Andy Murray vs Fernando Verdasco US Open 2018 Preview and Prediction
Andy Murray continues his quest to return to the top on Day 3 of the US Open, facing Fernando Verdasco on Arthur Ashe Stadium.…
Andy Murray continues his quest to return to the top on Day 3 of the US Open, facing Fernando Verdasco on Arthur Ashe Stadium.…
2018 US Open |
---|
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 27 August-9 September Coverage: Live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website |
Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova held off a spirited fightback from Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder to reach the second round of the US Open.
The Russian defeated Schnyder – who, at 39, is the oldest player ever to make the main draw of a Grand Slam via qualifying – 6-2 7-6 (8-6).
The match was Schnyder’s first in a Grand Slam since she came back to tennis in 2015 having retired in 2011.
“I knew I was in for a battle no matter her story or my story,” said Sharapova.
“For her to come back and have the desire is really admirable. I’m just really happy I was able to win that last point.”
Sharapova, 31, will play Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the second round in New York.
Schnyder, who reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows in 1998 and 2008, said: “It actually doesn’t feel so special and it doesn’t feel like I’ve been gone for such a while. It has been part of my life for so long.”
In their first meeting in 10 years, world number 186 Schnyder was handed an early break by Sharapova – who was crowned US Open champion in 2006 – after the Russian made three double service faults in the opening game.
Serving did not improve on either side of the net with the first four games all breaks, before Sharapova held for the first time to take a 3-2 lead.
From there, the 22nd seed dictated the first set, taking it in 40 minutes, and looked to have eased through the second having built a 5-1 advantage.
But errors started to creep into Sharapova’s game allowing Schnyder to level at 5-5 before forcing the tie-break, in which Sharapova – who hit 23 winners but made 46 unforced errors – needed four match points to seal victory.
2018 US Open |
---|
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 27 August-9 September Coverage: Live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website |
Andy Murray will be hoping to prevent Fernando Verdasco from gaining the upper hand during Wednesday’s second-round encounter at the US Open.
The 31-year-old plays the Spanish 31st seed in the second match on Arthur Ashe Stadium at about 19:00 BST.
Murray beat James Duckworth on Monday in his first Grand Slam match in 14 months after hip surgery.
British number two Cameron Norrie faces Serb Dusan Lajovic in the third match on court 10 at approximately 20:00.
Murray said: “Fernando is a great shot-maker and someone, that when he’s on his game, is really tough to beat.”
Verdasco said: “I need to treat it like any other meeting, it won’t change just because he has been injured. Hopefully, Wednesday is going to be a good day for me.”
Murray, the 2012 US Open champion, has won 13 of his 14 meetings with Verdasco but had to come from two sets down to beat him in the 2013 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Norrie, who beat Jordan Thompson in his opening match, has enjoyed a rapid rise up the rankings since turning professional in spring 2017 and is now up to 67 in the world.
To date, the 23-year-old has earned £522,000 in prize money, with at least an extra £42,000 from this year’s US Open.
Norrie, who is based at his former college in Texas, USA, is hoping use his prize money to buy a London flat.
He joked of the property prices: “I’ll probably have to make the semis here. Maybe [I’ll need to] win it for Putney or Wimbledon.”
As they did on Monday, defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal and six-time women’s champion Serena Williams feature in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
American Williams, seeded 17th, faces German Carina Witthoeft at 00:00 and will be followed by Nadal’s match against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Defending women’s champion Sloane Stephens opens proceedings on the main court at 16:00 against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, with Murray straight after.
Women’s seventh seed Elina Svitolina, two-time champion Venus Williams and men’s third seed Juan Martin del Potro are all in action on the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
If both Williams sisters win, they will meet in the third round.
In his first match under new coach Ivan Lendl, Alexander Zverev made a strong first impression. The 21-year-old German cruised to victory in his US Open opener, defeating lucky loser Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.
Having hired Lendl, former World No. 1 and coach of Andy Murray, to improve his chances of winning the biggest tournaments in the sport, Zverev wasted no time advancing to the second round in Flushing Meadows. Zverev fired 10 aces and won 83 per cent of first-serve points to progress after one hour and 36 minutes. The Citi Open champion improves to a tour-leading 44-13 record this season and has already equalled his best result at the final Grand Slam championship of the year.
The World No. 4 has now reached the second round in New York for the third consecutive year, but will hope to progress much further in the draw this fortnight. Zverev reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final earlier this season at Roland Garros, falling to eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem in three sets.
Polansky made headlines earlier this week after becoming the first player on record to enter all four Grand Slam events as a lucky loser. Remarkably, the Canadian has managed that feat in 2018 alone, with four consecutive Grand Slam entries as a lucky loser.
Read More: Polansky’s Destiny: The Luckiest Loser Of Them All
The nine-time tour-level titlist will face another lucky loser, Nicolas Mahut, or French wild card Corentin Moutet for a place in the third round. The reigning Mutua Madrid Open champion trails Mahut 0-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and is yet to meet Moutet at tour-level.
Last year’s quarter-finalist Diego Schwartzman made a winning return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, beating countryman Federico Delbonis 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-2. Schwartzman, who fell to Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight in 2017, hit 36 winners and converted six of 13 break-point chances to move through to the second round after two hours and 41 minutes.
Schwartzman will meet Belgian Ruben Bemelmans or #NextGenATP Spaniard Jaume Munar in the second round. Munar currently sits in eighth position in the ATP Race To Milan. Only the top seven automatically qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, with the eighth spot reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the tournament.
Did You Know?
At the Mutua Madrid Open in May, Zverev became the first player to win a clay-court title without being broken since stats started being kept in 1991. The German faced one break point en route to the title.
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki beat Australian Sam Stosur 6-3 6-2 to reach the second round of the US Open in New York.
Second seed Wozniacki, 28, broke the 2011 champion’s serve three times in the first set and twice in the second.
The Dane will play Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in round three.
Fifth seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-4 at Flushing Meadows.
The Czech, 28, broke serve twice to take the first set and won five successive games from 4-1 down in the second. She will face China’s Yafan Wang next.
Kvitova, who reached the quarter-finals in 2017, said: “I’m not really looking too much ahead. I played great tennis here last year and it was amazing for me.
“So far this year it has been great too. It is good to be in the second round of another Grand Slam and to be playing good tennis.”
Latvian 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-4 4-6 7-5 to set up a second-round meeting with American Taylor Townsend.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka, seeded 20th, defeated German Laura Siegemund 6-3 6-2 and will play Romani’s Monica Niculescu or Israel’s Julia Glushko next.
Wimbledon champion and fourth seed Angelique Kerber will face Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan on Louis Armstrong.
Top seed Simona Halep was knocked out in the first round on Monday.
US Open favourite Novak Djokovic begins his chase for slam number 14 on Tuesday evening when he takes on Marton Fucsovics…