Djokovic, Zverev Lead Thursday's Action At US Open; 10 Americans Compete In 2R
After Hurricane Ida, the National Weather Service of New York issuing a flash flood emergency for the city, three inches of rain in Central Park in Manhattan, and the suspension of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, US Open organisers will certainly hope that Thursday brings better weather conditions.
Three-time former champion Novak Djokovic, last year’s runner-up Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Denis Shapovalov and #NextGenATP stars – including Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti – all play on day four at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for a place in the third round.
World No. 1 Djokovic aims for his 40th win in 46 matches this year, as he continues his quest to complete the historic Grand Slam against Tallon Griekspoor, a player who was training in the Netherlands on clay courts last week and was uncertain that he’d secure a travel visa to make his US Open main draw debut.
With the help of the USTA, Griekspoor arrived in New York on Friday and rallied to beat Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday in five sets. Ahead of his first meeting with Djokovic inside Arthur Ashe Stadium at 7pm local time, the 25-year-old told ATPTour.com, “It’s going to be really, really tough. That is probably the biggest challenge in tennis at the moment, playing Novak on a hard court… This is what you dream of. It’s going to be really tough, but I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”
Djokovic will be attempting to extend his 52-1 record at major championships (12-0 at the US Open) against players outside of the Top 100. Over the next fortnight, Djokovic is not only bidding to follow in the footsteps of Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) and complete the Grand Slam, but he is also hoping to win six more matches and break a tie with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for a record-breaking 21st major singles trophies.
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev, aiming to go one better than last year’s US Open final run (l. to Thiem), also seeks his 40th match win of 2021 and comes up against Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas second on the main show court. Seven years ago Ramos-Vinolas beat Zverev 6-1, 6-0 in an ATP Challenger Tour event in Barranquilla, Colombia, but this time around Zverev is riding a 12-match tour-level winning streak.
Victory over Djokovic en route to the Tokyo Olympics gold medal and a fifth ATP Masters 1000 title two weeks ago at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, has given 24-year-old Zverev a tremendous amount of confidence for a breakthrough run at Flushing Meadows. Should Zverev overcome Ramos-Vinolas, then Kazakhstani 31st seed Alexander Bublik or home favourite Jack Sock (third on Court 5) will be next.
View Thursday’s Schedule | Singles & Doubles Draws
Last year, Denis Shapovalov became the first Canadian male to reach the US Open quarter-finals, but three weeks later the 22-year-old fell to his Thursday opponent, Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in the Roland Garros second round. Having snapped a four-match losing streak to record his first win as a Top 10 player by beating Federico Delbonis on Tuesday, Shapovalov will now seek to avenge the Paris loss in October 2020 that lasted five hours and five minutes. The match is scheduled last on Louis Armstrong Stadium, which also plays host to French 17th seed Gael Monfils, who is looking to extend his perfect 3-0 ATP Head2Head record against American Steve Johnson.
Sixth seed Matteo Berrettini, who reached the Wimbledon final (l. to Djokovic) in July to become the first Italian man to reach a major final since Adriano Panatta at 1976 Roland Garros, hit 17 aces past Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday and the 2019 semi-finalist faces another Frenchman, Corentin Moutet, for the first time in the second match on Grandstand. Elsewhere, Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz is bidding to reach the US Open third round for the first time when he plays on Court 5 against Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who dug deep to overcome Marton Fucsovics in five sets.
Ten American men are in action at Flushing Meadows on day four, including wild card Jenson Brooksby and Taylor Fritz, who play not before 5pm on Grandstand for a chance to challenge Russian 21st seed Aslan Karatsev or Jordan Thompson of Australia. Sinner, the Italian 13th seed, continues his push for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in November, when he comes up against 18-year-old wild card Zachary Svajda third on Court 10, while 22nd seed Reilly Opelka, full of confidence after he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto, aims to record his second win over Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful Musetti on Court 17.
Mackenzie McDonald beat former World No. 4 and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori 7-5 in the third set in the Citi Open semi-finals and the pair face each other again today, also on Court 17. Second on Court 12, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili takes on serve-and-volleyer Maxime Cressy, who saved four match points and rallied from two sets down to upset World No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta on Tuesday. Not bad for a player who didn’t make UCLA’s singles line-up as a freshman in 2015-16.