Carlos Alcaraz continues his U.S. Open campaign when third-round action begins on Friday, set to face Yibing Wu — who also knows a thing or two about long injury layoffs. Daniil Medvedev is going up against Arthur Rinderknech.
Yibing Wu vs. (2) Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz may have had high expectations for his return to competition after four months away from tennis due to a wrist injury, but — by the standards of mere mortals — his first two U.S. Open matches could not have gone any better. The third-ranked Spaniard coasted past Roman Safiullin and then recovered from a slow start to beat Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday night. Following those two performances, there is no doubt that Alcaraz is the overwhelming favorite to win a third title in New York.
Up next for the second seed on Friday afternoon is a third-round showdown against Wu, who lost their only previous meeting 7-6(5), 6-4 at the 2024 Shanghai Masters. Wu’s career has been plagued by injuries, but he will be back in the top 100 following the U.S. Open thanks to victories over Adam Walton and James Duckworth. Although the 26-year-old from China may be playing well enough to make this entertaining at time, he has never been past round three at any Grand Slam and Alcaraz is simply looking too good.
Pick: Alcaraz in 3
(7) Daniil Medvedev vs. (26) Arthur Rinderknech
Medvedev and Rinderknech will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Friday. They split their two previous encounters; Medvedev cruised 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 at this same tournament four years ago before Rinderknech pulled off a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 upset in the semifinals of the 2025 Shanghai Masters.
For Medvedev, it is seemingly all or nothing at Grand Slams. When he loses, it has almost always been right away; when he advances at least one round, he tends to go a long, long way. Dating back to his runner-up performance at the 2019 U.S. Open, Medvedev has lost in the second or third round of only three majors. During this stretch he has suffered five first-round exits but has reached the quarterfinals or better 11 times. With routine victories over Hugo Gaston and Sebastian Gorzy under his belt, the eighth-ranked Russian looks poised to make noise — in a good way — at this year’s U.S. Open.
Pick: Medvedev in 4
WWW?
Wu can take a set
I like Medvedev & Merida. M&M.
Haha! And apparently M&Ms of the chocolate kind featured as a match comeback fuel for, I think it was Cobolli a couple of weeks ago? M&Ms stand for performance.🤪
Will M&M eat M&Ms as well as secret rocket fuel?
I just realized that Michelson is also an M, so if my prediction loses, I still have an out, and I still will complete the M&M. Unless of course Medvedev loses, which he very well could.
Michelsen is two sets to zero at the moment and could end up in the QFs if he plays like this next round as well. Impressive. And he’s a home player that came in without massive expectations on him.