US Open Tennis 2016: TV Schedule, Start Times for Wednesday Night Draw

Two top Spanish players will take center stage on Wednesday's night draw at the 2016 U.S. Open.

No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza is first up at Arthur Ashe Stadium's evening slate, taking on Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova. The 22-year-old Muguruza established herself as a rising star in tennis with her win over Serena Williams at the French Open this year.

She is one of the top threats to win at the U.S. Open, but she can't get too far ahead of herself. Muguruza is yet to make it past the second round at the U.S. Open, so even though it's early in the tournament, a win over Sevastova would be a huge personal milestone for the Spaniard.

Following that match, it's No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal against Italy's Andreas Seppi. Nadal is no stranger to U.S. Open success, having won the tournament in 2010 and 2013. Injuries and inconsistent play have plagued Nadal over the past couple of years, making every Grand Slam tournament an opportunity for the 30-year-old to prove he's still a dominant force in tennis. 

ESPN2 will carry all the action from Flushing Meadows, New York, starting at 6 p.m. ET, with the prime-time matches set to begin at 7 p.m. ET. Live streaming can be found at WatchESPN.

There are quite a few other prominent players gracing the hard courts for the late matches. Here's a look at a few more to watch on Day 3.

Match	Court	TV	Prediction
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza (ESP) vs. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)	Arthur Ashe Stadium	ESPN 2	Muguruza in two
No. 8 Madison Keys (USA) vs. Kayla Day (USA)	Old Grandstand	ESPN 2	Keys in three
No. 26 Jack Sock (USA) vs. Mischa Zverev (GER)	Louis Armstrong Stadium	ESPN 2	Sock in four
No. 7 Marin Cilic (CRO) vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)	Court 5	ESPN 2	Cilic in three
No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (ESP) vs. Federico Delbonis (ARG)	Court 13	ESPN 2	Agut in four

Note: For a complete order of play, check out USOpen.org.

Muguruza wasn't feeling her best in her opening-round match against Elise Mertens, and it showed early on.

Muguruza dropped the first set, 2-6 but went on to blank Mertens 6-0 in the second set and close out the third 6-3. The New York Times' Ben Rothenberg noted a timely visit from the doctor helped Muguruza power through: 

It's possible the relative cool of the night session will help Muguruza against Sevastova. This will be the first professional meeting between the two players, so Muguruza won't have all the time in the world to figure out her opponent, lest she suffer another ignominous early exit from a Grand Slam.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

After winning the French Open, Muguruza lost in the second round at Wimbledon, a tournament where she reached the final just a year prior. A poor showing at the U.S. Open would kill much of the buzz around this emerging talent, but her power and ability to control the baseline should get her through to the next round. 

There is little if anything Nadal has left to prove at this point in his career, but that doesn't mean he is going to take things lightly at the U.S. Open. Per ESPN's Howard Bryant, Nadal still gets butterflies when he goes into competition: 

If the nerves were there in his first-round matchup against Denis Istomin, Nadal hardly showed it. He got off to a fine start in Flushing Meadows with an easy 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win. Lingering injuries also didn't seem to be much of a factor for Nadal, as noted by Tennis.com's Ed McGrogan: 

"

There were no ill effects noticeable from Nadal on Monday. ("My wrist is improving," he told ESPN on the court.) Nadal’s trademark baseline scrambling was unabated and kept pressure on Istomin, who takes the ball on the rise when he’s feeling his best. Nadal saw some of that form from Istomin in the second set, and was pushed to 15-30 on serve at 4-4. But Nadal never let his dangerous adversary get closer, regularly keeping him at bay with his forehand. Nadal didn’t hold back with his signature shot, which accounted for the majority of his 21 winners. Istomin struck 19 of his own, but negated them with 39 unforced errors.

"

Seppi didn't fare quite as well in his opening matchup, needing four sets to top Stephane Robert. Nadal is 7-1 all-time against Seppi, so he should be feeling confident heading into this matchup.

There is plenty of external pressure on Nadal to navigate his way to the later rounds of this tournament. Since winning the French Open in 2014, Nadal hasn't done better than the quarterfinals in any Grand Slam.

This year has been especially trying, as he suffered a first-round exit at the Australian Open and lost in the third round at the French Open—his worst-ever performance at Roland Garros. He didn't play at Wimbledon due to injury. 

A win over Seppi will relieve some of the pressure on Nadal, especially if he does so in a fashion similar to his triumph over Istomin. However, he will have to do a lot more in New York if he is to re-establish himself as a top threat at the biggest tournaments.