US Open Tennis 2020: TV Schedule, Picks for Tuesday Afternoon Draw

Andy Murray returns to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the 2020 U.S. Open as the 115th-ranked player in the world. 

The 2012 champion is scheduled to open Tuesday afternoon's slate on the main showcase court at the USTA National Tennis Center. 

Murray sat out the tournament last year and has appeared in only five Grand Slam events since January 2017. 

The 33-year-old takes on Yoshihito Nishioka, who has won one singles title in his ATP Tour career. His first-ever meeting with the Japanese left-hander comes before Serena Williams' first-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Garbine Muguruza, Elise Mertens, Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic are among the seeded players taking to the courts in New York on Tuesday afternoon. The full schedule of play can be found on USOpen.org.

U.S. Open Tuesday Information

Start Time: Noon ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: Starts at 11 a.m. ET on Watch ESPN and ESPN.com.

Picks

Andy Murray over Yoshihito Nishioka

Murray comes into the U.S. Open with some confidence after winning a pair of matches at the Western and Southern Open, which was held at the USTA National Tennis Center instead of Cincinnati this year. 

The Scot defeated Frances Tiafoe and Alexander Zverev in three-set matches before falling to Milos Raonic in straight sets in the third round. 

However, Murray said he is feeling fine physically after dealing with years of injuries related to his hip, per USOpen.org's Arthur Kapetanakis:

"I think, if I can stay healthy, I'll have some more good moments on the tennis court. I'm feeling quite good on the court physically, in terms of my hip. When I spoke to my team a couple months ago, that was really all I wanted. I wanted to get hopefully to the US Open feeling pretty pain-free so that I could go out and play and enjoy playing in a Grand Slam again."

A win on Tuesday will mark a major step in Murray's recovery on the court since he has a single victory at a Grand Slam since 2018, when he beat James Duckworth in four sets at the U.S. Open before losing to Fernando Verdasco.

At the 2019 Australian Open, which was the last major he participated in, Murray fell in five sets to Roberto Bautista Agut. 

As he showed in the wins over Tiafoe and Zverev, the three-time major winner can be competitive in tournaments, but he may not have the ability to go the distance anymore. 

Nishioka owns a 9-5 season record, but all of those results occurred before the COVID-19 shutdown. He won a pair of matches at the Australian Open and then lost to Novak Djokovic. 

The lack of on-court form could hurt the 24-year-old, as well as his minimal experience playing at Arthur Ashe Stadium, even if there are no fans to support Murray.

The key for Murray could be his first serve. He converted 78.6 percent of his first-serve points against Tiafoe, but the total dropped to 61 percent versus Zverev.

In those two wins, he saved nine of his 13 break points. If he remains strong on serve, he could hold off Nishioka's challenge and move on to the second round. 

Serena Williams over Kristie Ahn

On paper, Williams' first-round clash with Kristie Ahn appears to be an easy win. However, the women's No. 3 seed faced some difficulties closing out matches at the Western & Southern Open. 

The 38-year-old needed a pair of tiebreak victories to get past Arantxa Rus in her first match and then lost a three-set battle to Maria Sakkari. 

Ahn, who has never faced Williams head-to-head, could take advantage of the 23-time major winner's second serve to spring an upset.

Williams won 39.5 percent of her second-serve points against Rus and converted just under half of her 53 second-serve points in the loss to Sakkari. 

Ahn may also be able to bank off the experience she gained during a run to the round of 16 in New York last year. But the one downfall of that four-match run is that the 28-year-old did not face a ranked player until the fourth round, when she won two games against Mertens. 

The American could pose a threat in certain games, but Williams should be able to overpower her with her serve to progress.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from ATPTour.com and WTATennis.com.