2016 U.S. Open Day Eight Preview: Top Seeds Shoot for the Quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows
Fans escaped the weather that was set to hit the East Coast in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hermine Sunday at the U.S. Open, but Monday brings another day of Round of 16 action as the quarterfinals will be set once the day concludes.
On Sunday, the U.S. Open set an all-time evening session attendance record of 25,017. Combined with Sunday’s day-session attendance of 40,780, a new single-day combined attendance figure of 65,797 was set on Sunday, Sept. 4.
On the women’s side of the draw, the number 10 seed, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic faces the resurging American, the sixth-seeded Venus Williams at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Venus holds the lone win in their only career meeting, 7-5, 7-6(6) win in 2015 at the Zuhan Open. Making her 18th appearance at the U.S. Open, Venus won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001, and was a runner-up in 1997 in her debut appearance.
“Each match is different … I approach them differently,” said Venus of Pliskova. “We play kind of a similar game, so it's about one of us playing that game better. I haven't played her that often. So I need to go out there and put the ball in the court and try to win.”
Immediately following on Ashe, world number one and defending U.S. Open champ Serena Williams faces the unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova. Serena has a 4-0 lifetime advantage over Shvedova, the last meeting in 2014 at the Miami Open in the second round. Both Serena and Shvedova come into Monday having dominated the opposition in the first three rounds, each having yet to drop a single set.
Serena enters the Round of 16 with an 87-10 record in Flushing Meadows, the most among all active players, and third in the Open Era behind Chris Evert (101-12) and Martina Navratilova (89-17).
Opening the day at 11:00 a.m. at Louis Armstrong Stadium, it will be the number 11 seed, Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain facing the number five seed, Romania’s Simona Halep. In 10 career matchups, each has five wins, the last meeting in 2015 at Rome, a win by Suárez Navarro.
Making her ninth consecutive main draw appearance at the U.S. Open and 10th appearance overall, Suárez Navarro’s best result in Flushing Meadows is a quarterfinals run in 2013, falling to eventual champion Serena. Halep’s best previous result at Flushing Meadows is a semifinal run last year where she lost to eventual champion Flavia Pennetta.
Closing out the day under the lights of Ashe for the women will be Agnieszka Radwanska, the number four seed facing the unseeded Croatian Ana Konjuh. The 2016 U.S. Open marks Radwanska’s 42nd consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearance. In addition to the 2012 Wimbledon final, Radwanska is a two-time semifinalist at Australian Open, in 2014 and again earlier this year in 2016.
Radwanska has one win in her only meeting with Konjuh, a 6-2, 4-6, 9-7 win in June at Wimbledon in round two.
Following her victory at the Connecticut Open in New Haven, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska was named the winner of the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series Bonus Challenge. She will now play for a record $4.5 million payout–$3.5 million for winning the U.S. Open and $1 million as the winner of the U.S. Open Series Bonus Challenge. Radwanska ended the U.S. Open Series Bonus Challenge tied on 220 points with Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, but was declared the winner by virtue of a tie-breaker–their head-to-head record during the Series this year–with Radwanska defeating Konta in their Round of 16 match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
“She was definitely serving very well, and what I remember is she was really, sort of from the beginning till the end, not really up and downs, and that's why I was really struggling in that match,” said Radwanska of her June meeting at Wimbledon with Konjuh. “I was almost home. I was just lucky in the end, obviously. But, well, I just hope there will be different story on the hard court if I will play her.”
The top eight seeds Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem are among the players seeking the last four quarterfinal spots on Monday. Their opponents weren’t expected to advance this far, based both on seeding and circumstance. Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, needed a wild card while rebuilding his ranking following three left wrist surgeries. Ukrainian Illya Marchenko lost seven straight tour-level main draw matches leading into the U.S. Open. Likewise, the number 21 seed Ivo Karlovic and 22 seed Grigor Dimitrov each suffered six-match losing streaks earlier this season.
The day kicks off at 11:00 a.m. on Arthur Ashe Stadium as the eighth-seeded Thiem faces del Potro of Argentina. Thiem needed five sets to beat his opening round opponent, John Millman in over three hours. He cruised to a second round win over Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in just under two hours in round two, and in round three, was pushed to nearly three hours once again, this time by Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. The unseeded del Potro has cruised in all three matches so far entering the Round of 16, having yet to drop a set to date in Flushing Meadows in wins over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, number 19 seeded American Steve Johnson and the number 11 seed, David Ferrer of Spain.
Thiem and del Potro have met just once before, earlier this year at the Madrid Masters, a Round of 64 win by del Potro, 7-6, 6-3 on clay.
“He could be the favorite, for sure, but it all depends on myself physically, on my body, on my game,” said del Potro. “If I play like I have, I will maybe have chance to have a great match against him, but he's playing really well and he's very dangerous. His backhand is so good, his movements are really fast, and it will be an interesting match for me.”
Under the Monday night lights at Ashe, the second-seeded Murray will meet the number 22 seed, Dimitrov. Murray leads the career matchup 6-3, their last meeting back in 2015, a Round of 16 win by Murray at the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati. Murray is 25-1 since a loss to Novak Djokovic in the 2016 French Open finals, and has reached seven straight finals since April.
“He's a very good player, obviously,” said Murray of Dimitrov. “He does a lot of things well on the court. He has good feel, moves well. Yeah, he does a lot of things well on the court. He has obviously not played his best the last 18 months or so, but definitely the last few weeks, he has been playing very well, getting back to a level that he's capable of playing at. I expect it to be very hard. I'll be ready for that. I'll need to play better if I want to win that.”
On Louis Armstrong Stadium, Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine faces the number three seed, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland. Wawrinka is in the U.S. Open Round of 16 for the fifth consecutive year and fourth round of a Grand Slam for the ninth time in the last 10 majors. Wawrinka is seeking a spot in the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the fourth straight year and Grand Slam quarters for the eighth time in the last 10 majors. In his first Grand Slam round three appearance, Marchenko led 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 when his opponent, the 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios, retired due to a right hip injury.
“I played him this year already … he completely killed me, outplayed me in everything,” said Marchenko of his Round of 16 opponent. “But, yeah, it wasn't my best match though. Obviously against him, what can you expect? I mean, I'm going to fight as hard as I can and hope that I will have some chances and believe in myself till the end.”
Wrapping up men’s singles action with a spot for the quarterfinals on the line, the sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan faces the 21st-seed, the big hitting Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, has reached the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slams in 2016, doing so for the first time in a single season, but has yet to advance past the fourth round in any major in 2016.
Karlovic leads the head-to-head with Nishikori 2-1, with the most recent match a win by Nishikori in 2014 at the Memphis Open.
Click here to view the full schedule of events for Day Eight of the 2016 U.S. Open.
