Seth Wenig/Associated Press
Two generations of American women’s tennis players converge on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night.
2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens faces off with teenage phenom Coco Gauff to kick off the two-match night slate on the tournament’s showcase court.
Stephens endured a three-set battle against Madison Keys, who she beat in the 2017 final, to set up a clash with the No. 21 seed, who is 11 years her junior.
The all-American clash precedes the second-round match for men’s No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. He is looking for a much easier time against Adrian Mannarino than he faced against Andy Murray on Monday.
Tsitsipas’ path to the U.S. Open’s second week is wide open with only one seeded player remaining in his portion of the draw. An easy victory on Wednesday night could help him preserve energy for tougher battles to come.
The night schedule inside Ashe Stadium is slated to begin at 7 p.m. ET. The matches can be viewed on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
Wednesday Night Matches
No. 21 Coco Gauff vs. Sloane Stephens
The first head-to-head meeting between Gauff and Stephens takes place under the lights of Ashe Stadium.
Gauff emerged on the women’s tennis scene in 2019, and she has reached the fourth round in four of her eight Grand Slam appearances.
The No. 21 seed made a run to the quarterfinals at the French Open and was knocked out in the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Gauff was drawn into the toughest section of the women’s bracket that is full of previous Grand Slam winners.
Stephens is the first of three major champions Gauff could face in the first week of the tournament. Angelique Kerber will likely face the winner of the match, and Naomi Osaka is already through to the third round. Osaka could be the fourth-round opponent for Gauff if she advances that far.
Stephens survived one of the toughest first-round draws against Keys. The good news for the 2017 U.S. Open winner is her second-round opponent was also pushed into three sets on Monday.
Neither player will be intimidated by the primetime stage, and they should play in front of a raucous environment. The all-American clash is one of the marquee matches on Wednesday’s schedule.
Stephens holds the edge in experience, but Gauff enters in the better form and with a better recent string of results at majors.
Since the margins are expected to be so tight, it would not be a surprise to see this primetime opener go the distance.
No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Adrian Mannarino
Tsitsipas’ reward for surviving the five-set battle with Murray is a clear path with few apparent threats until at least the quarterfinal round.
The third-seeded Greek’s Wednesday opponent has not made it past the second round in eight of his last 10 major appearances.
Tsitsipas and Mannarino are tied 1-1 on head-to-head record, but the one loss handed to the No. 3 seed occurred because of a retirement in China two years ago.
Tsitsipas defeated Mannarino in straight sets on the Madrid clay in the only match between the two players that was completed.
The No. 3 seed should have a fairly easy time with Mannarino, and that could set up a run that puts him on the court for a minimal amount of time in the next few rounds.
After the eliminations of No. 23 Ugo Humbert and No. 26 Cameron Norrie, the only seeded player left in Tsitsipas’ section is 16th-seeded Cristian Garin, who has never made it past the second round in New York. Garin’s worst surface is the hard court. He carries the same poor record at the Australian Open.
If everything goes right, Tsitsipas should reel off three consecutive straight-set wins to prepare him for a potential quarterfinal clash with Andrey Rublev or Felix Auger-Aliassime.
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