U.S. Open R4 previews and predictions: Carreno Busta vs. Shapovalov, Querrey vs. Zverev

A surprising, first-time finalist at the U.S. Open is already guaranteed. That is due to an incredibly wide-open bottom half of the draw, where qualifier Denis Shapovalov will continue his campaign against Pablo Carreno Busta. Sam Querrey and Mishca Zverev are also in action.

(Q) Denis Shapovalov vs. (12) Pablo Carreno Busta

Shapovalov is the one stealing headlines at this U.S. Open, but it is Carreno Busta who will set a record on Sunday. The Spaniard will become the first player ever to face four qualifiers in a single major–and he is doing so in the first four rounds. Nobody since 2007 at Wimbledon had even gone up against three at the the same major until Carreno Busta stormed through Evan King, Cameron Norrie, and Nicolas Mahut this week. The No. 12 seed did not drop a set en route to the last 16 and only King extended him to one tiebreaker.

In Shapovalov, however, Carreno Busta appears to be running into a different beast. The 18-year-old Canadian is enjoying the best stretch of tennis in his young career, highlighted by a semifinal run at the Montreal Masters. He successfully qualified for the U.S. Open main draw and has since taken out Daniil Medvedev, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Kyle Edmund (via fourth-set retirement). Shapovalov is more talented than Carreno Busta and may end up having a more noteworthy career, but the 19th-ranked player in the world is a veteran by comparison and one who just reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open. Carreno Busta’s experience should be enough to end Shapovalov’s sensational summer, but not before an entertaining battle ensues.

Pick: Carreno Busta in 4

[polldaddy poll=9821711]

(17) Sam Querrey vs. (23) Mischa Zverev

On Friday afternoon, Querrey and John Isner were staring at the best opportunity for an American man to reach a slam final for the first time since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009. Querrey took another step toward capitalizing on the golden chance, as he got the best of Radu Albot in four sets. Isner, however, saw the wide-open bottom half of the draw close on him in the form of a straight-set loss to Zverev. Now Zverev will try to crush the hopes of the host nation yet again when he goes up against Querrey for the first time on Sunday night.

The 27th-ranked German’s matchup with Isner almost never happened, because he needed a total of 10 sets to survive rounds one and two. Zverev recovered from two sets to one down and a break down in the fourth against Thai-Son Kwaitkowski before holding off Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(3), 7-5. Thus the 30-year-old is one victory away from the second major quarterfinal of his career and second of the season (previously at the Australian Open). Querrey is two wins shy of a second consecutive slam semifinal, having made a run to the last four at Wimbledon before succumbing to Marin Cilic in four tight sets. The 21st-ranked American has maintained his strong form with defeats this week of Albot, Gilles Simon, and Dudi Sela, surrendering just one set to Albot in the process. Although Querrey is by no means the same play as Isner in terms of style, Zverev should be able to execute the same kind of tricks: a steady diet of backhand slices that stay low to the ground and endless net attacks. The fact that Querrey has never faced Zverev before will not help.

Pick: Zverev in 4

[polldaddy poll=9821709]