US Open Tennis 2011: Day 4 Schedule, Preview and Bracket Update
With a few exceptions, the first three days of the 2011 U.S. Open have been a little on the quiet side. Things have gone largely according to plan in both the men's and the women's brackets, with the only real blemish being the sudden withdrawal of Venus Williams.
But the drama is coming, make no mistake about that. And with a bit of luck—or lack thereof for some—it will come on Day 4.
Several top names will be in action on Thursday. While that obviously means we're in for some good tennis, it also means that we could very well be in for an upset or two. Those top names had better be on high alert.
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For now, let's take a closer look at what we can expect to see.
Preview
On the men's side of things, we're going to see both world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and world No. 3 Roger Federer back in action. Both were able to notch pretty easy victories in the first round, as Federer easily dispatched Santiago Giraldo and Djokovic dominated Conor Niland before he was forced to retire.
For Federer, a first-round victory will hopefully prove to be just the first step toward Grand Slam No. 17. He's won at least one every year since 2003, so he's hoping to keep that streak alive after falling short at each of the year's first three Grand Slams.
For Djokovic, dominance has become something of a ho-hum thing by now. That said, the encouraging part about his first-round win is that the shoulder injury that knocked him out of the Western & Southern Open seems to be ancient history.
On the women's side of things, Serena Williams will be looking to build on her own first-round victory, a thumping of Bojana Jovanovski that took less than an hour to complete. She also looks healthy, which is something we didn't get to say for close to a full year.
Thanks in large part to Williams' health issues, Carolina Wozniacki was able to grab the No. 1 ranking. She too will be playing on Thursday, as she is set to take on 20-year-old Arantxa Rus. It's a dangerous match for Wozniacki, as Rus showed with her win over Kim Clijsters at the French Open that she is more than capable of pulling off an upset.
For all of the day's matches, you may direct your eyes below.
Men's
| Roger Federer (3) vs. Dudi Sela | Arthur Ashe Stadium | 13:00 |
| Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Carlos Berlocq | Arthur Ashe Stadium | 19:00 |
| Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Gael Monfils (7) | Louis Armstrong Stadium | 11:00 |
| Malek Jaziri vs. Mardy Fish (8) | Louis Armstrong Stadium | 15:00 |
| Thomas Berdych (9) vs. Fabio Fagnini | Grandstand | 11:00 |
| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (11) vs. Sergei Bubka | Grandstand | 11:00 |
| Radek Stepanek (23) vs. Juan Monaco | Court 17 | 11:00 |
| Bernard Tomic vs. Marin Cilic (27) | Court 17 | 13:00 |
| Tommy Haas vs. Alejandro Falla | Court 13 | 11:00 |
| Marsel Ilhan vs. Fernando Verdasco (19) | Court 13 | 11:00 |
| Philipp Petzschner vs. Janko Tipsarevic (20) | Court 11 | 11:00 |
| Ivo Karlovic vs. Richard Gasquet (13) | Court 11 | 11:00 |
| Marcel Granollers (31) vs. Mikhail Kukushkin | Court 4 | 13:00 |
| Potito Starace vs. Nikolay Davydenko | Court 4 | 11:00 |
| Michael Llodra (29) vs. Kevin Anderson | Court 6 | 11:00 |
| Alexandr Dolgopolov (22) vs. Flavio Cipolla | Court 7 | 11:00 |
Women's
| Mirjana Lucic vs. Francesca Schiavone (7) | Arthur Ashe Stadium | 11:00 |
| Michaella Krajicek vs. Serena Williams (28) | Arthur Ashe Stadium | 13:00 |
| Caroline Wozniacki (1) vs. Arantxa Rus | Arthur Ashe Stadium | 19:00 |
| Jelena Jankovic (11) vs. Jelena Dokic | Louis Armstrong Stadium | 11:00 |
| Victoria Azarenka (4) vs. Gisela Dulko | Louis Armstrong Stadium | 17:00 |
| Andrea Petkovic (10) vs. Jie Zheng | Grandstand | 11:00 |
| Shahar Peer (23) vs. Sloane Stephens | Grandstand | 11:00 |
| Petra Cetkovska vs. Ana Ivanovic (16) | Court 17 | 13:00 |
| Vania King vs. Jarmila Gajdosova (29) | Court 17 | 11:00 |
| Alize Cornet vs. Roberta Vinci (18) | Court 13 | 11:00 |
| Pauline Parmentier vs. Akgul Amanmuradova | Court 13 | 11:00 |
| Mona Barthel vs. Chanelle Scheepers | Court 11 | 11:00 |
| Elena Baltacha vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (15) | Court 11 | 11:00 |
| Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Simona Halep | Court 4 | 11:00 |
| Petra Martic vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (17) | Court 4 | 11:00 |
| Kaia Kanepi (31) vs. Silvia Soler-Espinosa | Court 7 | 11:00 |
Men's Bracket Update
No. 1 Novak Djokovic to face Carlos Berlocq in Round 2 on Thursday
No. 2 Rafael Nadal to face Nicolas Mahut in Round 2 (TBD)
No. 3 Roger Federer to face Dudi Sela in Round 2 on Thursday
No. 4 Andy Murray to face Robin Haase in Round 2 (TBD)
No. 5 David Ferrer to face James Blake in Round 2 (TBD)
Women's Bracket Update
No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to face Arantxa Rus in Round 2 on Thursday
No. 2 Vera Zvonareva to face Anabel Medina Garrigues in Round 3 (TBD)
No. 3 Maria Sharapova to face Flavia Pennetta in Round 3
No. 4 Victoria Azarenka to face Gisela Dunko in Round 2 on Thursday
No. 5 Petra Kvitova defeated in Round 1 by Alexandra Dulgheru
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