Day 3 at the US Open was heavily affected by rain and wind but the organization, with some luck, found a way to get all 16 men’s matches completed. There were some upsets, with another Top 10 seed sent home after Pablo Carreno Busta on Day 2.
US Open Men’s Day 3 Recap
On the plus side
Daniil Medvedev is the favorite to reach the final from this half of the draw. He showed why with a dominant win over Dominik Koepfer, dropping only seven games in the process. A third round matchup against Pablo Andujar should be equally straightforward for the World #2.
Carlos Alcaraz continued his excellent breakthrough season with another Slam win, this time over Arthur Rinderknech. He struggled initially, splitting the first two sets, but ended up winning with relative comfort to book a blockbuster Round 3 matchup against World #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In the last match of the day, which began on Louis Armstrong and ended on Arthur Ashe due to the adverse weather conditions, Diego Schwartzman straight-setted 2017 finalist Kevin Anderson. The Argentine is now favorite to reach at least the quarterfinals. While Anderson is currently nowhere near the level that took him to the final four years ago, it was still a very impressive display by the diminutive Argentine, whose excellent return game proved to be a nightmare for Anderson.
Who looked bad
Casper Ruud disappointed at Slam level again, after doing so earlier this year at Roland Garros. The #8 seed reached the quarterfinals in Canada and Cincinnati and a very kind draw here, but he fell to world #117 and qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp. Despite this result and his general struggles outside clay, Ruud is still in a good position to make it to the World Tour Finals for the first time in his career.
Cristian Garin was also upset, by Henri Laaksonen. This result wasn’t anywhere near as shocking as Ruud’s defeat, but it’s still a massive disappointment for the Chilean to be eliminated by someone ranked outside the Top 100, even more so after winning the first set.
Grigor Dimitrov‘s career seems to be winding down, with his body no longer able to sustain the rigors of the circuit: another Slam, another retirement due to physical issues. This result will also see him go down in the rankings since he reached the semifinals in 2019.
Main Photo from Getty.
