By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday August 29, 2019
It’s going to be a crazy Day 4 at the 2019 US Open. With all play washed out by rain on the outside courts on Wednesday, there is a double-slate of on tap for Thursday. It should be wild and it should be a perfect day for tennis in New York, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s.
Here’s what we’ll be watching…
Nadal Back on Ashe
Three-time champion Rafael Nadal got off to a blazing start on Tuesday night in Queens when he delivered a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Aussie John Millman. It was the perfect start to what Nadal hopes will be the perfect US Open. He’ll continue his quest for a second title in three years in the night session on Thursday when he faces Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Kokkinakis is a talented yet oft-injured player that has the power to present problems for Nadal. The Spaniard took their only meeting, back in 2014, and should find his way past the 23-year-old without too much trouble, but don’t be surprised if we see flashes of jaw-dropping magnificence from the Aussie, who possesses a flashy game but simply has not been healthy enough to put it on display over the years.
It will be nice to see Kokkinakia, a player that many expected big things from when he emerged a half-decade ago, get some time on the big stage.
Kokkinakis sports a 2-4 lifetime record against the Top 10 but enters with a ranking of 203 and just six matches to his name this season.
Coco-Mania, Round 2
15-year-old American Coco Gauff will bid to become the youngest player to reach the third round at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996. The American thrilled the fans on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday when she battled from a set down to defeat Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in three electrifying sets.
Gauff, one of four teenagers left in the women’s singles draw will face Hungary’s Timea Babos. Ranked 112, Babos is trying to reach the third round in New York for the second time.
Bianca Andreescu Rolls into Round 2
When was the last time 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu lost a completed match? You’d have to go all the way back to February, when American Sofia Kenin downed Andreescu in the Acapulco semi-finals. Since then all Andreescu has done is win Indian Wells, the Rogers Cup, and reel off six more Top 10 wins. It’s crazy but true: Andreescu now sports a lifetime record of 7-0 against the Top 10. She’ll face Kirsten Flipkens on Day 4 and if she is successful she’ll have reached the third round at a major for the first time.
The Battle for No.1 Continues
Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep are both in the running to finish the US Open with the No.1 ranking, but more importantly both players believe they have a shot to win this title.
Defending champion Osaka will face Magda Linette in the second match on Louis Armstrong Stadium while Halep will take on American Taylor Townsend, second up on Ashe.
Halep will look to stretch her Grand Slam winning streak to nine. The Romanian suffered first-round exits in New York in 2017 and 2018 but she did make progress in New York City in 2015, when she reached the semi-finals, and 2016, when she made the last 8. Could this be the year when Halep finally plays her best tennis on her best surface on tennis’ biggest stage?
Osaka has had an up-and-down spring and summer, and she enters this year’s event carrying a left knee injury, but she looked fit and determined in her first-round victory over Anna Blinkova.
Around the Grounds:
There will be plenty to see on Day 4 at the US Open, no matter which court you choose.
Red-hot Daniil Medvedev is back in action—the Russian will bid for his eighth consecutive win and his second consecutive third-round appearance at the US Open when he faces Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien. … Andrea Petkovic and Petra Kvitova will battle for the 11th time; the pair have split their previous 10 meetings. … Nick Kyrgios is back in action and is set to face French wild card Antoine Hoang. Kyrgios is bidding to reach the third round in New York for the fourth time—he has never made the second week. … If you like stylish matchups, head out to the first match on Court 4 where Hsieh Su-Wei and Karolina Muchova will battle for the second time this season (Muchova, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon just under two months ago, took the first meeting in Dubai in straights).