The USTA’s five-year, $600-million renovation is complete. A brand-new Louis Armstrong Stadium opened play on Monday, adding a second court with a roof to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
And within the first 90 minutes of Day 1, history was made on that very court. The top women’s player in the world, Simona Halep, was eliminated, the first time a top seed has ever lost in the opening round of the US Open. On the heels of a Wimbledon where all top 10 ladies’ seeds were out within the first seven days, are there a lot more upsets in store as the first week of the Open progresses?
On Monday, the heat and humidity in New York were significant factors for many players. With the temperatures forecasted to go even higher over the next few days, fitness and endurance will only become more important, especially on the men’s side where they play best-of-five.
Jelena Ostapenko vs. Andrea Petkovic
Embed from Getty Images
This will be the first match of the day on Armstrong, and it could be another upset in the making to start the day on that court. The 21-year-old Ostapenko is seeded 10th, coming off her semifinal run at Wimbledon. But Jelena hasn’t won a singles match since The Championships. Petkovic is a former US Open semifinalist, yet has struggled with injury and form in recent years to the point where she even contemplated retirement. However, the 30-year-old has shown signs of rediscovering her play of yesteryear over the past few months. She gave World No.1 Simona Halep all she could handle at Roland Garros before an injury during the match derailed her efforts. Andrea then scored impressive wins over Belinda Bencic and Defending US Open Champion Sloane Stephens on her way to the semifinals in Washington, DC. Ostapenko won their only previous meeting two years ago in Doha, though that was another match in which Petkovic was suffering from injury. Considering the summer results of both players, and the general instability atop the women’s game, an upset here would not be shocking.
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Samantha Stosur
Embed from Getty Images
Here we have a battle of Major singles champions to open the day’s play on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Stosur won this tournament seven years ago, but she’s just 5-4 in New York since that career highlight. Wozniacki of course finally got the Major monkey off her back this year in Melbourne, but she’s been far from 100% this summer. She withdrew from or retired from two of her three summer hard court tournaments, and was upset by the red-hot Aryna Sabalenka in her Rogers Cup opening round. Much like Ostapenko, Wozniacki arrives in New York with no wins since Wimbledon, and appears to be highly vulnerable to an upset. However, perhaps Stosur is not the best candidate for that job. She’s dropped to 64th in the world, and has more losses than wins in 2018. Wozniacki leads their head-to-head 7-5, through four of Stosur’s victories have come on hard courts. With Caroline at much less than 100%, it’s a great opportunity for the 34-year-old Stosur to get her biggest win in quite some time.
Novak Djokovic vs. Marton Fucsovics
Embed from Getty Images
Next up on Ashe, the Wimbledon and Cincinnati champion, Novak Djokovic, will return to the US Open for the first time since he was a finalist in 2016. And he just may be the favorite to win this tournament based on his two recent titles, which included impressive victories over Nadal at Wimbledon and Federer in Cincinnati. This will be his first meeting against Fucsovics, the 26-year-old from Hungary who just last week reached a career-high ranking of 40th in the world. Marton won his first ATP title this year in Geneva, and held match points over Stan Wawrinka just a few weeks ago at the Rogers Cup, in a match that went deep into a third set tiebreak. Fucsovics is one of the highest-ranked players Djokovic could draw in the first round. While he may test Djokovic, Novak should comfortably prevail based on his recent form.
Caroline Garcia vs. Johanna Konta
Embed from Getty Images
This is a blockbuster opening round matchup, which will be third up on the Grandstand. Three years ago, Konta arrived in New York barely ranked inside the top 100. But this is the tournament that launched her career to a new level, as she reached her first Major fourth round at the 2015 US Open, followed by her semifinal appearance at the next Grand Slam event in Melbourne. After reaching the semifinals at her home Major last year, the British No.1 fell into a big slump, partially due to injury. From Wimbledon last year until the start of the grass court season this year, Konta went just 16-17. Her ranking has dropped to 46th in the world, making this first round match possible. Garcia has certainly been the stronger player over the past year, but the Frenchwoman is just 4-4 in her last four tournaments. And Caroline is only 5-5 in New York throughout her career. Konta owns a 3-2 record against Garcia, though they haven’t played in over a year. This is another women’s match on Tuesday where an upset could be in the making.
Roger Federer vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
Embed from Getty Images
This will kick off the night session on Ashe. Federer has been meticulous in managing his schedule over the past two years, but is it possible he arrives in New York a little light on match play? Following his Wimbledon loss to Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals, he skipped the Rogers Cup to focus on Cincinnati, a tournament which he’s won seven times. Roger did advance to the final there this year, but was defeated by Djokovic. A loss on those very fast-paced courts in the best-of-three format won’t boost Federer’s confidence against Djokovic should they meet at the Open. And the chances of that happening are high, as the sixth-seeded Novak fell into Roger’s quarter of the draw. Roger’s opening opponent is a 22-year-old from Japan who is just 4-9 at tour-level events on the year. Nishioka is ranked 177th in the world and is into the tournament on a protected ranking, as Yoshihito tore his ACL and missed most of the 2017 season. Yoshihito shouldn’t pose a serious threat to Federer, but let’s see how comfortable Roger looks on the court. Dating back to Indian Wells this year, and most recently in Cincinnati earlier this month, Federer has often appeared pretty irritable on the court. He may need some sharp play and decisive wins going into the second week of this tournament.
Other notable matches on Day 2
- Petra Kvitova, winner of five titles in 2018, vs. Yanina Wickmayer, a former US Open semifinalist
- Wimbledon Champion Angelique Kerber vs. Margarita Gasparyan, currently ranked 370th in the world
- Former Champion Maria Sharapova vs. 39-year-old Qualifier Patty Schnyder, a US Open quarterfinalist both 10 and 20 years ago.
Order of play
Arthur Ashe Stadium – 17:00 BST start
S. Stosur (AUS) vss C. Wozniacki (DEN) [2]
N. Djokovic (SRB) [6] vs. M. Fucsovics (HUN)
Not before 0:00 BST
Y. Nishioka (JPN) vs. R. Federer (SUI) [2]
M. Keys (USA) [14] vs. P. Parmentier (FRA)
Louis Armstrong Stadium – 16:00 BST start
A. Petkovic (GER) vs. J. Ostapenko (LAT) [10]
M. Gasparyan (RUS) vs. A. Kerber (GER) [4]
P. Polansky (CAN) vs. A. Zverev (GER) [4]
Not before 0:00 BST
N. Kyrgios (AUS) [30] vs. R. Albot (MDA)
M. Sharapova (RUS) [22] vs. P. Schnyder (SUI)
Grandstand – 16:00 BST start
N. Osaka (JPN) [20] vs. L. Siegemund (GER)
M. Cilic (CRO) [7] vs. M. Copil (ROU)
C. Garcia (FRA) [6] vs. J. Konta (GBR)
Not before 22:00 BST
F. Tiafoe (USA) vs. A. Mannarino (FRA) [29]
Court 17 – 16:00 BST start
P. Kvitova (CZE) [5] vs. Y. Wickmayer (BEL)
K. Flipkens (BEL) vs. C. Vandeweghe (USA) [24]
F. Fognini (ITA) [14] vs. M. Mmoh (USA)
Not before 21:00 BST
M. Marterer (GER) vs. K. Nishikori (JPN) [21]
Court 5 – 16:00 BST start
Y. Sugita (JPN) vs. R. Gasquet (FRA) [26]
K. Bertens (NED) [13] vs. Kr. Pliskova (CZE)
D. Collins (USA) vs. A. Sabalenka (BLR) [26]
F. Bagnis (ARG) vs. G. Monfils (FRA)
Court 10 – 16:00 BST start
R. Berankis (LTU) vs. H. Chung (KOR) [23]
D. Schwartzman (ARG) [13] vs. F. Delbonis (ARG)
T. Babos (HUN) vs. D. Kasatkina (RUS) [11]
A. Kontaveit (EST) [28] vs. K. Siniakova (CZE)
Court 13 – 16:00 BST start
A. Cornet (FRA) vs. J. Larsson (SWE)
M. Cecchinato (ITA) [22] vs. J. Benneteau (FRA)
M. Vondrousova (CZE) vs. M. Buzarnescu (ROU) [21]
A. de Minaur (AUS) vs. T. Daniel (JPN)
Court 4 – 16:00 BST start
Y. Wang (CHN) vs. A. Schmiedlova (SVK)
M. Jaziri (TUN) vs. P. Carreno Busta (ESP) [12]
L. Pouille (FRA) [17] vs. Y. Maden (GER)
N. Gibbs (USA) vs. C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) [30
Court 6 – 16:00 BST start
M. Niculescu (ROU) vs. J. Glushko (ISR)
J. Brooksby (USA) vs. J. Millman (AUS)
M. Baghdatis (CYP) vs. M. Youzhny (RUS)
L. Cabrera (AUS) vs. A. Tomljanovic (AUS)
Court 7 – 16:00 BST start
M. Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. N. Rubin (USA)
D. Cibulkova (SVK) [29] vs. A. Rus (NED)
F. Gaio (ITA) vs. D. Goffin (BEL) [10]
Y. Putintseva (KAZ) vs. B. Pera (USA)
Court 8 – 16:00 BST start
L. Djere (SRB) vs. L. Mayer (ARG)
A. Sasnovich (BLR) vs. B. Bencic (SUI)
M. Puig (PUR) vs. S. Voegele (SUI)
B. Paire (FRA) vs. D. Novak (AUT)
Court 9 – 16:00 BST start
J. Sousa (POR) vs. M. Granollers (ESP)
T. Bacsinszky (SUI) vs. A. Krunic (SRB)
F. Krajinovic (SRB) [32] vs. M. Ebden (AUS)
Court 11 – 16:00 BST start
T. Townsend (USA) vs. A. Anisimova (USA)
V. Troicki (SRB) vs. T. Sandgren (USA)
Y. Hanfmann (GER) vs. P. Kohlschreiber (GER)
S. Cirstea (ROU) vs. A. Riske (USA)
Court 12 – 16:00 BST start
T. Smyczek (USA) vs. J. Struff (GER)
F. Di Lorenzo (USA) vs. C. McHale (USA)
M. McDonald (USA) vs. R. Haase (NED)
H. Tan (FRA) vs. E. Bouchard (CAN)
Court 14 – 16:00 BST start
S. Travaglia (ITA) vs. H. Hurkacz (POL)
G. Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs. J. Munar (ESP)
V. Zvonareva (RUS) vs. A. Blinkova (RUS)
K. Mladenovic (FRA) vs. T. Zidansek (SLO)
Court 15 – 16:00 BST start
A. Van Uytvanck (BEL) vs. L. Tsurenko (UKR)
E. Alexandrova (RUS) vs. S. Hsieh (TPE)
J. Vesely (CZE) vs. C. Moutet (FRA)
Y. Bhambri (IND) vs. P. Herbert (FRA)
