The top players in the world square off in New York on Wednesday with the chance to win a Grand Slam. The U.S. Open is in its second round.
The third seed While holder Novak Djokovic returns to the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium to face fellow Serb Laslo Djere, Coco Gauff begins her title defense against German veteran Tatjana Maria.
On the main showcourts, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz will also be competing as they try to break the 21-year American drought for a domestic men’s champion in New York.
1 MEN’S MATCH: BERRETTINI vs. FRITZ
Fritz has faced Italian Matteo Berrettini three times before and has never lost, but the 12th seed anticipates a fight at Louis Armstrong Stadium against a fellow big server.
Fritz stated, “I’ve been able to get him in head-to-head matches, but it’s always been really close, as it always will be, because both of us are big servers.”
It will depend on how well we execute. When two individuals with very competitive games are pitted against one another, anything that is developed on a major subject is decidedly narrow.
In her lone prior encounter of the year in Brisbane against Lucia Bronzetti, Aryna Sabalenka won in just three games, and the Australian Open champion is a strong favorite to defeat the unseeded Italian.
The formidable Belarusian easily defeated Priscilla Hon in the opening round and will try to gain further ground in her pursuit of back-to-back Grand Slam final appearances.
After his opening set concluded at approximately midnight, Djokovic had hoped to avoid another late finish. However, the 37-year-old is facing Djere, who took him to five sets in New York last year, in what could be an exhausting match.
“One of the Serbian men will definitely advance to the third round. Djere is a person who really enjoys performing on a large stage, so perhaps that will be me,” Djokovic remarked.
“I have vivid memories of our battle. It was a challenging game. After trying to analyze it, I hope to improve on some of the things I did the year before.
