The marquee matchup of the U.S. Open first round pits Stefanos Tsitsipas against Andy Murray on Monday in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz is getting right back in action following a semifinal result in Winston-Salem.
Andy Murray vs. (3) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Murray’s comeback from hip surgery has been commendable and at times impressive, but one obvious shortcoming in the latter stages of his career is an inability to compete with top competition. Since May of 2017 the 34-year-old Scot has defeated only one top-10 opponent (Alexander Zverev at the 2020 Cincinnati Masters). He has knocked off just two top-20 players dating back to October of 2019 (Zverev and Stan Wawrinka). Murray is a modest 6-6 on the main tour in 2021 and heads into the U.S. Open at No. 114 in the world.
Top competition is exactly what the former world No. 1 will be facing on Monday. Tsitsipas comes in at third in the rankings and he reached the Roland Garros final this spring. His 2021 campaign also includes titles in Monte-Carlo and Lyon plus semifinal results at the Australian Open, Toronto Masters, and Cincinnati Masters. A best-of-five situation against one of the best players on tour looks nothing less than a nightmare first-round test for Murray.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
(26) Cameron Norrie vs. Carlos Alcaraz
Norrie and Alcaraz will also be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Monday. This will be a relatively quick turnaround for Alcaraz, who made a run to the Winston-Salem semifinals earlier this week. Thus continued a string of stellar tennis from the 18-year-old Spaniard, who captured his first career ATP title last month of the red clay of Umag.
Although Norrie has cooled off just a bit of late, this is still his best year on tour by a country mile. The 29th-ranked Brit is 37-18 in 2021 with his first title in Los Cabos and runner-up showings in Estoril, Lyon, and Queen’s Club. Norrie will be more rested than his opponent and he has far more experience in best-of-five situations at the Grand Slam level, so the crafty left-hander may have a slight edge in what should be an extremely entertaining affair.
Pick: Norrie in 5
WWW?
Norrie in 5
Will Murray pull off the upset or will it be all in vain? He shouldn’t have screamed out after winning the 3rd set; it always comes back to bite you.
He should’ve just gone on with it like a victory was inevitable.
There was lots of big comebacks from 2 sets down today also.
Yeah, and while I mostly got the winner wrong, it would have been right if it was a three setter.
Murray has never played Tsitsipas before this match. It’s an interesting battle because Murray in his prime wouldve beaten Tsitsipas most of the time, IMO.