Serena Williams has a chance to avenge a recent defeat at the fourth of the 2020 U. S. Open on Monday.
The No. 3 seed in the women’s singles draw will face Maria Sakkari in the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She fell to the Greek at 16 at the Western and South Open in August.
A 2019 US Open rematch appears on the men’s afternoon list page, when Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev face off at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
A year ago, Berrettini made his fourth round with Rublev heading for a position in the semi-finals.
U. S. Open Monday afternoon
Television: ESPN (11 a. m. -4: 00 p. m. ET); ESPN 2 (4 p. m. 7 p. m. ET)
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The No. Serena Williams at No. 15 Maria Sakkari
Sakkari arrives Monday with a rare win record over Williams in his triumph at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Achieving a momentary victory in quick succession against the greatest tennis player of all time will be a much more difficult task.
Williams played some of his tennis in the last two sets of his third-round victory over Sloane Stephens on Saturday. In those two sets, the No. 3 seed produced 19 winners, 8 aces and only 10 direct fouls. The Slam champion closed the victory with 92% of her first serve problems while defeating Stephens twice.
If he postpones that form until Monday, Williams can be tough to beat. He also has the credit of betting on Sakkari recently and knowing what changes to make to get his opponent off the beat.
Sakkari enters Monday’s attack with wonderful confidence after beating Amanda Anisimova in two sets. The No. 15 seed won 11 winners against 8 direct errors and won 77% of their first-serve points.
However, there is one weakness Williams can exploit from the start: Sakkari has only put 63% of his first game at stake.
If Sakkari wastes at the beginning of his service games and Williams seizes the time of serve with less force, this may only lead to opportunities for early breakage problems.
If Williams wins, he may have a simple path to the semi-finals while a pair of unranked players compete for the other place in their eventual quarter-final match.
No. 10 Andrey Rublev over No. 6 Matteo Berrettini
The couple has grown up since they met in New York a while ago.
Berrettini has moved from 24th to 6th at the US Open in the one-year area and holds a position in the Grand Slam Semifinals on his résumé. Rublev went from unranked in 2019 to No. 1 10 seed in 2020 and reached fourth circular in three consecutive primary tournaments for the first time in his career.
Rublev is expected to enter Monday’s setting with a little more confidence after losing 4 games in 3 sets to Salvatore Caruso. In this win, the 10th seed eliminated 35 winners, won 42 of the 70 reception issues and delivered 17 aces.
Berrettini also impressively opposed Casper Ruud, generating 40 winners, thirteen aces and earning 19 of 27 net points. But there were some flaws in the Italian game that Rublev could take advantage of.
The No. 6 seed made 40 direct errors and placed 60% of his first 88 in play.
If Berrettini is a little sloppy in a single service game, Rublev can simply take credit and win a break that changes the momentum of the game. And if Rublev takes revenge on his 2019 defeat to Berrettini and number 3 Daniil Medvedev defeats Frances Tiafoe on Monday night, at least one Russian will be guaranteed a position in the semi-finals.
Follow Joe on Twitter, JTansey90. Statistics from USOpen. org.