Veteran stars Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet look to win their opening matches on day 2 of the 2020 US Open. Andrew Watson and Steen Kirby offer their predictions.
Andy Murray vs Yoshihito Nishioka
Andrew: The former World #1 put some smiles on faces with his performances last week. He defeated Frances Tiafoe & Alexander Zverev in three sets with some really good tennis. The main positive seems to be that Murray’s movement was much more fluent in those matches. It will need to be against the Japanese who is a great mover himself. However, Nishioka hasn’t been seen since before the break. This unknown makes it difficult to predict accurately but Murray has proven a certain level of fitness that Nishioka will have to match to stand a chance. Murray started to produce some excellent shots against Zverev and will be looking for further progress here. Murray in 4
Steen: Nishioka is a talented player who is rising up the ranks and he will test Andy Murray. Murray is at the end of his career but is enjoying a nice run of form under the circumstances though. His experience should shine through, and Murray will hope to impact the later stages of the tournament. Murray in 4
Jeremy Chardy vs Andrey Rublev
Andrew: This feels like a potential banana skin for Rublev. The Russian’s early season momentum has slowed somewhat. Chardy will certainly raise his game now for a Grand Slam and the Frenchman’s best is difficult for most to deal with. Rublev found this out the hard way at this same tournament two years ago. However, on this occasion the Russian is in better form and his skilful game should be able to outmatch the more one-dimensional style of Chardy. Rublev in 4
Steen: Chardy’s form isn’t anything special and Rublev dominates the h2h. The younger Russian will be a heavy favorite here. Rublev in 3
Ivo Karlovic vs Richard Gasquet
Andrew: The Frenchman leads this head-to-head series 5-1 but the last meeting was in 2015. Both men are certainly on the decline in their careers now. Karlovic hasn’t beaten a member of the top 50 since March 2019, whilst Gasquet hasn’t reached any final of an event since July 2018. Gasquet has the better recent form though with a solid performance at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown then backed by winning a round in Cincinnati. As always with Karlovic it is a matter of whether his opponent can break him or not. I fancy Gasquet’s chances of doing that and if he does he should win. Gasquet in 4
Steen: Gasquet has a big h2h edge against the veteran big server. Both players are veterans who will approach this match with focus and good preparation, but Gasquet should be the favorite with a more well-rounded game. Gasquet in 4
Emil Ruusuvuori vs Aljaz Bedene
Andrew: A shame these players were drawn together as they both had chances of being potential dark horses for a good run. Ruusuvuori has burst onto the scene relatively recently but has the type of powerful, attacking game that is successful in the modern day. Bedene seems to still be improving. His serve is underrated and the young Finn may find it tough to break the Slovenian. There will be tiebreaks in this match and the outcome of those will decide the fate of the match. On this occasion the superior tiebreak record of the youngster may help him to record the win. Ruusuvuori in 5
Steen: Both players came through qualifying in the WS Open warm-up tournament prior to the USO and this match is a relative coin flip. Bedene has more experience at this level though and his form is solid enough that he should be the favorite by a slight margin. Bedene in 4
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