US Open Tennis 2011: ESPN and Tennis Channel TV Schedule for Day 4

As we continue the second round of the men's and women's 2011 U.S. Open on Thursday, the favorites at this point appear to be Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, respectively.

While Djokovic breezed past Conor Niland in 44 minutes, causing the Irishman to retire in the second set, Williams exacted her own dominance against Bojana Jovanovski, winning in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, in 56 minutes.

Djokovic, who faces Carlos Berlocq of Argentina on Thursday, has been simply dazzling this year, at one point winning 41 straight matches, one short of the record for a single season set by John McEnroe. He defeated Roger Federer in three straight tournaments at the beginning of the year and has defeated Rafael Nadal a whopping five times this season. He's also searching for his third Grand Slam singles title of the year.

In short, if Djokovic doesn't dominate on Thursday, I'd be highly surprised.

As for Williams, she will face Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, the sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek. Much like Williams' previous opponent Jovanovski, Krajicek plays more of a power game. But while that may work for some of her competitors, she's not going to be able to overpower Williams, nor will she even play in the same stratosphere. That's not a knock on Krajicek, it's an appraisal of what Williams has shown thus far in the tournament.

Williams not only showed her usual dominant power game on Tuesday against Jovanovski, she's beginning to develop a nice finesse game. In fact, it's not just nice, it's all of a sudden very solid. Williams made some shots on Tuesday we've rarely seen her make, spinning balls off the court and showing more complete skills than ever before. Given she already has 13 Grand Slam singles titles to her name, that's a scary thing for the rest of the field.

The other must-watch games on my slate for Thursday is Roger Federer vs. Dudi Sela and Andrea Petkovic vs. Jie Zheng. Federer appears to be in the midst of making his last stand before age catches up to him, and I have Petkovic as a semifinalist against Williams.

Here's the Day 4 schedule. All times Eastern.

Date/Time	Round	TV Station
Thursday, September 1
12 AM - 10 AM	Daily Match Encores	Tennis Channel
10 AM - 11 AM	Breakfast at the Open	Tennis Channel
11 AM - 7PM	Second Round	Tennis Channel
1PM - 7PM	Second Round	ESPN2
7PM - 11PM	Primetime at the US Open: Second Round	ESPN2