US Open Tennis 2021: Wednesday Night Draw TV Schedule, Start Times and Picks

Novak Djokovic faces his toughest test of the 2021 U.S. Open on Wednesday night. 

The 20-time major winner takes on Matteo Berrettini in the nightcap at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a rematch of the 2021 Wimbledon final. 

That match will mark the third time the Serb and Italian will play each other at a Grand Slam event this season. Djokovic won both matches, but Berrettini was able to win a set each time. 

Before that rematch takes place in the men's quarterfinals, Karolina Pliskova and Maria Sakkari will do battle in the last of four women's quarterfinal matches. 

Pliskova is looking for her fifth career Grand Slam semifinal berth, while Sakkari is after her second semifinal bid after reaching that stage at the French Open this season. 

The night schedule inside Arthur Ashe Stadium begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The matches can be live-streamed on the ESPN app and ESPN.com.

Wednesday Night U.S. Open Picks

No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 6 Matteo Berrettini 

Djokovic holds a 3-0 career record over Berrettini. He has been able to fend off any threats the Italian has posed to him in those matches. 

In the Wimbledon final, Djokovic bounced back from a first-set tiebreak loss to win three consecutive sets. At the French Open, the top seed did not allow Berrettini to grab any momentum following a third-set tiebreak victory. 

The three-time U.S. Open champion has not been perfect during his run through New York, but he has displayed an ability to absorb any challenges. 

In the round of 16, Djokovic was stunned in the first set by American Jenson Brooksby. Djokovic went on to win the next three sets by three games or more. 

The 34-year-old will be under all of the pressure to win Wednesday night, but even if he presses a bit, Berrettini needs to play a perfect match to pull off the upset. 

The 25-year-old has not played a clean match yet in New York. He has needed four or five sets to win each of his matches. 

The sixth seed faces a steep uptick in competition Wednesday since he has only played unseeded players at the U.S. Open.

If Berrettini came into the match with strong form on the hard court, he would have had a chance to upset Djokovic, but he has looked too shaky to end Djokovic's hunt for the season-long Grand Slam.

Pick: Djokovic in three sets. 

No. 4 Karolina Pliskova vs. No. 17 Maria Sakkari

Wednesday night's opener should be the closer of the two matches. 

Pliskova and Sakkari split their two career head-to-head meetings, both of which took place on the clay in Rome. 

Pliskova has better history on hard courts. She reached the U.S. Open final in 2016 and made it to the semifinals of the 2019 Australian Open.

Sakkari achieved her breakthrough on the Grand Slam stage at the French Open, where she beat reigning champion Iga Swiatek to reach the final four. Prior to this year, the 26-year-old had not made it out of the fourth round in New York.

The Greek will likely be at a disadvantage in terms of fitness. Her round-of-16 match with Bianca Andreescu ended after 2 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning. Pliskova was off the court in two sets for her Monday match. 

Pliskova has dropped a single set through four rounds. She will be better prepared from a fitness standpoint to deal with a three-set contest if the match goes that far. 

The Czech might not even need three sets to eliminate Sakkari. The No. 4 seed is in strong form and could jump out to an early lead if Sakkari needs to find her legs after the three-set marathon. 

Pick: Pliskova in two sets.