Arthur Ashe Stadium is a fitting stage for a first-time showdown between World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and three-time major champion Andy Murray. Among a string of generational clashes, the pair headlines Day 1 of the 2021 US Open, which also features second seed Daniil Medvedev and eighth seed Casper Ruud against French veterans Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, respectively.
The last time Tsitsipas squared off against a Grand Slam champion at a major he came up agonisingly short, having led Novak Djokovic two sets to love at Roland Garros in June. That defeat lingered as the Greek fell to Frances Tiafoe in the first round at Wimbledon a fortnight later, but has since rediscovered his form on North American hard courts, with back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals in Toronto and Cincinnati.
“He's someone that has been putting a lot of work to get back and has been playing very good tennis to be standing where he's at right now. I think I'm going to go for it, try my chances against him,” Tsitsipas said of Murray. “He's someone that won't give up. I'll have to bring some good tennis from my side.”
Murray, having contested only seven tour-level singles events this year on his road back from hip surgery, tested Hubert Hurkacz and Tiafoe in respective second-round meetings in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem leading in. Nine years since his first major triumph in New York, the 34-year-old World No. 112 would love nothing more than to ride the crowd to a huge upset on Day 1.
“The positive thing in the past few months is that I haven't been held back really from what I can do on the practice court,” Murray said. “It is the matches where you need to ultimately go out there and perform. That's what's been frustrating the past few weeks.”
Second seed Daniil Medvedev opens his campaign on Monday against former No. 7 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Gasquet, in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Two years ago, the Russian surged back from two sets down and pushed Rafael Nadal to a fifth set in his maiden Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows.
NYC pic.twitter.com/NTlH53gR5z
— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) August 29, 2021
While he ultimately came up short, Medvedev reaffirmed his hard-court credentials when he ploughed through 15 straight sets to reach the semi-finals last year. Eventual champion Dominic Thiem ended his run there, however he reached a second major final at this year’s Australian Open (l. to Djokovic). Medvedev found form leading into this year’s US Open with his fourth ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto and a semi-final appearance in Cincinnati.
“Now I have two finals, [I] need to win, to make a better result at a Slam,” Medvedev said. “I was playing well in both Toronto and Cincinnati, quite similar conditions, hot, humid. I just want to continue [at] this level. When I play well, I know that I can cause trouble to my opponents. That's the most important.”
The first player seeded in the Top 2 outside Djokovic, Roger Federer, Nadal or Murray in New York, Medvedev has split two ATP Head2Head meetings with Gasquet. Each prevailed on home soil – Gasquet in Montepllier in 2018 and Medvedev in St Petersburg last year – and both with a bagel set to boot.
Since he reached his 32nd tour-level final in Umag last month on clay, the 35-year-old Gasquet – a semi-finalist in New York eight years ago – qualified in Cincinnati (l. to Murray) and reached the quarter-finals in Winston-Salem last week, a run which included a win over third seed Daniel Evans.
In the popcorn first-round match of Day 1, 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut squares off against arguably the most dangerous floater in the draw, Nick Kyrgios. In the ultimate contrast of styles and on-court dispositions, the ever-consistent Spaniard and the mercurial Australian split two previous ATP Head2Head encounters, with Bautista Agut having claimed their most recent clash at last year’s ATP Cup in Melbourne.
FULL ORDER OF PLAY: DAY 1, US OPEN 2021
Bautista Agut, who twice reached the fourth round in New York, saved three match points to beat Diego Schwartzman for a quarter-final showing in Toronto earlier this month, while Kyrgios managed a 1-3 record on hard courts leading in, with his lone win against former World No. 5 Kevin Anderson in Atlanta.
Having completed a hat-trick of clay-court titles with victory in Kitzbüel, eighth seed Ruud notched back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals on hard courts in Toronto and Cincinnati leading in. The Norwegian meets 36-year-old former World No. 5 Tsonga for the first time, in what will be the Frenchman’s first event since a first-round exit at Wimbledon (l. to Ymer).
Croatian Ivo Karlovic ensured his 17th main draw appearance in New York when he won through three rounds of qualifying. The 42-year-old takes on fifth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev, who fell in his second ATP Masters 1000 final of the season earlier this month (l. to Zverev) in Cincinnati.
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