A huge day of second round action in Cincinnati features eight of the top 10 men in the world, as well as eight of the top 10 women.
Wednesday’s schedule is loaded, but the day’s most blockbuster encounter sees American No.2 Frances Tiafoe face three-time Major champion Stan Wawrinka. Plus, Novak Djokovic will play his first singles match in North America since the 2021 US Open, when he fell one match short of the calendar-year Grand Slam. Overall the Order of Play features 11 Major singles champions, which also includes Venus Williams, Iga Swiatek, Victoria Azarenka, and Daniil Medvedev.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s two most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Wednesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Danielle Collins (WC) – Not Before 12:00pm on Center Court
Just last week in Montreal, Swiatek overcame Collins in three sets. Iga leads their head-to-head 3-1, though that one victory was by far their most important matchup. Last January in the Australian Open semifinals, Danielle thumped Iga 6-4, 6-1 to reach her only Major final to date.
Swiatek is 50-8 this season, and 24-5 on hard courts. But this is easily her worst WTA 1000 event, with a record thus far of 2-4. Iga does not prefer fast courts, and Cincinnati provides one of the fastest surfaces of the tennis year. A few days ago in Canada, she was upset in the semifinals by Jessica Pegula.
Collins has a losing record on the year, but she often catches fire on hard courts. And she did just that last week in Montreal, coming through qualifying to win five matches, and collect victories over the likes of Elina Svitolina, Maria Sakkari, and Leylah Fernandez.
It would not be shocking for an in-form, confident Collins to take out Swiatek, especially on these fast courts. But considering Iga beat her less than a week ago, I would expect the top seed to figure out a way past Danielle again on Wednesday.
Frances Tiafoe (10) vs. Stan Wawrinka (WC) – Last on Grandstand
Tiafoe is now 33-13 on the year, after a straight-set victory in the first round on Sunday over Tallon Griekspoor. He’s claimed two ATP titles this year (Houston, Stuttgart), but is just 6-6 lifetime at this event. Frances will be eager to pick up momentum after a few tough losses this summer, and ahead of the defense of his thrilling run to the semifinals at last year’s US Open.
Wawrinka is now 21-14 this year at tour level, after a three-set victory over Brandon Nakashima that required two days to complete due to rain. Stan is 18-13 in Cincinnati, and is projected to break back into the top 50 for the first time in two years after his first round win.
Wawrinka is 3-0 against Tiafoe, though all three matches have gone the distance. The most recent two were decided by a third-set tiebreak, while the first went to 7-5 in the third. All three matches took place between 2019 and 2022. But on Wednesday, I give the edge to Frances to earn his first victory over Stan. Tiafoe has been the much better player of the two for the past year. Plus, the American often plays his best in his home country, especially in night matches like this.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Martina Trevisan (Q) vs. Jessica Pegula (3) – Pegula won her second WTA 1000 title last week in Montreal. And she’s already defeated Trevisan twice this season: once in the United Cup, and the other time on clay in Madrid.
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Daniil Medvedev (3) – This is a rematch from just last week in Canada, where Medvedev prevailed in straight sets. Medvedev is 48-10 this season, and 31-4 on hard courts.
Jannik Sinner (8) vs. Dusan Lajovic (Q) – Sinner is coming off the biggest title of his career just a few days ago in Toronto. Lajovic is only 3-2 at tour level this year on hard courts, as he’s played predominantly on clay.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) vs. Ben Shelton – Tsitsipas was the champion two weeks ago in Los Cabos, yet lost his opening round matchup last week in Toronto to Gael Monfils. Shelton eliminated fellow American Christopher Eubanks in the first round.
Qinwen Zheng vs. Venus Williams (WC) – Venus came from behind in both sets on Monday to upset Veronika Kudermetova, her first top 20 win in four years. Qinwen is 22-15 this year at tour level, and won a WTA title last month on clay.
Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Jelena Ostapenko – They have split four previous meetings, though both of their matchups in 2023 have gone to Rybakina. At the Australian Open and Rome, Elena prevailed by the same score: 6-2, 6-4.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Novak Djokovic (2) – Djokovic is a two-time champion of this tournament, and has reached the final on five other occasions. He’s 33-5 in 2023 overall, and 15-1 on hard courts. Davidovich Fokina had a strong run to the semifinals last week in Canada, with victories over Sascha Zverev and Casper Ruud. And while he upset Novak last year in Monte Carlo, Ale has lost their other three meetings in straight sets.
Ann Li (Q) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Li is a 23-year-old American qualifier who came back from losing the first set 6-0 on Tuesday to defeat Magda Linette. Two years ago at the Australian Open, Sabalenka beat Li 6-3, 6-1.
Donna Vekic vs. Victoria Azarenka (11) – Azarenka took out Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday, while Vekic ousted Jennifer Brady. Donna is 2-1 against Vika, and oddly this is their third meeting at this tournament.
Mayar Sherif vs. Coco Gauff (7) – Gauff was the champion two weeks ago in Washington, in dominating form. Sherif survived a grueling three-setter on Tuesday afternoon against Xiyu Wang.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play is here.
