No, that’s not a typo, and obviously Roger Federer will not be playing Rafael Nadal is the opening round. Roger will face Sumit Nagal, the 190th-ranked player in the world from India. But the other match in the Ashe night session is a legitimate blockbuster, featuring two of the sport’s biggest names in Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Serena Williams (8) vs. Maria Sharapova
For all the hype regarding these two huge names drawing each other in the first round, in reality this is anything but a rivalry when it comes to the tennis. Serena is 19-2 against Sharapova, with Maria’s last victory coming almost 15 years ago. This will be their first meeting at the US Open, as well as their first meeting since Sharapova released her autobiography in 2017. In her book, Maria speculated that Serena has resented her since losing to her in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Maria wrote about Serena crying in the locker room after that loss, and Serena knowing that Maria heard her. It’s been comments like this over the years from both players that have made their off-court rivalry much more heated than on the court. While Serena retired from the Rogers Cup final and withdrew from Cincinnati due to back spasms, she should be fully recovered for this opening round match. And Sharapova is just 2-4 since returning from another long injury layoff. The only variable here other than each woman’s health is how Serena will react to returning to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since last year’s ugly US Open final. Will Serena be rattled walking back onto this court, or motivated? Likely she’ll feel a bit of both, but not rattled enough to lose to Sharapova. Serena should advance easily.
Stan Wawrinka (23) vs. Jannik Sinner (Q)
Sinner is a big-hitting 18-year-old from Italy who first caught the tennis world’s attention at his country’s biggest tournament earlier this year. In front of a raucous crowd in Rome, Sinner came back from a set down to upset Steve Johnson. Jannik would then win a challenger event last month, and won three rounds of qualifying last week to make his Major debut today. He undoubtedly has a bright future ahead, but is he ready to challenge a three-time Major champion? That’s a big ask, but Wawrinka has not been playing his best of late. Since reaching the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, Stan is just 4-4, and hasn’t won back-to-back matches this summer. I like Sinner’s chances to push Wawrinka, but the 2016 US Open champion remains the favorite.
Angelique Kerber (14) vs. Kiki Mladenovic
Speaking of 2016 US Open champions having a rough summer, Kerber arrives in New York on a three-match losing streak. And since winning this title three years ago, Angelique is only 2-2 at this tournament. Her opponent today has had a rough few seasons since reaching the French Open quarterfinals in 2017, but has showed signs of coming out of that slump since hiring Sascha Bajin as her coach. However like Kerber, Kiki arrives here on a three-match losing streak, including a loss in the qualifying draw of Cincinnati. Angelique owns a 4-1 edge in their head-to-head, with all of Kerber’s wins coming on hard courts. Mladenovic’s only win came on clay. Yet a Kiki victory today feels extremely possible given Angelique’s current form, and considering Kerber’s propensity for losing in the first round of Majors. The German has done so four times in the last 14 Slams.
Taylor Fritz (26) vs. Feliciano Lopez
The 21-year-old Fritz is now the No.2 ranked American man, and recently reached a career-high ranking of No.25. He owns 35 match wins this year at all levels, which includes a Challenger title in Newport Beach as well as four qualifying wins which got him into both Masters events on clay. And it’s been a stellar summer for Fritz, who won his first tour-level title on the grass of Eastbourne, and reached two finals on the North American hard court swing (Atlanta, Los Cabos). On the other end of the spectrum, Lopez is a few weeks away from turning 38 years of age, and is obviously in the twilight of his career. Yet he’s still capable of big wins, as evidenced by becoming both the singles and doubles champion at Queen’s Club two months ago. But in the best-of-five format, the much-younger Fritz is a clear favorite, especially considering Lopez retired after just a set-and-a-half last week in Winston-Salem due to fatigue.
Johanna Konta (16) vs. Daria Kasatkina
Following nearly two years of poor results, the British No.1 came roaring back this spring. Konta accumulated 15 match wins on clay, historically her worst surface. That run includes two finals, as well as a French Open semifinal. She followed that up by returning to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. But after suffering an upset in that quarterfinal at the hands of Barbora Strycova, she fell in the opening round of both Toronto and Cincinnati. And Konta is also on a three-match losing streak in New York, since reaching the round of 16 here in 2016. Her opponent today is also quite the streaky player. After a breakout 2018 season, Kasatkina is an abysmal 10-16 this season. But Daria is way too talented for her current form to last much longer. And she owns a 2-1 record against Konta, which both wins coming last year on hard courts. If Konta serves well, she should be able to control her destiny today. However, if she does not, Kasatkina has enough variety in her game to frustrate Konta, and send the Brit home in the first round of this tournament for the third straight year.
Other notable matches on Day 1:
Defending champion Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Roberto Carballes Baena. Djokovic hasn’t lost in the first round of a Major in almost 14 years, and his opponent is only 2-8 in his career at Slams.
In the first match of the day on Arthur Ashe Stadium, French Open champion Ash Barty (2) vs. Zarina Diyas.
Roger Federer (3) vs. Sumit Nagal (Q). This will be Nagal’s main draw debut at the US Open.
2014 finalist Kei Nishikori (7) vs. Marco Trungelliti (Q). Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times has a great profile on Trungelliti here. And as Ben also highlights, Marco is 4-0 in the first round of Majors. Meanwhile Nishikori has been suffering from an elbow injury.
Italian No.1 Fabio Fognini (11) vs. Reilly Opelka. Fognini hasn’t played since the Rogers Cup, where he was suffering from a foot injury. The 6’11” American upset Wawrinka at Wimbledon last month.
Two-Time US Open champion Venus Williams vs. Saisai Zheng, who won her first WTA title in San Jose earlier this summer.
In what could be the last Grand Slam match of his career, Janko Tipsarevic vs. Denis Kudla. Tipsarevic announced he will retire at the end of this year.
Order of play
Arthur Ashe Stadium – 5pm (BST) start time
Zarina Diyas vs Ashleigh Barty [2]
Novak Djokovic [1] vs Roberto Carballes Baena
Not before 12am
Serena Williams [8] vs Maria Sharapova
Roger Federer [3] vs Sumit Nagal
Louis Armstrong Stadium – 4pm start time
Tereza Martincova vs Karolina Pliskova [3]
Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Daniil Medvedev [5]
Saisai Zheng vs Venus Williams
Not before 12am
Stan Wawrinka [23] vs Jannik Sinner
Misaki Doi vs Madison Keys [10]
Grandstand – 4pm start
Marco Trungelliti vs Kei Nishikori [7]
Angelique Kerber [14] vs Kristina Mladenovic
Sam Querrey vs Juan Ignacio Londero
Sofia Kenin [20] vs CoCo Vandeweghe
Court 17 – 4pm start
Johanna Konta [16] vs Daria Kasatkina
Fabio Fognini [11] vs Reilly Opelka
Elina Svitolina vs Whitney Osuigwe
Not before 10pm
Taylor Fritz [26] vs Feliciano Lopez
Court 5 – 4pm start
Eugenie Bouchard vs Anastasija Sevastova
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Samantha Stosur
Zachary Svajda vs Paolo Lorenzi
Nicolas Jarry vs Milos Raonic [21]
Court 10 – 4pm start
Carolina Garcia [27] vs Ons Jabeur
Adrian Mannarino vs Dan Evans
Gregoire Barriere vs Cameron Norrie
Carolina Dolehide vs Qiang Whang [18]
Court 13 – 4pm start
Tomas Berdych vs Jenson Brooksby
Kwon Soon-Woo vs Hugo Dellien
Viktorija Golubic vs Zhang Shuai [33]
Zhu Lin vs Xin Yu Wang
Court 4 – 4pm start
Petra Martic [22] vs Tamara Zidansek
Monica Niculescu vs Dayana Yastremska [32]
Corentin Moutet vs David Goffin [15]
Yoshihito Nishioka vs Marcos Giron
Court 6 – 4pm start
Marton Fucsovics vs Nikoloz Basilashvili [17]
Ivana Jorovic vs Iga Swiatek
Peng Shuai vs Varvara Pechenko
Guido Pella [19] vs Pablo Carrena Busta
Court 7 – 4pm start
Cristian Garin [31] vs Christian Eubanks
Elena Rybakina vs Karolina Muchova
Borna Coric [12] vs Evgeny Donskoy
Caty McNally vs Timea Bacsinszky
Court 8 – 4pm start
Monica Puig vs Rebecca Peterson
Pierre-Ougues Herbert vs Alex de Minaur
Dominik Koepfer vs Jaume Munar
Court 9 – 4pm start
Mariam Bolkvadze vs Bernarda Pera
Jana Cepelova vs Hsieh Su-Wei [29]
Philip Kohlschreiber vs Lucas Pouille [25]
Ricardas Berankis vs Jiri Vesely
Court 11 – 4pm start
Thiago Monteiro vs Bradley Klahn
Lauren Davis vs Johanna Larsson
Andreas Seppi vs Grigor Dimitrov
Magdalena Frech vs Laura Siegemund
Court 12 – 4pm start
Denis Kudla vs Janko Tipsarevic
Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs Jennifer Brady
Maria Sakkari [30] vs Camila Giorgi
Jack Sock vs Pablo Cuevas
Court 14 – 4pm start
Ana Bogdan vs Harriet Dart
Margarita Gasparyan vs Priscilla Hon
Laslo Djere vs Miomir Kecmanovic
Hubert Hurkacz vs Jeremy Chardy
Court 15 – 4pm start
Steve Darcis vs Dusan Lajovic [27]
Fiona Ferro vs Daria Gavrilova
Viktoria Kuzmova vs Alison Van Uytvanck
Elliot Benchetrit vs Damir Dzumhur
