Get the popcorn ready on Friday as two #NextGenATP stars Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime challenge Stefanos Tsitsipas and Roberto Bautista Agut, respectively, for a place in the Last 16 at the US Open. Two Russians, Daniil Medvedev, the 2019 finalist, and Andrey Rublev, also look to advance on stadium courts.
In arguably the match of the day, Alcaraz, the youngest player in the Top 400 of the FedEx ATP Rankings who has sent shockwaves around the tennis world this year and now, faces third seed Tsitsipas for the first time second on Arthur Ashe Stadium (not before 1:30pm).
With an athletic and powerful game, Alcaraz has won 23 of his past 28 matches (at any level) and become the first male since Goran Ivanisevic in 1989 to reach the second round at all four major championships on debut.
“He’s a young talent that has been doing very well recently,” said Tsitsipas, ahead of the clash at Flushing Meadows. “He’s been constantly improving, getting up in the rankings. He’s someone that has a good game for all surfaces. Me personally, I want to play the best of my game against him. I see him as a potential contender in the future for Grand Slam titles and other big events.”
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The Spaniard has used the aftermath of his three matches this year against Top 10 opponents — Alexander Zverev in Acapulco, Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros and Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon — positively, securing victories in 10 of his past 13 matches, including his first ATP Tour crown at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag (d. Gasquet) and a Winston-Salem Open semi-final run (l. to Ymer). He is now in strong contention to qualify for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in November, currently in fourth position in the ATP Race To Milan.
The World No. 55 was impressive in beating British 26th seed Cameron Norrie and France’s Arthur Rinderknech, but if former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero’s charge is to become the youngest player to reached the US Open fourth round since Michael Chang (17) and Pete Sampras (18) in 1989, he will need to record the biggest victory of his career. In February, he beat then World No. 14 David Goffin at the Great Ocean Road Open.
World No. 3 Tsitsipas, who is closing on a place at the Nitto ATP Finals for a third straight year, has yet to reach the US Open fourth round, but comes into the match in great form following victories over 2012 champion Andy Murray and Adrian Mannarino. The Greek advanced to back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto (l. to Opelka) and at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (l. to Zverev).
View Friday’s Schedule | Singles & Doubles Draw
Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA
In another exciting third-round encounter, the highly consistent Spanish 18th seed Bautista Agut challenges 12th seed Auger-Aliassime for the third time during the night match at 7pm on Louis Armstrong Stadium. During the 2019 Davis Cup final, Auger-Aliassime switched his pattern of play to Bautista Agut’s forehand and paid the price, but last year the Canadian won 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the Cologne 1 semi-finals.
Auger-Aliassime beat Zverev en route to his first major championship quarter-final at Wimbledon in July and will be attempting to secure a US Open fourth-round berth for the second straight year. In his first two matches this week, Bautista Agut has been in great form, losing only 13 games in victories over Nick Kyrgios and Emil Ruusuvuori.
Earlier in the day on Louis Armstrong Stadium (not before 1pm), second seed Medvedev will likely tread carefully in a first-time ATP Head2Head meeting against Pablo Andujar, who is seeking the biggest win of his career. While the Spaniard has recorded only three hard-court wins this year, he has recorded Top 10 victories over Roger Federer (Geneva) and Dominic Thiem (Roland Garros). But Medvedev has won 13 of his past 15 matches during the US summer swing, including a fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers (d. Opelka) and the 200th match win of his career over Richard Gasquet in the US Open first round. The victor will play British 24th seed Daniel Evans or Alexei Popyrin (second on Court 17).
Medvedev’s compatriot, fifth seed Rublev, who is also hoping to play in Turin at the Nitto ATP Finals from 14-21 November, tackles American Frances Tiafoe, for the first time at tour-level, last on Arthur Ashe Stadium. A lot has changed since Rublev beat Tiafoe 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the 2014 US Open junior quarter-finals. Two-time quarter-finalist Rublev has won 27 of his 43 match wins on hard courts this year, while Tiafoe seeks his third Top 10 win at a major (Kevin Anderson at 2019 Australian Open and Tsitsipas at 2021 Wimbledon) in order to become the first home favourite to reach the US Open fourth round in consecutive years since Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick in 2011-12.
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Four qualifiers — Peter Gojowczyk, Henri Laaksonen, Alex Molcan and Botic van de Zandschulp — also feature on day five. Laaksonen has two ATP Challenger Tour wins over Gojowczyk, ahead of their first tour-level meeting on Grandstand for the right to play Tsitsipas or Alcaraz. Not before 5pm on the same court, Slovakian Molcan, the runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Belgrade Open final in May, faces 11th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Van de Zandschulp had never before visited the United States prior to last week, only seeing New York City on shows such as ‘Suits’ and ‘Person of Interest’. He meets Facundo Bagnis of Argentina third on Court 17.
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