How to watch: From noon to 6 p.m. and from 7 to 11 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN; and streaming on the ESPN app.
On Tuesday, the singles quarterfinals begin at the United States Open, all consolidated at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The doubles draws reach the semifinals today, with two seeded men’s teams making it this far.
Here are some matches to keep an eye on.
Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best a guess and are certain to fluctuate based on the times at which earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.
Arthur Ashe Stadium | 7 p.m.
Naomi Osaka vs. Shelby Rogers
Osaka, the 2018 U.S. Open women’s singles champion, has had an action-packed few weeks at Flushing Meadows. After reaching the final at the Western & Southern Open, she pulled out, citing concerns over a hamstring injury. She has taken the lead on raising awareness about the Black Lives Matter movement, not just for the audience — which has seen her take the court wearing masks bearing the names of victims of police violence — but also for many of her international peers.
As Osaka has made her way through the early rounds of the U.S. Open, she has oscillated between needing to struggle past opponents and convincingly reducing them to rubble. Osaka, 22, for all her strengths, can sometimes seem to be not entirely effective at utilizing them. On her off days, her lackluster footwork inhibits the precise nature of her powerful ground game. But no matter the sport, that’s one of the main marks of a champion; even on their bad days, they find a way to win.
Rogers, 93rd on the WTA singles rankings, is having a resurgence of form that has been a long time coming. Her first Grand Slam quarterfinal came in 2016 at Roland Garros. But she had not been able to make it past the third round of a major tournament since then, especially after struggling with a knee injury and having surgery in 2018. Now, Rogers has taken out two seeded players — Elena Rybakina, No. 11, and Petra Kvitova, No. 6 — on her way to the quarterfinals, a remarkable feat considering last year she retired in the first round of the qualifying tournament at the U.S. Open.
Rogers upset Kvitova by pushing the usually aggressive player onto her back foot, even when down a match point in the third set. It will be a tough feat to replicate against Osaka, but it’s not without precedent.
Arthur Ashe Stadium | Noon
Jennifer Brady vs. Yulia Putintseva
Brady, the 28th seed, reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal by playing as if she’d been there plenty of times before. She has not dropped a set on her way here, including a convincing drumming of Angelique Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam tournament champion.
Brady’s mammoth serving helped her secure the first set in just 22 minutes, but it was her returning that proved the main differentiator in the match. Kerber was able to win only eight of her 23 second-service points, a situation that not only puts pressure on the scoreboard, but also can make players nervous on their first serves.
Putintseva defeated the eighth seed, Petra Martic, in a tough three-set battle in the round of 16, where she actually won one less point than Martic. This is a quirk of the tennis scoring format that can sometimes seem strange to casual viewers, but the explanation is usually found in serving form. Although Putintseva served well, Martic was able to exercise pressure on her service games, pushing many of them to deuce.
It’s hard to say what Putintseva can improve in her service game, especially after landing 70 percent of her first serves during her last match. But it will take something special if she’s going to keep Brady at bay.
Arthur Ashe Stadium | 1 p.m.
Borna Coric vs. Alexander Zverev
Coric, the 27th seed, is a defensive baseliner. In reaching his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, he has epitomized what it means to grind out a match and win by refusing to be put away. In his five-set upset over the fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round, Coric faced six match points, and through a mixture of sheer will and luck, was able to overcome that to win a fifth-set tiebreaker.
In any other year, his late-night heroics would be filed away as another rowdy moment of magic under the lights in Flushing. This year, without the baying New York City fans, the match felt muted as it finished after four hours and 36 minutes. But, Coric clearly did not need the adoring fans to take out Jordan Thompson in straight sets in his next match. Tonight, he’ll need to try to unseat another promising young star in Zverev, the fifth seed.
Zverev reached his first Grand Slam semifinal this year at the Australian Open, and has looked to be coasting back to that same achievement. One of the few criticisms of his game in the past two years has been his unreliable serving. But in his fourth-round matchup against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, he used his serve like a bulldozer, with 18 aces and only two double faults to win the match in one hour and 34 minutes.
Zverev, the 2018 ATP Tour finals winner, has long been lauded as a part of the generation that can take up the mantle after Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal retire. If he keeps serving this way, and doesn’t allow himself to get mired in long matches, he may be able to prove this year that it’s only a matter of time.
Arthur Ashe Stadium | 9 p.m.
Denis Shapovalov vs. Pablo Carreño Busta
Carreño Busta was leading in the first set of his match against Novak Djokovic when Djokovic recklessly hit a ball toward the back of the court. That simple moment led to a disqualification of the world No. 1 after the ball hit a lineswoman, and ushered Carreño Busta forward into his first major quarterfinal appearance since his run to the U.S. Open semifinal in 2017.
Although there is no real joy in advancing under these circumstances, there’s only one way to react: keep competing. Carreño Busta has been playing well throughout this year’s tournament, using his excellent movement to get behind his opponent’s pacey shots and redirect them without adding too much pace of his own.
In that sense, Shapovalov provides the perfect foil. His main weapon is a penetrating, one-handed backhand that somehow looks even more coordinated when he jumps up several feet in the air to tackle a high defensive ball from his opponents.
Although none of Shapovalov’s wins at the U.S. Open have been in straight sets, they’ve still looked quite convincing. The main concern now will be about his fitness. Shapovalov, 21, also reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles competition, where he and his partner lost in straight sets. With Shapovalov having completed seven matches in the past eight days, it will be interesting to see if he can outlast yet another opponent.
Other important matches:
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Veronika Kudermetova/Anna Blinkova vs. Laura Siegemund/Vera Zvonareva, Louis Armstrong Stadium | Noon
Kudermetova and Blinkova, both of Russia, upset the eighth and fourth seeds on their way to reaching their first Grand Slam semifinal. Siegemund and Zvonareva upset the seventh and second seeds, but are no strangers to the later stages, having five Grand Slam women’s and mixed doubles titles between them. The veterans surely won’t take the young Russians for granted, and it will be interesting to see which of these upset-producing teams will be able to reach the finals.
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Joe Salisbury/Rajeev Ram vs. Nikola Mektic/Wesley Koolhof, Louis Armstrong Stadium | 2 p.m.
Salisbury and Ram, the 2020 Australian Open champions, are the highest remaining seed in the men’s doubles competition. While Mektic and Koolhof both have impressive doubles records, neither has reached a Grand Slam men’s doubles final. It will be interesting to see if their experience can guide them to victory.
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Horia Tecau/Jean-Julien Rojer vs. Bruno Soares/Mate Pavic, Louis Armstrong Stadium | 4 p.m.
Soares and Pavic have eight Grand Slam doubles titles between them, and they may feel like this is a chance to grab one more a piece. But Tecau and Rojer are accomplished, too, having won together at Wimbledon in 2015 and the U.S. Open in 2017. In this battle of experience, the tennis will be more likely to be tactical, with pinpoint shot placement outshining the raw strength of these four players.
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September 08, 2020 at 07:06AM
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2020 U.S. Open: What to Watch on Tuesday - The New York Times
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