Second-round play wraps up on Day 4 of the 2024 US Open, with tops seeds Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner leading an all-star lineup into action. Complementing the top two today are three who’ve finished first in Flushing: Carlos Alcaraz, Naomi Osaka, and Daniil Medvedev.
Other names of note logging court time today include women’s No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini and sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula, along with two-time Flushing finalist Caroline Wozniacki, men’s No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz and No. 10 seed Alex de Minaur. For those who’ve been there, and those looking to get there, today’s goal is the same: win, and play another day.
Top-seeded Swiatek, winner here in 2022, is a five-time major champion, having also taken the title on the red clay of Roland Garros in four of the last five years—including a thrilling three-peat from 2022-2024. The 23-year-old Pole earned this tournament’s top line with a bottom line that includes a tour-best five singles crowns in 2024, including hard-court championships in Doha and Indian Wells. At the Paris Olympics, she captured a bronze medal. Her 54-7 mark on the season is tops on the WTA Tour, including a 26-4 mark on the hard stuff through the first round here.
But for all her obvious greatness, apart from her title run here in 2022, Swiatek has never been beyond Flushing’s fourth round in four other appearances.
Swiatek looks to continue her forward progress today against Japan’s Ena Shibahara, one of women’s tennis’ top doubles talents who played her way through qualifying here into her first-ever appearance in the singles main draw of a major. Like her opponent, the 26-year old former UCLA Bruin is also a Roland Garros champion, capturing the mixed doubles title on the terre battue with partner Wesley Koolhof in 2022. At the 2023 Aussie Open, she paired with Shuko Aoyama to reach the women’s doubles final, knocking out the second-seeded coupling off Pegula and Coco Gauff en route.
But when the court narrows, so, it seems, do Shibahara’s chances, as her career-high singles ranking of No. 217 would attest.
The two women have never met, and there’s little to suggest that this first encounter won’t be a fleeting one. In a tidy two, the top seed is on to Round 3.
Men’s fifth seed Medvedev, who captured his first—and to date, only—major title here in 2021, has reached at least the third round of the US Open every year since 2018. Twice more a finalist in New York, the 28-year-old’s first-round win Tuesday gave him a career 30-6 mark on the hard floors of Flushing—his best at any of the four majors. The former No. 1, now ranked No. 5, has had something of a puzzling season, failing to win a single singles title to this point. Twice a finalist in 2024, including at the Aussie Open and Indian Wells, Medvedev also reached the semis at Wimbledon and the hard-court Dubai and Miami events. Medvedev is very much at home on cement, as evidenced by his career 284-96 hard-court mark, but was 0-for-2 at the two hard-court ATP Masters 1000 events he played leading in to this year’s Open.
He'll try to firm up his footing today as he takes on Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, whose appearance in the second round here matches his best previous US Open showing, accomplished last year in his only other main-draw appearance here. The 24-year-old did reach the third round at the Aussie Open in January, knocking out 2014 US Open champ Marin Cilic in the first round there. Medvedev would be wise not to sleep on Marozsan, who is certainly no pushover, and has shown he can handle the hard stuff as well, reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells and the quarters of Miami earlier this year. Those hard-court showings helped boost him to a career-high ranking of No. 36. He’s now at No. 51.
In this first head-to-head between the two, Marozsan should provide a good test for Medvedev, but it’s a test the former champ ought to be able to pass. Give Marozsan a set, but give Medvedev the win. In four, he’s once again on to the third round.
