin’s title run in Montreal was both mightily shocking and mightily impressive. He arrived in Canada just 16-15 on the year, and had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 event. Yet the Aussie went on to beat five top 20 players (Shelton, Dimitrov, Hurkacz, Korda, Rublev) to claim the biggest title of his career. Alexei is the type of big server and hitter that can threaten Novak, and he didn’t drop a set in his first two rounds this week.
Djokovic struggled a bit with the heat and humidity during his second round match on Wednesday, and was also treated for an abdominal issue. But he’s also yet to drop a set, and is now 31-7 this season. Since losing in the third round during his first two appearances in New York, he’s a perfect 15-0 in this round of this event.
Djokovic is also a perfect 3-0 against Popyrin, which includes a pair of four-set victories at Majors this year, in both Melbourne and London. But those two 2024 clashes have been tight, so Alexei has shown he can compete with the all-time great, and his self-belief is only growing after the Montreal title. However, Novak still must be favored on Friday evening.
Other Notable Matches on Friday:
Andrey Rublev (6) vs. Jiri Lehecka (32) – Both of those players endured five-setters during the hottest part of the day on Wednesday. Rublev came from two sets down to upend Arthur Rinderknech, and Lehecka came from two sets down to take out American Mitchell Krueger. They have split four prior encounters, with Jiri leading 2-1 on hard courts.
Madison Keys (14) vs. Elise Mertens (33) – Keys was a semifinalist here a year ago, and is 3-1 against Mertens, though Elise claimed their most recent matchup last summer in Cincy.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Alexander Zverev (4) – Zverev has dropped one set to this stage, while Etcheverry survived a five-setter on Wednesday, which saw Tomas vomit on court during the fifth set. Last year at Roland Garros, Zverev defeated Etcheverry in four sets.
Ekaterina Alexandrova (29) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Sabalenka has dropped just 10 games through four sets, and the Cincinnati champ is on a seven-match winning streak. However, she’s 3-3 against Alexandrova at all levels, and Ekaterina notably upset both Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula earlier this year in Miami.
Friday’s full Order of Play is here.
