The highly anticipated third-round showdown is upon us and what better stage for Roger Federer’s and Nick Kyrgios’s first Grand Slam showdown than on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open? It is the five-time champion against the fearless firebrand Australian, a match-up that has lived up to the hype and gone down to the wire every time it has eventuated.
Second seed Federer has not triumphed on the final Sunday at Flushing Meadows for a decade and his path to adding to that haul in 2018 was paved in dangerous obstacles. This was pencilled in as arguably his first major hurdle.
Every match in the pair’s three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings has ended in a tie-break. Eight of the nine sets they’ve contested have gone to tie-breaks.
Kyrgios has no doubts he can pull off the upset, in the same way he did the first time they square off in the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open. Federer has claimed their subsequent two showdowns – a dramatic semi-final battle in Miami in 2017 and another high-quality duel in the semi-finals of this year’s Stuttgart Open.
“I'm going to put a lot of expectation on myself to play well. I'm not going to go out there and roll over and be happy to be out there,” Kyrgios said. “I do believe I can win. Yeah, it's better to be the underdog than have all the pressure, for sure.”
Since claiming the season-opening Brisbane International on home soil, Kyrgios has endured an indifferent season. It was not until he reached the grass-court swing that he hit his straps again, falling to Federer in the semi-finals in Stuttgart before reaching the semi-finals of the Fever-Tree Championships at the Queen’s Club. His hard-court lead-in preparations have been less than ideal, however this is an opponent and a stage, which arguably the game’s most mercurial talent lifts for.
Any notion that it has been too long since Federer’s most recent title run in New York is quickly dismissed. The Swiss has added trophies from the Australian Open, Rotterdam and Stuttgart to his haul in 2018 already and reached the final in Cincinnati leading in. The No. 2 seed was pressed on whether the Federer who won the 2008 US Open or the Federer of today would hold the edge.
“Well, I really hope that this guy would win today just because I feel like I've improved many things over the years,” he said. “I'm a more complete player than I was back then. I feel like the game has evolved, as well. Serving bigger. I don't know. It's just a different game today. I always feel the next generation is always better than the past one.”
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The winner will face either Kyrgios’s compatriot John Millman or Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin for a place in the quarter-finals. Sixth seed Novak Djokovic is closing in as a potential quarter-final opponent.
The Serbian meets long-time rival Richard Gasquet on Saturday night for a place in the fourth round. It is a showdown the two-time US Open champion will enter with huge confidence, having lost just once – back in 2007 – in 13 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.
After claiming the Career Golden Masters at the Western & Southern Open leading in, Djokovic has dropped sets in both his opening rounds. Former No. 7 in the ATP Rankings, Gasquet won his 15th ATP World Tour title at the Libema Open in 's-Hertogenbosch in June. He is yet to drop a set this week.
Coming off a comprehensive triumph over fellow Next Gen ATP Finals contender, Frances Tiafoe, in the second round, Australian teenager Alex De Minaur ramps up his bid for a maiden fourth-round appearance at a Grand Slam on Saturday. He will meet 2014 US Open champion and No. 7 seed Marin Cilic for the first time.
Cilic, a runner-up at the Australian Open already this year, was at his best against #NextGenATP Pole Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday. The Croatian did not drop a game in the final two sets of the straight-sets routing.
In an all-German battle, fourth seed Alexander Zverev’s first Grand Slam campaign under Ivan Lendl’s guidance continues on Saturday when he meets Philipp Kohlschreiber. The pair has split four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, but Kohschreiber has not triumphed since 2015.
Zverev defended his BMW Open by FWU title in Munich in May, defeating the three-time champion in the final. The 21-year-old admitted he was finally beginning to feel comfortable playing at Flushing Meadows, having never previously passed the second round.
Other Matches To Watch:
[13] Diego Schwartzman vs. [21] Kei Nishikori
[17] Lucas Pouille vs. Joao Sousa
[10] David Goffin vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2N4S6pB
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