Federer and Nadal are just two rounds away from finally playing at the US Open, and both are heavy favorites to win their next two matches. And on the women’s side, Serena is not just the only Major singles champion remaining, but no one else has even reached a final. The next six days provide these all-time greats with a golden opportunity to add to their Grand Slam tally.
Elina Svitolina (5) vs. Johanna Konta (16)
Svitolina lost her first four Major quarterfinals, though is now vying to win her second in a row. And she’s blitzed her way through this draw, winning all eight sets played and easily diffusing power players like Venus Williams, Dayana Yastremska, and Madison Keys. Also, Svitolina is 4-0 against Konta, with all those matches occurring on a hard court. Elina should be favored in the first match of the on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but don’t discard Johanna’s chances. The British No.1 has shown herself to be a good big-match player, as she did on Sunday in winning an extremely tight match over the third seed, Karolina Pliskova. She’s now reached the quarterfinals at all four Slams, and is playing for her third semifinal. She’s capable of controlling her own destiny if her serve is on. Konta will need to be at her best against a red-hot Svitolina, though I still give Elina the edge based on their history.
Daniil Medvedev (5) vs. Stan Wawrinka (23)
After riling the New York crowd up to the sound of roaring boos on Friday night against Feliciano Lopez, I thought Medvedev would look to be more subdued in his next match and not draw as much attention to himself. And he did just that throughout his fourth round match against Dominik Koepfer. But the moment the match ended, that all changed, as he broke into a dance to antagonize the crowd. And in his post-match interview, he again encouraged the fans to keep booing him, saying it again urged him onto victory as he struggled to find the energy to compete. This afternoon on Ashe, I’m sure the crowd will happily oblige and greet him with another chorus of boos. Medvedev won his only previous meeting against Wawrinka in the first round of the 2017 Wimbledon, though Stan was hampered in that match by his knee, which would soon require surgery. While Daniil is an astounding 18-2 in hard courts this summer, having made the finals of every event he’s entered, that’s a whole lot of tennis within a five-week period. Even though Djokovic was of course less than 100% in his fourth round match against Wawrinka, Stan played some great tennis, forcing the world No.1 into submission. Wawrinka should advance to his fourth US Open semifinal, to the delight of the audience. That is, as long as he’s healthy. Amazon Prime in the UK reported that Wawrinka was sick in the locker room following his victory over Djokovic. If he’s as depleted at Medvedev, this could get very interesting.
Serena Williams (8) vs. Qiang Wang (18)
Serena Williams is 37-14 in Major quarterfinals. Qiang Wang is 0-0. Those stats pretty much sum up this matchup. Full credit to Qiang Wang for advancing to her first Slam quarterfinal, and taking out French Open champion Ash Barty in the last round, but she’ll be a huge underdog on Tuesday night against the six-time champion. The only question mark here is the condition of Serena’s ankle, which she rolled two days ago. But reports indicate she looked just fine in practice yesterday. Serena hasn’t lost at this stage of the US Open since 2007. In her first match against the Chinese No.1, I don’t see that changing.
Roger Federer (3) vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Here we have another mismatch between an all-time great and a surprise quarterfinalist. Kudos to Dimitrov to fight his way this far, especially considering he arrived in New York with a losing record on the year, and a disastrous 1-7 in his last eight matches. He played the best tennis we’ve seen out of him in nearly two years in an impressive win over Alex de Minaur on Sunday. But he’s 0-7 against the man he modeled his strokes after, and has only won two out of the 18 sets they’ve played. Even though Roger struggled in his first two rounds, he’s played magnificently in the last two, with both matches lasting less than 90 minutes each. Federer is a strong favorite to advance to his 11th US Open semifinal, and his first since 2015.
Other notable matches on Day 9:
There are two women’s doubles quarterfinals featuring top singles players. In the first, it’s Indian Wells and Miami champions Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka (9) vs. Yingying Duan and Saisai Zheng (12), who were finalists at the French Open. Mertens is also still alive in singles.
In the second, French Open champions Timea Babos and Kiki Mladenovic (1) vs. Vika Azarenka and Ash Barty (8), the Rome champions.
Order of play (time BST)
Arthur Ashe Stadium
17:00:
(5) Elina Svitolina (Ukr) v (16) Johanna Konta (Gbr)
(23) Stan Wawrinka (Swi) v (5) Daniil Medvedev (Rus)
00:00
(8) Serena Williams (USA) v (18) Qiang Wang (Chn)
(3) Roger Federer (Swi) v Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)
