The Swiss No. 2 Stan Wawrinka battles Jeremy Chardy for a spot in the U.S. Open third round on Wednesday. Borna Coric and Grigor Dimitrov will also be in second-round action as they go head-to-head for the first time.
(23) Stan Wawrinka vs. Jeremy Chardy
To say this is a favorable matchup for Stan Wawrinka would be understating the case a bit. He has played second-round opponent Jeremy Chardy five other times since 2009 on clay, grass and hard courts-and he’s won each time, dropping just one set along the way. Wawrinka doesn’t come into New York in particularly good form, though. The Swiss has had a difficult run this summer. In fact, he has not managed to win more than a single match at a time since he made the quarterfinals at the French Open.
Chardy, ranked No. 74 in the world, had a tough five-setter in his opener against Hubert Hurkacz this week. and he comes into this tournament with some mediocre results of his own this summer. The Frenchman elected to stay in Europe and play on clay until a couple of weeks ago when he came to the U.S. He played one match in Winston-Salem last week, but he retired in the second round against Frances Tiafoe. Against a different opponent, this could represent an opportunity for Chardy to get a good win over a seed. Wawrinka had a competitive first-round match against the Italian teenager Jannik Sinner, but given the matchup difficulties it’s hard to expect anything but a Wawrinka victory.
Cheryl pick: Wawrinka in 4
Ricky pick: Wawrinka in 4
[polldaddy poll=10395321]
(12) Borna Coric vs. Grigor Dimitrov
This will be the first-ever meeting between Borna Coric and Grigor Dimitrov. Coric, the No. 12 seed, had a terrible summer hard court season leading into the U.S. Open. The Croatian managed just one win in Montreal and he was knocked out in the first round in Cincinnati at the hands of American Reilly Opelka. Coric had a relatively straightforward straight-set win over qualifier Evgeny Donskoy in his first-rounder on Monday.
Grigor Dimitrov has seen his ranking dip all the way to No. 78 in the world from a career high No. 3 just two years ago. The Bulgarian played four hard-court tournaments coming into New York-and he managed just one match win. He had a four-set victory over the Italian veteran Andreas Seppi in the first round. Seppi, who is ranked exactly one spot higher than Dimitrov, didn’t manage to make much of a dent in the Bulgarian’s game, except to snag the second set in a tiebreaker. While Dimitrov didn’t play a clean match (46 winners and 54 unforced errors), it was a good start to the tournament.
Unfortunately for the Dimitrov camp, Coric is likely to prove a more difficult opponent than Seppi was. The favorite is defending fourth round points and he’ll be keen to protect his ranking going into the fall Asian swing.
Cheryl pick: Coric in 4
Ricky pick: Dimitrov in 5
[polldaddy poll=10395320]
WWW?
Coric in 4
Chardy in 5
If Chardy took down an in form Hurkacz he has to be a solid chance against a sub-par Wawrinka.
Hurkacz did not look good in the first round though, not enough time to recover from Winston Salem. Hard to back Chardy here.
Yup. Wawrinka is not in good form, but neither is Chardy…and obviously Chardy has trouble with Stan’s game. I think a Dimitrov upset is more likely than a Chardy upset.
Stan in 3, Dimitrov in 5. Dimitrov Coric is a toss up. It will be a huge win for whoever gets it done
Coric withdraws due to lower back strain! Dimitrov advances! Hope he takes advantage of the situation..,
Btw, what’s wrong with these youngsters? They are all slumping and getting injured..they seem to have reversed roles with the veterans on tour…
Yeah they are experiencing various realities that maybe they had not thought about — and injuries. I hope is won’t be long before the slumping and injuries get sorted out and their confidence and ambition comes back. It’s hard to know the nature of the many issues that each one has. I can only guess – and remember the growing pains of my late teens and early twenties.
Tsitsipas’ exit interview was interesting. To some extent I think he’s suffering from altitude sickness. Hit #5 ranking and suddenly realized that while it’s tough to get to the top, staying there is even tougher. Worse, he expects himself to win every match now. He needs a strong dose of Rafa humility and respect for his opponents. Also probably a new coach; his dad shouldn’t be his head coach any more imo.
Zverev has run into a slew of personal problems and now something seems to have gone terribly wrong with his serve, usually the strongest part of his game.
FAA has 2nd serve woes and now maybe 1st serve woes to go with.
No clue what’s up with Coric – pundits thought he was due for a big year.
Thiem’s had a big year but he’s sick now, sadly. Really hope he makes a full recovery sooner rather than later.
Wka in 3….Dtrov in 4.