U.S. Open R2 previews and predictions: Medvedev vs. Koepfer, Dimitrov vs. Popyrin

No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia leads the way at the U.S. Open on Wednesday against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer. Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov will be in round-two action against big-hitting Aussie Alexei Popyrin.

(2) Daniil Medvedev vs. Dominik Koepfer

Daniil Medvedev has a complicated history in front of the New York crowd. He made a run to the final back in 2019, when he eventually lost an epic five-setter against Rafael Nadal. Along the way, he lost his temper, incited the ire of the crowd in multiple matches, and finally won them back with the quality of his play and his charm. The Russian had excellent preparation coming into the U.S. Open. He won the event in Toronto and made it to the semis in Cincinnati.

Dominik Koepfer is ranked No. 57 in the world. The German posted a couple of decent results coming into this week, but he was taken to five sets in the first round by qualifier Quentin Halys–a Frenchman ranked 183rd in the world. Koepfer’s best result of the season is a semifinal showing in Acapulco.

The quick courts already favor Medvedev and with the world No. 2 playing as well as he is, this one should be fairly routine.

Cheryl pick: Medvedev in 3

Ricky pick: Medvedev in 3

(15) Grigor Dimitrov vs. Alexei Popyrin

No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov has been struggling this summer. The Bulgarian just barely has a winning record for the year, sitting at 15-13–including his first round win over American Sam Riffice. He hasn’t really made a deep run at a tournament since his quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open.

At No. 73 in the world, Australian Alexei Popyrin is still ranked low enough that he often still needs to qualify his way into events. He has a big, powerful game with plenty of potential to make noise on the tour–but his consistency simply isn’t there yet. Still, Dimitrov is in the kind of form, that if Popyrin has a good day, he could pull off the upset win.

Dimitrov holds a 1-0 career edge over Popyrin. The two men met earlier this year in one of the Melbourne warmup events for the Australian Open. Popyrin took Dimitrov to three competitive sets, although that was in front of the Aussie home crowd. Dimitrov should come through, but it wouldn’t be a complete shock if Popyrin wins.

Cheryl pick: Dimitrov in 4

Ricky pick: Popyrin in 4