Serena-Halep, del Potro-Wawrinka headline Wednesday's U.S. Open quarterfinals
NEW YORK – Players will look to fill the last remaining semifinals spots and No. 1 Serena Williams aims to win her 309th Grand Slam match on Wednesday at the U.S. Open. Play begins at 12 p.m. ET and coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN. The full television and broadcast schedule can be found here. Full order of play for Wednesday can be found here.
Ana Konjuh vs. Karolina Pliskova (first match, 12 p.m. ET)
After an upset over sixth-seeded Venus Williams on Monday, No. 10-seed Karolina Pliskova has now won nine straight matches dating back to her Western & Southern Open victory in Cincinnati in August. The 24-year-old has silenced the critics, finally advancing past the third round in a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. Her next task? Stopping 18-year-old Croatian sensation Ana Konjuh, who made quick work of fourth-ranked Agnieska Radwanska in the fourth round on Monday night. Konjuh has been dominant on serve, winning 77% of her first serve points and ranking second in the tournament with 29 aces. No. 92 Konjuh, who won the U.S. Open junior title in 2016, will be playing in her first major quarterfinal. Konjuh and Pliskova have never faced each other before.
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Kei Nishikori vs. Andy Murray (not before 1 p.m. ET)
In his fourth-round match vs. 6’11” Ivo Karlovic, Kei Nishikori listened to his coach, Michael Chang, and used a series of lobs to torment his large opponent. Nishikori will need to reach deep down in his bag of tricks in his quarterfinal match against the
destroyer that is Andy Murray. The No. 2-seed dismantled his latest opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, in a match that was so lopsided, Mother Nature cried for a brief one-minute period during the proceedings. Nishikori has defeated Murray once in eight meetings, at the 2014 ATP World Tour Finals, but hasn’t had much success of late.
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Serena Williams vs. Simona Halep (7 p.m. ET)
The night session kicks off with No. 1 Serena Williams, who passed Roger Federer for most career Grand Slam match victories (308) with a quick fourth-round win over Yaroslava Shvedova. There seems to be no stopping the 34-year-old, who spoke after Monday’s victory of “enjoying these moments” so much that she can’t really begin to think of retirement in the near future. Halep’s defense has been stellar throughout the tournament thus far, but Halep has only defeated Serena once in eight meetings, at the 2014 WTA Championships.
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Juan Martin del Potro vs. Stan Wawrinka (second night session match)
Slated as the second night session match on Arthur Ashe, this is your must-see match of the day. Del Potro should be fresh after his fourth-round opponent Dominic Thiem was forced to retire mid-way through the second set, while Wawrinka needed four sets to close out his victory over Illya Marchenko on Monday. The Olympic silver medalist has yet to drop a set in New York and should have the crowd on his side as he tries to continue his storybook run against Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam champion. For Wawrinka, this is a chance to get back to the U.S. Open semifinals for the third time in four years. Del Potro owns their head-to-head 4-3 and edged Wawrinka in their most recent meeting, a four-setter in the third round at Wimbledon this year.
