US Open Tennis 2017: TV Schedule and Monday's Afternoon Draw Predictions
Monday's U.S. Open action will get off to a scintillating start, as the top seeds in the men's and women's draw get play going at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York.
Karolina Pliskova is the first of that duo and will need to overcome Jennifer Brady to make her way into the quarter-finals of the competition. Having come from behind in her previous two matches, she'll be hopeful of a more straightforward encounter here.
The same goes for Rafael Nadal, who has lost the first set in both of his last two matches. Alexandr Dolgopolov stands between him and a spot in the last eight of the competition. Another standout tie in the afternoon will see Dominic Thiem meet former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.
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Below are the big matches from the afternoon session from Flushing Meadows and a closer look at what to expect as Week 2 of the tournament gets under way.
Monday Schedule, Selected Afternoon Matches
Arthur Ashe Stadium
(1) *Karolina Pliskova vs. Jennifer Brady
(1) *Rafael Nadal vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov
*CoCo Vandeweghe vs. (20) Lucie Safarova
Louis Armstrong Stadium
(9) *David Goffin vs. Andrey Rublev
*Daria Kasatkina vs. Kaia Kanepi
Grandstand
(24) Juan Martin del Potro vs. (6) *Dominic Thiem
For the order of play in full for Monday, visit the U.S. Open website.
*Picks to win
TV Info: ESPN (U.S.), Eurosport (UK)
Monday Preview
At this point in the competition, there's no danger of any complacency creeping into the game of Pliskova, having emerged from two extremely testing encounters in her last two outings.
Against Nicole Gibbs in Round 2, she stemmed an early onslaught from the home favourite, eventually reasserting her dominance over the course of the next two sets. Against Zhang, Pliskova dug deep to save a match point and win through.
As noted by Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times, the world No. 1 may not be at her absolute best, but she's fighting hard to keep her tournament hopes intact:
The Czech looked uncomfortable out on court at the end of the second set last time out, with an arm problem seeming to hamper her. Afterwards, she allayed any fears the issue was serious.
"I feel much better," she said, per Piers Newbery of BBC Sport. "I did some recovery and just saw the physios and some ice bath and those stuff. Hopefully it will be fine, it just felt a little bit tight during the match."
As noted by Record's Jose Morgado, the shock elimination of Garbine Muguruza means Pliskova also has a fine chance of clinging to her No. 1 ranking:
The top seed in the men's draw is Nadal, and he'll be desperate to finish what's been a promising year on a high this week.
A win at the French Open and a final appearance at the Australian Open marked the progress made by the Spaniard in 2017, having struggled for form and fitness in recent years. At Flushing Meadows, he may not have been at full tilt, though the desire to get through the rounds has been palpable.
Journalist David Law picked up on Nadal's limitless enthusiasm for the game as her scrapped past Mayer:
Dolgopolov, an inventive and attacking player, will pose a different type of test, though the Ukrainian is typically the kind of opponent Nadal hits into submission.
Elsewhere, there are a couple of stars in the men's draw who will be keen to make progress towards a maiden Grand Slam title. Goffin should have too much for Rublev over the course of their encounter, though the match between the vibrant Thiem and Del Potro is too tight to call.
The latter memorably won this title in 2009, but his career has been hampered by a succession of fitness issues. Plenty would be pleased to see him back in the last-eight at Flushing Meadows.
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