US Open Tennis 2017: TV Schedule and Tuesday's Afternoon Draw Predictions

Four players will take to the court at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday afternoon in the hope of booking a semi-final spot at the U.S. Open. And only one of those have been that far in a Grand Slam event before.

In the first of the men’s quarters, Pablo Carreno Busta takes on Diego Schwartzman. The former made it to the last eight at the French Open earlier in the year, while the latter’s best run at a Grand Slam prior to this was to the third round at the same tournament.

Sloane Stephens, the only previous Slam semi-finalist of the four, will hope to feed off the home support when she faces Anastasija Sevastova. The latter produced a big shock to knock out Maria Sharapova in the previous round.

Read on for the schedule for Tuesday’s afternoon matches, the key viewing details and a closer look at four players few would have expected to have made it quite so far at Flushing Meadows.

Monday Afternoon Schedule, Arthur Ashe Stadium

(12) *Pablo Carreno Busta vs. (29) Diego Schwartzman

Sloane Stephens vs. (16) *Anastasija Sevastova

For the order of play in full for Tuesday, visit the U.S. Open website.

*Picks to win

TV Info: ESPN (U.S.), Eurosport (UK)

Tuesday Preview

While the U.S. Open is a competition renowned for drama, the cast of the quarter-final lineup will have surprised even the most open-minded of tennis fans.

Seeded 12th, Carreno Busta is the highest-ranked player in action in the afternoon session and the top-ranked player in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The Spaniard will know it’d be a huge surprise if he were to get a run as favourable as this to a potential Grand Slam semi-final.

Elsa/Getty Images

In fairness to Carreno Busta, the standard of tennis he has been playing would be tough for any player on the circuit to cope with, as he’s won all four of his matches so far in straight sets. As we can see, it meant a lot to him to get to the last eight:

While he’s been imperious so far, in Schwartzman he faces his toughest challenge of the bracket, as the Argentinian is bristling with dynamism and determination.

Having knocked out former champion Marin Cilic, Schwartzman is clearly playing with a lot of confidence, and in his previous match against Lucas Pouile, he had to dig deep to win an attritional four-setter. Even a knock to his left leg couldn’t prevent the 29th seed from making his first quarter-final of a Grand Slam.

Standing at just 5'7", much has been made of the size of Schwartzman; as noted by The Tennis Tipster, the big tournaments tend lend themselves to the taller men:

"It’s not just for the big guys here," Schwartzman said after the win over Pouille, per Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times. "The big guys have a little bit of advantage to play tennis because they can serve better, they can do a lot of things better. If you are small, you just need to be focused in many things."

Abbie Parr/Getty Images

In the subsequent match, Stephens will hope to cap a year of excellent progression with a second Grand Slam semi-final appearance. As noted by SportsCenter, the speed of her rise up the rankings has been incredible:

Her performances at Flushing Meadows so far have also been incredible. Against Julia Gorges there were times when the 24-year-old was under pressure, especially after being pegged back to one set apiece. But she kept composed and relished the big moments, making her a dangerous prospect at this point.

The same can be said for Sevastova, who outlasted Sharapova fantastically in Round 4. With her compatriot Jelena Ostapenko already winning a Grand Slam in surprise circumstances at the French Open earlier in the year, the Latvian will have reason to believe she can't keep this dream run going.