We are down to 16 men and 16 women in the singles draws, as the second week of this extended fortnight commences.
Sunday provides a matchup between the 2022 and 2023 Wimbledon champions, as Elena Rybakina takes on Marketa Vondrousova. The 2024 Wimbledon ladies’ singles champ will also be featured, as Barbora Krejcikova plays American Taylor Townsend. Plus, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz will each face red-hot and dangerous opposition.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Barbora Krejcikova vs. Taylor Townsend – Not Before 1:00pm on Louis Armstrong Stadium
Krejcikova came back from a set down on Friday to take out 10th-seeded Emma Navarro, a semifinalist here a year ago. In that contest, Barbora was able to take advantage of nine double faults from Navarro, to break the American seven times, hough the Czech was broken six times herself, and struck 20 more unforced errors than winners. It was not the prettiest match, so Krejcikova will certainly need to up her level on Sunday, as she eyes her second US Open quarterfinal.
By contrast, Townsend played excellently on Friday, upsetting fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva in straights. Taylor made 79% of her first serves, and won 71% of first serve points, often directing her lefty serve right into the body of Mirra. The American is yet to drop a set in equaling her best Major result to date, perhaps motivated by the ugly words directed at her by Jelena Ostapenko after she beat her in the second round.
In their first tour-level encounter, I narrowly favor Krejcikova. She owns a lot more experience at this stage of a Major than Townsend, and Krejcikova’s singles game is a bit more well-rounded than that of Townsend, whose backhand and second serve can be very attackable. But with a vocal American crowd behind her, a crowd which is even more inspired to cheer for Taylor after the Ostapenko incident, another Townsend upset would not be shocking.
Tomas Machac (21) vs. Taylor Fritz (4) – Not Before 3:00pm on Louis Armstrong Stadium
Fritz survived a stern test in the last round from Jerome Kym, an impressive 22-year-old qualifier with plenty of firepower. Now Taylor faces another in-form competitor who has been crushing the ball this past week. Machac took all nine sets he’s played during the first week, which includes a straight-set victory over teenage phenom Joao Fonseca.
There was not much evidence of this current form leading into this event from Tomas, as he had lost seven of his last 10 matches, and had retired from two of them. Oddly, Machac has retired from eight matches within the past 52 weeks, citing illness and injury as reasons. But when he’s playing confidently, his explosive groundstrokes can be serious weapons, as they were earlier this season in Acapulco, where he won the title.
Fritz, the defending runner-up, has played well through three matches, losing just two sets. He rebuilt his confidence two months ago on grass, and was a semifinalist earlier this month in Toronto. Taylor is a strong 6-2 in the round of 16 at Majors, while Tomas is 0-1.
The American is also 2-0 against the Czech, though one of those victories was unsurprisingly via a Machac retirement. So while this is far from a straightforward draw, Fritz remains the favorite. His serving prowess should be enough to return him to the US Open quarterfinals.
Novak Djokovic (7) vs. Jan-Lennard Struff (Q) – Not Before 7:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Djokovic is the oldest man to reach the fourth round of the US Open since Jimmy Connors back in 1991. It’s easy to forget just how impressive Novak’s results continue to be at such an advanced tennis age, since we’ve watched him continuously compete this way for so long. But we’ve also seen him physically uncomfortable on-court during his first three matches, and in a post-match interview with ESPN on Friday night, Djokovic admitted he’s a bit worried his body may not be able to win seven best-of-five matches.
Struff pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career in the last round, upsetting Frances Tiafoe in straight sets to achieve just his third appearance in the fourth round of a Slam, and his first in New York. And that came just a round after eliminating Holger Rune in five sets. A hip injury impacted the 35-year-old’s form for much of the past year, with the German falling out of the world’s top 150. But since the beginning of qualifying nearly two weeks ago, Struff has now won six matches.
Novak lost at last year’s US Open to a player who, like Jan-Lennard, has a booming serve: Alexei Popyrin. However, Djokovic is a perfect 7-0 against Struff, and has only lost one set across those seven matches. So while Novak is more prone to an upset four years since their last meeting, he’s still the favorite on Sunday evening.
Elena Rybakina (9) vs. Marketa Vondrousova – Last on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Rybakina looked extremely sharp in a straight-set victory over Emma Raducanu on Friday, her third such victory of this past week. This is actually her best result in New York to date, as she was a modest 5-5 at the US Open ahead of this fortnight. But Elena arrived with plenty of confidence, coming off back-to-back semifinal appearances in Montreal and Cincinnati.
Vondrousova is also yet to lose a set, and also like Rybakina, she pulled off a great win in the last round, over Jasmine Paolini. In that match, Marketa defended her serve very well, and was not broken by the Italian. She’ll look to serve even better against Rybakina, who loves to thump her return of second serves, and Elena is of course herself quite hard to break .
They have split two prior meetings, with Vondrousova prevailing four years ago on a hard court, and Rybakina prevailing two years ago on clay. In the rubber match on a hard court, Elena is a considerable favorite. She’s been the much better player this past month on this surface, and is currently at a level we haven’t seen her reach in some time. The winner will likely face Aryna Sabalenka in the next round.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Adrian Mannarino vs. Jiri Lehecka (20) – Lehecka is vying for his second Major quarterfinal, after first doing so at the 2023 Australian Open. Mannarino benefitted from Ben Shelton retiring in the last round due to injury. This is their first career meeting.
Jessica Pegula (4) vs. Ann Li – Pegula is yet to drop a set as she defends her runner-up points from a year ago. This is Li’s best-ever result at a Slam, and she already upset Belinda Bencic in the second round. Earlier this season at Roland Garros, Pegula defeated Li in straights.
Arthur Rinderknech vs. Carlos Alcaraz (2) – Alcaraz has been dominant through three rounds, avoiding the lapses he often suffers during early rounds. Rinderknech has already played 13 out of a possible 15 sets, to make his debut in the fourth round of a Major. Carlitos leads their head-to-head 3-0.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Cristina Bucsa – Sabalenka is also yet to lose a set, as she looks to achieve her 12th Slam quarterfinal in as many appearances. Bucsa upset Sabalenka’s former doubles partner Elise Mertens on Friday, and Cristina was a surprise quarterfinalist last year in Melbourne. This is another first-time encounter.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
