In back-to-back-to-back matches Friday on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Carlos Alcaraz, Leylah Fernandez, and Frances Tiafoe upset top five seeds in deciding sets. However, backing up the biggest win of your young career is one of tennis’ biggest challenges. How will these burgeoning stars fare in the round of 16?
We are indeed down to 16 men and women in the singles draws, with all players only four matches from the title. That includes Novak Djokovic, who is just 12 sets away from an historic calendar-year Grand Slam. Day 7’s play is highlighted by four fascinating women’s matchups, as well as Friday’s late night delight, Frances Tiafoe, facing Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who also prevailed that evening in five sets.
Each day, this preview will analyze the five most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Elina Svitolina (5) vs. Simona Halep (12) – 12:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
This has been a dynamic rivalry over the last several years, and it’s tied at 5-5. Halep famously made a huge comeback against Svitolina at the 2017 French Open, saving a match point going down 5-1 in the second set, and taking the third set 6-0. Their only other match at a Slam occurred in the 2019 Wimbledon semifinals, where Simona dominated 6-1, 6-3. After suffering a serious calf injury in May, Halep had only played two matches leading into this event. Her leg may still be taped up, but she’s performed excellently through three rounds, especially in a three-set win over Elena Rybakina on Friday. Svitolina is having a good summer, winning the bronze medal in Tokyo, and capturing a title just last week in Chicago. And Elina is yet to drop a set this fortnight. It seems she could be poised to earn her first win over Halep at a Major, and return to the US Open quarterfinals for her second straight appearance.
Angelique Kerber (16) vs. Leylah Fernandez – Not Before 1:00pm on Louis Armstrong Stadium
Fernandez took full advantage of Naomi Osaka’s inability to close out their third round match, thrilling Arthur Ashe Stadium with her energetic game. However, Angelique Kerber is back in a big way. There was talk she was thinking of retiring from the game just a few months ago, but the German is now on a 17-2 run, with those two losses against World No.1 Ash Barty. Angie reversed what had been a one-sided rivalry with a red-hot Sloane Stephens in the last round, and should be brimming with confidence. In their first career meeting, the 2016 champion should be able to advance beyond the promising 18-year-old Canadian.
Aryna Sabalenka (2) vs. Elise Mertens (15) – Third on Louis Armstrong Stadium
These two are good friends, and up until recently, frequent doubles partners. Mertens is currently the No.1 doubles player in the world, and now teams with Su-Wei Hsieh. Together, they won the women’s double championship at Wimbledon. Sabalenka decided to take a break from playing doubles to focus solely on singles, which perhaps was a factor in reaching her first Major semifinal in singles at The Championships. And she leads Mertens 5-2, claiming their last four matches. The last three have all been straight-setters. Elise’s singles results have stagnated over the last few months, with an 8-7 record since the grass court season began. On these fast courts, the power game of Sabalenka should be able to hit through her close friend.
Felix Auger-Aliassime (12) vs. Frances Tiafoe – 7:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium
Tiafoe’s five-set win over Andrey Rublev was simply electrifying. But at nearly four hours long, and ending at 2:14am, it is not conducive to allowing the American to further capitalize on his momentum. And Frances has failed to win four straight matches at tour level since his run to the 2019 Australian Open quarterfinals. If he was able to play at the same level he attained on Friday, he could easily win this contest. But maintaining that level from match-to-match has proven to be difficult for Tiafoe. And it won’t help that Auger-Aliassime has elevated his game this year, as was fully evident in his own impressive victory on Friday evening over the perpetually-tough Roberto Bautista Agut. In their first-ever encounter, I like Felix to advance to the quarterfinals at his second consecutive Major.
Barbora Krejickova (8) vs. Garbine Muguruza (9) – Last on Arthur Ashe Stadium
As Ben Rothenberg highlighted, this is the first Slam match between two WTA top 10 players in nearly two years, since Ash Barty played Petra Kvitova at the 2020 Australian Open. And this is a rematch from just a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, which Krejickova won 6-2 in the third. In that final set, Barbora served excellently, getting in a high percentage of first serves, and winning almost all of her first serve points. They also met earlier this year in the final of Dubai, with Muguruza prevailing in straight sets. But six months later, Krejicikova is the much hotter player. She is 28-3 since mid-May, with her only three losses coming to women who went on to win those events (Barty at Wimbledon and Cincinnati, Bencic in Tokyo). Krejcikova has won all six sets she’s played this week, and she should be favored to keep on winning come Sunday.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Diego Schwartzman (11) vs. Botic Van De Zandschulp (Q) – Schwartzman is yet to drop a set, and will be a considerable favorite against the 25-year-old qualifier, who played 14 sets in his last three matches.
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Dan Evans (24) – The 31-year-old Brit survived a fifth set tiebreak on Friday against Alexei Popyrin. But he’ll be hard-pressed to contend with Medvedev, as he’s been dismantling the competition through three rounds.
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Peter Gojowczyk (Q) – What will Alcaraz have left physically and emotionally after his dramatic, epic victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas? This is an excellent fourth round draw for the 18-year-old, as Gojowczyk is ranked 141st in the world, and like Van De Zandschulp, already played 14 sets this week.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
