Seth Wenig/Associated Press
Andy Murray faces a daunting assignment to take care of alive for every other spherical on the 2020 U.S. Open.
The 2012 US Open champion will face No. 15 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in Thursday’s nightcap at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray stepped forward to the 2d spherical after an gleaming comeback Tuesday in which he rallied from two sets all the contrivance down to beat Yoshihito Nishioka.
Thursday night’s opener in New York is anticipated to raise less drama, as Serena Williams faces Margarita Gasparyan.
Williams has a troublesome course to the U.S. Open ultimate, but she rose on the checklist of title contenders after high seed Karolina Pliskova became eradicated Wednesday.
U.S. Open Thursday Evening Agenda
TV: ESPN (7-11 p.m. ET)
Are residing Circulation: See ESPN or ESPN app
Plump agenda of play might perchance perchance additionally be learned on USOpen.org
Picks
No. 15 Felix Auger-Aliassime over Andy Murray
The feel-honest fable of Murray powering support from a long distress layoff will likely discontinue Thursday.
Murray exhausted himself in his five-feature triumph over Nishioka, and he finest had at some point to obtain better forward of his conflict with Auger-Aliassime.
The 15th-seeded Canadian faced some downside of his have in the outlet spherical, but he refrained from a fifth feature with support-to-support tiebreak victories over Thiago Monteiro.
Auger-Aliassime will deserve to have the serve on his serve, as he transformed 84 p.c of the 94 recommendations on his first serve.
He might perchance perchance additionally additionally attach a game on the get that forces Murray to trip bigger than he prefers. Auger-Aliassime won 22 of 32 get recommendations against Monteiro.
Murray spent more time around the get Tuesday, but he finest transformed 38 of his 58 recommendations in that location of the court.
The three-time Extensive Slam champion struggled on his 2d serve and transformed perfect 47 p.c of the choices in that facet of his game.
The 2d serve will likely be where Murray is most vulnerable and susceptible to early breaks. He became forced into 16 spoil recommendations in the outlet spherical.
Murray carries more Extensive Slam experience than his 2d-spherical foe, but he spent terminate to an hour more on court Tuesday.
That can perchance perchance additionally have an have an impact on on his body, and if he concedes some spoil-point alternatives early, he might perchance perchance additionally no longer supply you the probability to obtain them support against a noteworthy tougher opponent.
No. 3 Serena Williams over Margarita Gasparyan
Williams experienced a moderately straightforward opener, as she beat fellow American Kristie Ahn in straight sets.
Real worship Auger-Aliassame, Williams spent less time on court than her 2d-spherical opponent. Gasparyan wanted two hours and 18 minutes to beat Monica Puig in three sets.
Williams’ finest serve ought to peaceable advance on her serve. She won 85 p.c of her first-serve recommendations over Ahn.
The No. 3 seed didn’t let Ahn obtain noteworthy on her carrier games since the unseeded participant had three spoil-point alternatives.
Gasparyan earned 14 potentialities at a spoil against Puig, but she likely won’t accumulate that many alternatives Thursday night.
The spoil recommendations for Williams might perchance perchance additionally advance on Gasparyan’s 2d serve. The Russian participant won 38 p.c of her 40 recommendations on 2d serve.
If Williams performs well again, she might perchance perchance additionally feature up a third-spherical meeting with No. 26 seed Sloane Stephens.
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Statistics bought from USOpen.org
