Ricky Dimon and Cheryl Murray of The Grandstand make their picks for three of the best matchups on Day 3 of the U.S. Open. Two especially intriguing ones are on the schedule: Andy Murray vs. Fernando Verdasco and Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Daniil Medvedev.
Andy Murray vs. (31) Fernando Verdasco
Ricky: Murray contested his first best-of-five match since Wimbledon in 2017 on Monday and persevered through it in three hours and 18 minutes, beating James Duckworth in four sets. It wasn’t exactly the world No. 1 of old, but it was a decent performance given the current circumstances. When he’s at his best, Murray can be an aggressive player who also plays incredible defense. When he isn’t, Murray is a grinder who can still make opponents beat themselves. That is something Verdasco does with frequency. The Scot may not necessarily be able to “win” this match, but Verdasco is definitely capable of losing it. Murray in 4: 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
Cheryl: Andy Murray is back. Sort of. A LLOOONNNGGG injury layoff has Murray currently at No. 382 in the world. He got to the quarters in Washington, D.C., where he played reasonably well, but he has just one first-round loss to Lucas Pouille to show for his efforts since then. Verdasco is ranked a solid 32nd in the world, but lately he has seen success only on clay. There is also the small matter of Murray owning a 13-1 record over Verdasco. A match on his favorite surface against a known (and dominated) opponent might be just what Murray needs to get back on track. Murray in 4: 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
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Daniil Medvedev vs. (15) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Ricky: This should be a fun one; the most fun one of the entire day, in fact. Both up-and-comers are playing awesome tennis and they also hate each other. Well, “hate” may be overdoing it; but there won’t be any love lost on Wednesday. Medvedev won their only previous encounter this spring in Miami, where a contentious affair included Tsitsipas allegedly calling his opponent a “bullshit Russian.” Just five months later, the Greek is a while different beast. Medvedev is playing even better, too–just not good enough to beat Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas in 5: 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-7(8), 6-3.
Cheryl: This is a juicy little Next Gen second-round matchup. Medvedev just won Winston-Salem a few days ago. The Russian is on the rise; he went through qualies in Toronto, where he made the round of 16, and he won his only other encounter against Tsitsipas in Miami this year in three sets. Unfortunately for Medvedev, Tsitsipas isn’t really the same player now that he was earlier this season. A meteoric rise to No. 15 in the world included an historic run in Toronto, where he became the youngest player to ever defeat four top-10 players in the same tournament. Furthermore, Medvedev has played a lot of tennis in the past week and a half. After making the final in Toronto, Tsitsipas lost quietly in the first round in Cincinnati and has been resting up. This has match has the potential to be highly entertaining. Tsitsipas in 4: 6-4, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3.
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(18) Jack Sock vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili
Ricky: Two of the biggest forehands will be on display here. Only one of those forehands, however, has worked in 2018. Basilashvili recently captured a 500-point title on the red clay of Hamburg, while Sock has been an unmitigated disaster this entire season. The only reason the American is in the second round is because he went up against Guido Andreozzi in his opener. Andreozzi is without question one of the worst hard-court players in the entire field. Moreover, Sock as endured a bevy of heat-related issues over the years at the U.S. Open and it is hotter than ever in New York this time around. Basilashvili in 4: 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Cheryl: Not to be overly insulting, but Sock has been positively abysmal in 2018. A quick scan through his playing activity reveals the jarring reality–which is that for the entirety of the season, the American has not won two matches in a row. ALL YEAR! It’s a sobering statistic, especially given his ranking of 18th in the world. Worse, until he beat Argentina’s Guido Andreozzi in the first round on Monday, he hadn’t won a match since May. Basilashvili is ranked 37th in the world, thanks in large part to his surprise title in Hamburg this summer. The Georgian played just one hard-court tune up event in Winston-Salem, losing to Matteo Berretini in the first round. It will be a mess of a match, but fortunately it won’t last long. Basilashvili in 3: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
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who ya got?
Wish I would be in New York in time to see Tsitsi and Medvedev. I think it’ll be delightful.
Indeed Med and Tsitsi. Wish I could be there!
heat will probably prevent it from being great
My bracket pick is Basilashvili. But I heard that Sock has lost weight. He won his first round match–so if it’s true and he is in reasonable shape, he might win.
Basilashili in 4
Tsitsipas in 5
Tsitsipas struggling! Anyone watching?
Medvedev has now won first 2 sets…!
Amy – is he struggling with the heat? i don’t have ESPN+.
Cheryl, he’s Tsitsi is Greek. I used to live in Athens for 8 years. He should be much more comfortable playing in heat, especially compared to Medvedev who is coming from a significantly colder environment. I assume he needs more experience.
Rafa struggles in the head and he’s from Spain.
Well extreme temperatures are not good for anybody. However, Medvedev is Russian. Theoretically the heat should bother him at least to the same degree…
I only have live scores Cheryl!! Sorry! I just looked at the stats and he has hit 18 winners to 45 ues!
Tsitsi break.
Am sure the heat is affecting several players. Brad Gilbert is saying Stanimal is really physically struggling…
Third set tsitsi!☺
Stefano out!😕
Tsitsipas out 😮 Hat a gut feeling that this could happen today, though…
That sucks 🙁
Well the heat is going to affect the results isn’t it? Not necessarily this match but certainly will in others..it’s inhumane..
Yes, that does suck…
We had a brutal heat wave here in Northern Germany. It just ended last week. It has been the worst heat wave and draught ever recorded here. I was barely functioning for weeks on end since we have no air conditioning in our flats and in most public spaces. Normally we don’t need it. I can’t begin to imagine how the players are being able to play under the current brutal conditions.
Sorry to hear that littlefoot! Hope you’re feeling better now…
It’s been very hot in England but nothing compared with Europe..I hate extreme heat…!
Thanks, Amy, I feel much better now. I also hate extreme heat.
The worst were the nights because it didn’t cool down at all during many nights. But it was hardest for old and sick people. Some doctor’s offices even closed at certain times during the day because it was too hot. Here we aren’t used to such prolongued heat waves and have no coping mechanisms and mostly no air conditioning. This will probably change if these weather conditions become a regular occurence.
Glad you’re better now littlefoot!
The ESPN commies said that Medvedev took the 10 minute heat break after the 3rd, but Tsitsi remained on court under his umbrella. They thought that Tsitsi was struggling with the heat during the 4th set. He certainly did not look energetic during the bit I saw. Mostly they traded balls from the baseline. Looks like Medvedev had a good serving day and Tsitsi’s was pretty mediocre.
Verdasco is one tough son of a gun… Murray was typical Murray when Verdasco served for the match, and he was refusing to go down without a fight. Verdasco has to save 5 break points in the game, with like 7 deuces! Many dudes would get too tight and ultimately succumb to Murray’s fight, but credit to verdasco for staying focused! On one of the break-back points he saved, he CRUSHED an inside-out forehand winner that barely clipped the back of the line. Seriously gutsy move, but that’s what you gotta do against Big 4 guys!
I don’t care if Murray isn’t in great form- when you are playing a dude who owns a 13-1 record against you, and the only time you beat him was in 2009, you are still going to have the deck stacked against you mentally. Especially at a major. ‘Nando could have easily folded after Murray won the 2nd set, but he kept pushing. Props to him!
As for Muzz, he clearly is still not where he wants to be, but I’d say he is slowly but surely progressing back to decent form. I have faith he will get there eventually.
I remember when Verdasco blew a two set to love lead in the Wimbledon 2013 QF against Murray when he would have faced JERZY JANOWICZ FOR A SPOT IN THE FINAL!! This is a nice bit of redemption for him. Good win Nando