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Day 10 of the U.S. Open finishes up the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev play out a battle of the Grand Slam champions, while America’s Jessica Pegula faces the toughest test in women’s tennis when she plays Iga Swiatek.
Here’s what to expect…
Arthur Ashe
Start time: Noon ET, 9 a.m. PT
TV: ESPN, Tennis Channel
Beatriz Haddad Maia (22) vs. Karolina Muchova
Karolina Muchova has been here before. Last year’s semifinalist got past Sorana Cirstea at this stage, before losing to eventual champion Coco Gauff. Muchova has already surpassed her expectations for the year — not by getting back into the quarterfinals, but by getting onto a tennis court at all. Wrist surgery kept her off the WTA Tour for nine months, just as she had appeared poised to entrench her position at the very top of tennis.
She’s reminding the world of her quality now — and Muchova would be a formidable opponent to either Jessica Pegula or Iga Swiatek, who she took to three sets in the 2023 French Open final.
Swiatek got to that French Open final by beating Beatriz Haddad Maia, Muchova’s opponent, in the semifinal. That remains Haddad Maia’s deepest run at a Grand Slam tournament, and she has never been beyond the second round at the U.S. Open until now. Haddad Maia gritted her way past Caroline Wozniacki in the previous round, fending off several break points in the final game before — she would be the first to admit — hitting a fortunate, shanked serve on match point to get through.
Muchova has won this matchup three times out of three, but the first was in 2016, and the most recent, in Cincinnati last year, went the distance.
Beatriz Haddad Maia is on her best U.S. Open run ever. (Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Draper (25) vs. Alex de Minaur (10)
One of these players will be into a first Grand Slam semifinal come Wednesday night. De Minaur, who like Muchova will be delighted just to be here, after recovering remarkably quickly from a hip injury suffered at Wimbledon, has been in three major quarterfinals. Two of them have come this year.
This will be Draper’s first major quarterfinal, building on his fourth-round appearance at last year’s tournament. De Minaur won their previous Grand Slam meeting at Wimbledon in four sets, and their other two meetings, on outdoor hard courts, have both gone the distance, or close to it. Earlier this year in Acapulco, Draper retired down 4-0 in the third set through illness, having come from a set down to level the match.
At this tournament, he has dropped the equal fewest games of anyone in the men’s draw.
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Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Jessica Pegula (6)
A familiar scenario for Jessica Pegula that has never ended in her favour. 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, Pegula is also 0-1 in U.S. Open quarterfinals against Swiatek — the world No. 1 beat her on the way to winning the title in 2022. Swiatek most recently handed Pegula a chastening 6-1, 6-0 beatdown to win the 2023 WTA Finals in Guadalajara, after which Pegula said she had tried to be too attacking.
This was partly a case of doing anything to stem momentum. When Swiatek is on and has a lead, it can feel like watching an avalanche. But it also provides the key to something Pegula may need to unlock if she wants to get past her quarterfinal block. Her groundstrokes are as good, reliable, and penetrating as most on the tour, and the rhythm with which she hits balls that land close to the baseline over and over is the envy of players everywhere.
Against opponents as good as Swiatek, Pegula getting into her rhythm helps the other players to find theirs. When Pegula introduces some variety or goes for a bit more, it can knock her opponent out of that rhythm, but it’s also a higher risk. Finding that balance will be key come Wednesday night.
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Daniil Medvedev (5)
Daniil Medvedev has a 7-5 head-to-head record against Jannik Sinner, but the order of those results is more important than their number. Medvedev won their first six meetings, between 2020 and 2023. Sinner won the next five, including the Australian Open final in January, when he came from two sets down against an exhausted Medvedev to win his first Grand Slam title.
A 6-1 6-2 thrashing in Miami later in the year was probably the more sobering defeat for the Russian, who broke the streak by beating Sinner in five sets at Wimbledon in July. Like Medvedev in Australia, Sinner struggled physically in that match. A Grand Slam encounter with both fit and in good form is tantalising — even if Medvedev, the 2021 champion in New York, may feel a little undercooked after routing Nuno Borges in the last 16.
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Required reading
(Top photo of Jessica Pegula: Peter van den Berg / ISI Photos via Getty Images)
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