US Open, Day 4: Match Points

LEARNING

No.6 seed Petra Kvitova and former World No.9 Andrea Petkovic face off for the 10th time over the past decade today. Petkovic, a 2011 quarterfinalist in New York, leads the series 5-4, including 3-2 on outdoor hard courts and their most recent meeting, a 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 epic first round at the 2018 Australian Open - the only one of their matches to go to three sets. The pair have played three times in North America, with Petkovic taking both 2011 meetings in the third rounds of Toronto and Cincinnati and Kvitova winning their Montréal second round in 2016.

Another 2011 US Open quarterfinalist, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, will seek to upset No.7 seed Kiki Bertens in the second round of a major this year for the second time. The Russian won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Australian Open en route to her fifth career Grand Slam quarterfinal - but Bertens leads their overall head-to-head 4-2, including a revenge win in their very next tournament two weeks later, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 in the St Petersburg quarterfinals. Pavlyuchenkova has won two of their three outdoor hardcourt encounters, but Bertens won the only one to take place in North America 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in the second round of Miami 2016.

Defending champion and No.1 seed Naomi Osaka takes on last week's Bronx champion Magda Linette, who is now riding a nine-match winning streak. The pair have played twice and are all square at one win apiece, with Linette winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round of Washington last year (the Pole's only Top 20 win of her career) and Osaka gaining revenge 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of this year's Australian Open - the first step towards lifting her second Grand Slam trophy.

No.4 seed Simona Halep has played qualifier Taylor Townsend in each of the past three years, all in second-round matches, and is yet to drop more than four games in any set to the American, winning 6-4, 6-1 in Cincinnati 2017, 6-3, 6-1 at Roland Garros 2018 and 6-1, 6-3 in Miami this March. Townsend is  0-10 against Top 10 opposition in her career, though in her last such encounter held a match point before falling to Kiki Bertens at Wimbledon this year.

Both of No.19 seed Caroline Wozniacki's past encounters with Australian Open semifinalist Danielle Collins have come on clay, with Wozniacki taking their 2018 Roland Garros opener 7-6(2), 6-1 but being forced to retire while trailing Collins in the first round of Rome this year.

The US Open is the only major at which Yulia Putintseva is yet to score a Top 20 win. The Kazakh - who upset Caroline Wozniacki at the 2016 Australian Open, Carla Suárez Navarro at Roland Garros 2016 and Naomi Osaka at Wimbledon this year - will bid to rectify that as she takes on No.9 seed Aryna Sabalenka for the first time today in a stylistic contrast between power and speed.

Wildcard Coco Gauff takes on qualifier Timea Babos in a bid to make the third round of her second straight major. The last 15-year-old to reach the round of 32 at consecutive majors was Martina Hingis, who made that stage (at least) at five Slams in a row between the 1995 and 1996 US Opens before turning 16.

Former World No.11 Alizé Cornet won her only previous encounter with No.13 seed Belinda Bencic 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of Antwerp in 2015.

Rebecca Peterson knocked out a seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career in New York last year when she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. The Swede has the chance to repeat the feat at the same stage when she takes on No.32 seed Dayana Yastremska, whom she beat 6-4, 7-5 in their only previous meeting, in the final of the 2018 Cagnes-sur-Mer ITF W100 event.

Kristina Mladenovic, who collected her sixth career Top 20 win at a Grand Slam (and third at the US Open) after upsetting Angelique Kerber in the first round, is rewarded with an all-French clash against Lausanne champion Fiona Ferro - their third meeting of the year. Mladenovic won both previous two, 7-6(4), 6-2 in Rome qualifying and 6-3, 7-6(3) in the first round of Roland Garros, part of a six-match winning streak she currently holds against her compatriots. The 2015 quarterfinalist is 11-5 against her fellow Frenchwomen at WTA level, and 10-2 since 2014.

A battle of variety and finesse finds No.29 seed Hsieh Su-Wei go up against Wimbledon quarterfinalist Karolina Muchova. The Czech won their sole prior encounter 6-2 6-4 in the second round of Doha in February.

No.12 seed Anastasija Sevastova has reached at least the quarterfinals in New York for the past three years, and faces rising 18-year-old Iga Swiatek for the first time today. Swiatek is seeking her third Top 20 win of the year and second at a major, having defeated Wang Qiang at Roland Garros and Caroline Wozniacki in Toronto. The Pole is one of five teenagers remaining in the draw, along with 19-year-olds Bianca Andreescu and Dayana Yastremska, 17-year-old Catherine McNally and 15-year-old Coco Gauff.

2011 Roland Garros girls' champion Ons Jabeur is revisiting her route to that title this week: for the second round in a row, the Tunisian faces an opponent she beat en route in Paris whom she has not met since. In the first round, she  defeated 2011 semifinal foe Caroline Garcia again; today, she plays Aliaksandra Sasnovich, whom she beat 6-4, 6-2 in the second round eight years ago.

TRENDING

ORDER OF PLAY

For full order of play, visit usopen.org.

READING

Coco Gauff mania has swept the tennis world this summer. WTA legends Chris Evert and Pam Shriver break down the teenager's game for ESPN.com - and argue that there's nothing to lose from taking her career slowly.

Eleven years after making her US Open debut as a 16-year-old qualifier and four years after graduating from Stanford University, Kristie Ahn finally posted her first main draw win this week - but her parents still want her to get a corporate job, finds WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen in an exclusive interview.

WATCHING