Four intriguing quarterfinal clashes headline Day 10 of the 2024 US Open, as a mix of famous names and a few less-so share the day’s magnificent marquee. On the men’s side, top-seed Jannik Sinner takes on No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, while the tenth seed, Alex de Minaur squares off with No. 25 Jack Draper The women’s quarters feature top-liner Iga Swiatek battling No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia taking on Karolina Muchova, who’s blossomed into this round without benefit of seed. All have played brilliantly to this point; all will need to maintain that brilliance to get further. At this point in the tournament, your name means a lot less than your game because from here, three wins gets you a title. And a title tends to do wonders for your name.
Medvedev, who won his first—and so far, only—major title at the 2021 US Open, has reached the quarterfinals here in five of the last six years. That stretch features two runner-up showings, including last year, when he lost the final to Novak Djokovic.
Competing here as a Top 5 seed for the sixth consecutive year, the former champ has played like a present danger, dropping just one set in four matches to this point. His 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 drubbing of Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the fourth round was surgical in its precision; the sort of clinic for which you’d normally have to pay $150 an hour. In that match, completed in a tidy one hour, 51 minutes, Medvedev won 78% of his first-serve points and was broken just once, while breaking his opponent’s serve eight times.
Of course, Medvedev is going to have to continue to raise his game tonight if he’s going to topple Sinner, who earned this tournament’s top line with a bottom line that this year includes the 23-year-old Italian’s first career major crown at the Australian Open. That win was one of a tour-leading five titles for Sinner in 2024, four of those coming on hard courts. Sinner is the only player on the men’s tour to reach at least the quarters at all four Slams this year, and a win today would earn him his best-ever showing in Flushing, bettering his previous run to the quarters here in 2022. Through four rounds here, Sinner has posted a staggering 32-2 mark on hard courts this year, and like Medvedev, the top seed has lost just one set in his advance so far.
The two men are familiar foes, with Medvedev holding a slim 7-5 lead in their dozen duels to this point, including two meetings on major stages in 2024. Sinner won their final-round encounter in Melbourne and Medvedev finished first in the quarters of Wimbledon. Both of those matches went five sets, and there’s little reason to believe that this one won’t also go the distance—in both sets and sizzle. In a feverish five, Medvedev is on to the semis.
Women’s top seed Swiatek has won five singles titles this year, including her third consecutive Roland Garros crown. Champion here in 2022, the 23-year-old Pole’s 83-17 career record at the majors gives her the highest winning percentage at the Slams (83%) of any active player. Her 57 match wins in 2024 through four rounds here are likewise best on the women’s tour, and she has bashed her way into the quarterfinals without dropping a set, logging a total of just five hours, 59 minutes of court time through four matches.
Swiatek figures to linger longer tonight against Pegula, who’s played her way into the US Open quarterfinals for the second time in the last three years. The 30-year-old American has reached the quarterfinals of all four majors, but has never been able to advance beyond this point at any of them. This just might be the year she breaks through that wall, as she’s played a particularly impressive brand of ball to this point, decisively dashing through the first four rounds without losing a set. Her four matches have taken a total of just five hours, 27 minutes to complete; indeed, she's logged the least amount of court time of any of the eight women's quarterfinalists.
Pegula rode into Flushing atop a wave of momentum, having won the title at the hard-court Toronto event and reached the final of Cincinnati—both of those on hard courts. Five of her six career singles titles have come on cement; she’s well aware that three more wins gets her a particularly impressive sixth.
Swiatek owns a 6-3 edge in their career meetings, including an ousting of the American at this point in the 2022 US Open. But the two haven’t met since the WTA Finals last November, and as brilliantly as the top seed has played to this point, this just feels like Pegula’s time to shine. This one goes three, and Pegula goes on to her first Slam semifinal.
