US Open 2020: Day 4, Match Points

LEARNING

23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams will meet Russia's Margarita Gasparyan in the second round. The pair have faced off twice previously, both at Grand Slam events. Williams has won both of those encounters, at 2015 Wimbledon and 2016 Australian Open, in straight sets.

Williams is making her 20th appearance at the US Open, and her six titles at her home Grand Slam event has her tied with Chris Evert for most US Open titles in the Open Era. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hardcourt is the most of any player in the Open Era.

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USA

Reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin will meet rising Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez for the first time. Kenin, who also claimed a second title of the season in Lyon, will be attempting to reach the third round at her home major for the fourth straight year. Fernandez, the lone Canadian woman in the singles draw, is seeking the second win over a Top 10 player in her young career. 

The top two Belarusian players, Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka, will meet at the US Open for the second straight season. In their only prior encounter, Sabalenka overcame Azarenka in three sets in last year's opening round in New York.

Former World No.1 Azarenka is making her 13th appearance at the US Open, where she is a two-time runner-up (losing to Serena Williams in the 2012 and 2013 finals). Azarenka won her first title in four years last week at the Western & Southern Open, which also took place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the site of the US Open.

All five Belarusians in the singles main draw won their opening-round matches --  it marks the first time in the Open Era where five Belarusian players have advanced to the second round of a Grand Slam event. 

# 1

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Points 9416

Aryna

Sabalenka

BLR

Rank			Player	Points
20 -			V. Azarenka BLR	2127
144 -			A. Sasnovich BLR	516
209 -			A. Falei BLR	337
239 -			I. Shymanovich BLR	301

Rankings as of 2024/12/16

Another of those Belarusians, Olga Govortsova, will meet 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the second round on Thursday. Stephens has won both of their past meetings, including one en route to the 2016 Acapulco title.

Stephens had a stunning run to the trophy in New York three years ago, where she took the title ranked World No.83, becoming the fifth unseeded woman in the Open Era to win a major. That title run came just 69 days after returning from an 11-month injury lay-off, and six weeks after her ranking dropped to World No.957.

The woman Stephens beat in that 2017 US Open final, Madison Keys, will also take to the court on Thursday, where she will face Spain's Aliona Bolsova in their first meeting. Keys has a 23-8 win-loss record in US Open main draw appearances, which includes a run to the 2018 semifinals along with her finalist showing in 2017.

Read more: Keys, Stephens slide into US Open second round

Bolsova, meanwhile, will be playing her first-ever match against a Top 20 opponent. Despite that fact, the Spaniard still had a breakthrough run at last year's French Open, where she reached the round of 16 as a qualifier in her Grand Slam debut.

Garbine Muguruza and Tsvetana Pironkova will square off for the first time on Thursday. Former World No.1 Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, had her best-ever showing at the Australian Open earlier this season, where she reached the final before falling to Sofia Kenin. The 2020 US Open marks her milestone 30th Grand Slam main draw appearance.

For Pironkova, this event marks her first tournament since 2017 Wimbledon, having spent over three years away from tennis after giving birth to son Alexander in April 2018. The Bulgarian is one of nine mothers competing in the singles field this fortnight. Her best-ever result at a major was a run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, becoming the first player representing Bulgaria (male or female) to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

TRENDING

READING

Ed McGrogan at tennis.com reviews Caroline Garcia's Wednesday upset of No.1 seed Karolina Pliskova, as well as the careers of each at the Grand Slam events.

The New York Times' Ben Rothenberg takes a look at 16-year-old wildcard Katrina Scott, whose path of twists and turns has led her to the second round of the US Open.

Women's tennis stars pulled together favorite recipes for the WTA Cookbook, with proceeds benefiting WTA Charities initiatives.

ORDER OF PLAY

Click here to view Thursday's order of play.

WATCHING