2021 US Open: Day 2 must-watch matches

The US Open is onto Day 2 of its first round matches and, just like yesterday, fans should be in for some exciting tennis. Day 1 saw World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas come back from 2 sets to 1 down to 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray in 4 hours and 49 minutes. There was also a very entertaining match in the women’s draw, a 2017 US Open finals rematch between Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys (Stephens won the match in a third set tiebreak).

Day 2 will feature both of the top seeds in Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty. Djokovic will face future Danish tennis star Holger Rune in the Arthur Ashe night session and Barty will face former World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva during the day session on Ashe.

Here are the must-watch matches of Day 2 at the US Open:

(4) Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Sam Querrey (USA)

These two have played each other twice with both matches resulting in straight set wins for Zverev. If the Querrey serve is firing then this should be a close match throughout. My concern for Querrey is if he’s going to be able to match Zverev in the longer rallies. The German has now won 11 straight matches, including winning the Olympics and Cincinnati Masters, and will be tough to stop.

(4) Karolina Pliskova (CZE) vs Catherine McNally (USA)

You may know her as Coco Gauff’s doubles partner but Catherine McNally is trying to make a name for herself at the singles level too. She has been bouncing around the lower 100’s in the WTA singles rankings but has not done enough to break into the Top 100. Maybe she can find some magic from the home crowd that will give her an advantage. The quick court conditions favor the No. 4 seed Pliskova so McNally’s defense will have to be on point.

Alison Riske (USA) vs (14) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

A matchup between the No. 14 seed vs World No. 35 in the first round should be fun. Pavlyuchenkova leads the head-to-head 3-2 which is significant enough to put her on upset alert. Unfortunately, Riske, a former World No. 18, has not been the same player since the tour resumption while Pavlyuchenkova is thriving off the successes of her French Open final run.

Taylor Fritz (USA) vs (14) Alex de Minaur (AUS)

A lot of good matchups featuring Americans today. Fritz has never won a match against De Minaur but I’m picking this matchup because it’s similar to the Riske, Pavlyuchenkova matchup (World No. 42 vs player who is seeded 14th). So, if you want to see a quality first round tennis match, this would be one of them.