By Matthew Marolf
Tuesday was a stunning day of upsets on the men’s side, with four top 10 seeds falling. The upset bug can often be contagious, so are we in for more surprises on Wednesday? Unlike the men, and unlike recent times, we’re yet to see any big upsets amongst the women, with all top 10 seeds advancing to the second round.
Elina Svitolina (5) vs. Venus Williams
This is a big-time second round encounter between a top five player and a seven-time Major champion. At 39-years-old, Venus played some of her best tennis in a long time on Monday, easily dispatching of San Jose champion Saisai Zheng 6-1, 6-0. Pam Shriver suggested on ESPN that Venus was motivated by her first round loss to 15-year-old Coco Gauff at Wimbledon. But she’s 1-2 against Svitolina, who claimed both of their most recent meetings in straight sets.
Venus will need to continue to strike the ball as cleanly and crisply as she did on Monday to overcome to defensive efforts of Svitolina. Yet it’s worth noting the US Open is the only Major where Svitolina has never advanced beyond the fourth round, so she’s yet to play her best in New York. With the crowd firmly behind Venus, I like her chances to pull off a signature victory in the twilight of her career.
Serena Williams (8) vs. Caty McNally (WC)
This is reminiscent of the Venus/Gauff match from Wimbledon last month. McNally is a 17-year-old American who is Coco’s friend and doubles partner. They’ve come up through the juniors together, and Caty lost the French Open juniors final to Gauff last year. She’s surely been inspired by what Coco achieved at Wimbledon, especially her first round victory over Serena’s sister.
McNally gained her first win at a Major just two days ago over former French Open semi-finalist Timea Bacsinszky. But if Serena plays anything like she did on Monday in her dismantling of Maria Sharapova, Caty doesn’t stand much of a chance here. That being said, I’m curious to see if Serena can maintain her form from that high-profile opener, and how she reacts to facing a player two decades her junior.
Borna Coric (12) vs. Grigor Dimitrov
What a descent it’s been for Dimitrov. He began 2018 ranked third in the world, coming off his first Masters 1,000 title in Cincinnati and winning the 2017 ATP Finals. Since that time, Grigor is 39-34, and finds himself ranked 78th in the world. His lack of confidence has been startling, as he’s appeared lost on the court. But he earned a solid four-set win on Monday over Andreas Seppi.
And though his opponent is ranked 12th in the world, he’s also been having a rough time of late. Coric is just 17-12 over the past six months, and hasn’t beaten a top 20 player during that period. This will surprisingly be their first career meeting. As much as Dimitrov has been struggling, he feels due for a significant victory. I have a hunch he may gain such a win today.
Anastasija Sevastova (12) vs. Iga Swiatek
Sevastova loves playing in New York. She was a semi-finalist here last year, and has reached the quarters or better in all of the last three years. Today though she faces a considerable challenge in an 18-year-old from Poland who has already made some waves on tour. Swiatek has a lot of guile in her game, and reached the fourth round of Roland Garros a few months ago.
Iga also came through qualifying in both Toronto and Cincinnati this summer, and had two significant wins in those main draws over Carolines: both Wozniacki and Garcia. Sevastova and Swiatek have never played before. This should be a lot of fun considering the variety in both players’ games. This is a tough one to call, but I give a slight advantage to Swiatek. She appears ready for another good run at a Slam, and I don’t think she’ll allow Sevastova’s unconventional style to frustrate her.
Su-Wei Hsieh (29) vs. Karolina Muchova
Speaking of women with a lot of variety, this is another match between two of the WTA’s most eclectic players. They met on a hart court six months ago in Doha, with Muchova pulling off the upset as a qualifier in straight sets. The 23-year-old from the Czech Republic won’t be playing qualies again anytime soon.
Karolina is now ranked inside the top 50, thanks to reaching the final on the clay of Prague in her home country, and her surprise run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals last month. Muchova’s certainly been impressive, but Hsieh is rarely an easy out. This should be a lot of fun, with the winner likely to face (and likely to frustrate) Serena Williams on Friday.
Other notable matches on Day 3:
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Juan Ignacio Londero, who only has three hard court wins this season.
Roger Federer (3) vs. Damir Dzumhur. Damir was 0-3 at Slams this year prior to his first round win on Monday.
Ash Barty (2) vs. Lauren Davis, who upset defending champion Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon.
2016 champion Stan Wawrinka (23) vs. Jeremy Chardy. Wawrinka is 5-0 against Chardy, losing only one of 12 sets they’ve played.
2016 finalist Karolina Pliskova (3) vs. Mariam Bolkvadze (Q), the 202nd-ranked player in the world from Georgia.
Cincinnati champion Daniil Medvedev (5) vs. Hugo Dellien, a 26-year-old from Bolivia in just his second Major appearance.
Kei Nishikori (7) vs. Bradley Klahn. Nishikori has reached the quarterfinals or better at all of the last five Slams.
