The third round of the singles draws at the US Open gets underway on Friday which means that for the first time in New York this week we have seeded players able to face each other on what looks a cracking day of tennis.
We are back to the side of the draw which houses the two defending champions and they headline what is a really good schedule on the main courts. The majority of the action is on the four show courts so the event is increasing in profile from here.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
We begin what is the best day session on Arthur Ashe so far this week with a clash between the defending champion in the women’s draw, Coco Gauff, and an Elina Svitolina who is more than capable of taking care of the American given the chance. The eagerly anticipated all-American clash somewhat controversially rounds off the day session when Ben Shelton takes on Frances Tiafoe in a repeat of the quarter final from last year in what many expected to be in the night session. The night match in the men’s draw sees the other defending champion Novak Djokovic taking on the Canadian Open winner Alexei Popyrin before Aryna Sabalenka will look to take another step closer to a first US Open title when she meets Ekaterina Alexandrova to round off an excellent Ashe schedule.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The action over on the Louis Armstrong Stadium doesn’t look too shabby either with Paula Badosa getting the show up and running when she goes up against Elena-Gabriela Ruse for a spot in the second week of the tournament. A really good looking clash between two bright talents comes along in the second match when Emma Navarro takes on Marta Kostyuk before the one men’s match in the day session gets played out as Taylor Fritz goes up against Francisco Comesana. We have a good night session over on the Armstrong court too and it is led off by the American player Madison Keys who faces Elise Mertens in another good match before Alexander Zverev will take on Tomas Martin Etcheverry for a spot in the last 16.
Grandstand
The schedule on Grandstand doesn’t look too bad on Friday either and we get started with the Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng taking on Jule Neimeier in what could be a sleeper for the best match of the day. When they are done the next women’s match takes place as Victoria Azarenka looks to make it through to the second week of the draw when she faces Yafan Wang. After that it is the turn of the men to shine with Andrey Rublev the first big seed on show. He has a clash with Jiri Lehecka to overcome before Casper Ruud looks to make it back to the second week in New York when he goes up against the third Chinese player on show on this court in the form of Juncheng Shang.
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Court 17
The remaining three singles matches all take place out on Court 17 on Friday but the schedule there begins with a doubles match so we have to wait until a little later in the day for the singles action. When it does begin the Olympic silver medallist Donna Vekic will be on show when she meets Peyton Stearns in what could quickly become a feisty match. Two men’s matches round off the schedule with Grigor Dimitrov looking to continue what has been a really good week for him so far when he takes on Tallon Griekspoor before Brandon Nakashima looks to make it through to the second week of his home slam when he goes up against Lorenzo Musetti in what might well be a night match by the time it gets onto court.
Men’s Betting
I like the look of a couple of bets in the men’s draw on Friday with the first of those coming in the match between two men who had to endure marathon victories on Wednesday as Andrey Rublev takes on Jiri Lehecka and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this one turns into another lengthy battle. Both these men have looked in decent touch on the American hard courts. Rublev made the final in Canada and followed it up in Cincinnati where Lehecka took care of Daniil Medvedev before losing to the eventual finalist in Frances Tiafoe. Neither man has what you would call a bomb of a serve so we might well get plenty of rallies here and one of those classic US Open contests which swings one way and then the other. If we do get that, and given that both went five in the last round we should do, then I think the 36.5 games line gets covered comfortably here.
The other bet I like in the men’s draw comes in the night session where Novak Djokovic feels a little on the short side to me. I wouldn’t want to take on the Serbian but there has been nothing to suggest that he is comfortable and he should have gone to a set each against Laslo Djere in the previous round before his opponent went out like a light once he started cramping. Those were pretty intense conditions though and it could have taken something out of Djokovic, enough for Alexei Popyrin to challenge him once again if not beat him. We saw one elite seed taken out of the tournament on Thursday night so Popyrin will know these night session shocks happen. These two have met at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon this season with Djokovic winning 3-1 on each occasion. He won by four games in Melbourne and five in London but since then the Aussie has won in Canada and looks loaded with confidence. He has cruised through the draw so far and should be nice and fresh for a crack at Djokovic. I wouldn’t like to say with certainty that he beats him but if he can take a set again he should comfortably stay within 6.5 games of the legendary figure.
Women’s Betting
When you look through the women’s draw on Friday you could make a case for nearly all of the outsiders. The only favourite whose chances I really like is Emma Navarro and she’s my outright pick so I’ll let that ride and look to get a couple of the favourites beaten. The first one up to the plate is Victoria Azarenka who I think could have a tough time of it against Yafan Wang who has been no nonsense and got the job done this week. I sense Azarenka isn’t completely healthy. She dropped the first set against the world number 146 in the first round and then posted on social media about having a migraine so the humidity of New York isn’t going to help with that. Wang had a nice path through Maria Sakkari in the first round when the Greek quit after a set which Wang had won and then Diane Parry offered no challenge in the second so the Chinese player should be good to go here. These two met in Washington recently and Azarenka won in a deciding set but I think Wang is value to turn the tables here.
I’m also not convinced that Madison Keys is fully fit either and if she isn’t then Elise Mertens is more than capable of keeping her out in the New York humidity long enough to have some joy. This will be just the fourth match that Keys has played since her injury at Wimbledon and she pulled out of one of those during a deciding set. We don’t really know how deep she is able to fight here because she hasn’t been tested yet. I suspect that she is going to be here though because Mertens is experienced and knows how to use the pace that she’ll get from the Keys shots to her advantage. Mertens has been to a deciding set this week so we know that she is battle hardened and the longer she keeps Keys on court for the better I like her chances here. I think it is fair to say that the Belgian might be past her best but the levels she has can still be good enough to pull off what would be a fairly big upset in terms of reputation but maybe not as much of one given the doubts over Keys’ fitness.
Tips
Back A.Rublev vs J.Lehecka – Over 36.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back A.Popyrin (+6.5 games) to beat N.Djokovic for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Unibet
Back Y.Wang to beat V.Azarenka for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Sky Bet
Back E.Mertens to beat M.Keys for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Bet365
