Five matches to watch in the first round of the US Open | ATP Tour

US Open

Five matches to watch in the US Open 1R

The last Grand Slam of the season starts next Monday, August 26

August 23, 2024

There are plenty of matches to choose from, with 64 first-round matches to be precise at the US Open. Everyone has their own preferences, but in this article we have chosen five attractive matches to watch in the opening round of the American Grand Slam.

Schwartzman vs Monfils
At any other time, it would have been unthinkable that a matchup of this level could take place in the first round of a Grand Slam, as both are players who are used to carrying the label of seed for a significant part of their careers.

However, the 32-year-old Argentine arrives this time at No. 246 in the PIF ATP Rankings to contest the US Open for the last time, after coming through the qualifying phase and giving himself the opportunity to play in Flushing Meadows without fail since his debut in 2014.

Monfils, meanwhile, is ranked No. 45 in the world at 37 years of age and has had greater consistency this season, with a match record of 20-18. The Frenchman has been a semi-finalist at the ATP 250 in Doha and Mallorca, as well as having won at least one match in the three Grand Slams held this season.

Schwartzman currently leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head 3-2, though the most recent meeting was in Vienna in 2021. The only previous best-of-five clash was at Roland Garros in 2015, when Monfils won 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Who will prevail this time? The winner could face No. 8 seed Casper Ruud in the second round if the Norwegian beats China’s Yunchaokete Bu.

Tabilo vs Goffin
Last year at this stage of the season, Alejandro Tabilo needed to play the qualifying round to compete in the US Open as world number 113. He was not able to get past the first round of qualifying. This time, he arrives at Flushing Meadows as the number 22 seed, with two titles under his belt this season (Auckland and Mallorca) and a record of 28-17.

The Chilean, who entered the Top 20 at No. 19 last July, is in the best form of his career and will try to score his second victory in New York. In 2022, he recorded his only first-round victory against Polish player Kamil Majchrzak.

This time, David Goffin, an experienced player who has made it to the second week of the American Grand Slam on four occasions (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), is waiting for him on the other side of the net. The Belgian is still in with a chance of making it to the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem in the semi-finals (vs Lorenzo Sonego).

There is no precedent between Tabilo and Goffin in the Lexus ATP Head2Head at ATP Tour level, the only time they met was in the qualifier for the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid in 2022, where the Belgian won 6-4, 6-4.

Ramos Viñolas vs Berrettini
Among the Spanish players who are not seeded in this edition, Albert Ramos Viñolas will be the protagonist of the most attractive and, at the same time, most complicated duel in the first round. His rival in the 50th Grand Slam of his career will be the Italian Matteo Berrettini, who already knows what it is like to win three ATP Tour tournaments this year in Marrakech, Gstaad and Kitzbühel (all on clay).

Despite being two players with extensive careers on the ATP Tour, they have only met once before. The Lexus ATP Head2Head was at the 2021 ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, with a narrow victory for Berrettini by 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5.

Ramos Viñolas, for his part, will face his fourteenth consecutive US Open and will try to advance to the second round for the sixth time against the Italian who reached the semifinals in 2019, in addition to reaching the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2022.

Shapovalov vs Van de Zandschulp
Denis Shapovalov continues to work to regain the status he once held just a few seasons ago, being World No. 10 in 2020. Injuries forced him out of the Top 100 and this time he comes to New York as No. 105 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

The Canadian will play his 70th career match at the US Open in the first round of the US Open, a tournament in which he reached the quarter-finals in 2020. His next opponent, Botic Van de Zandschulp, also advanced to that same round a year later.

The Dutchman has his best result at the 2021 US Open, where after passing the qualifying round he found a place among the last eight. The only duel in the Lexus ATP Head2Head between Shapovalov and Van de Zanschulp was this year in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells with a 6-1, 6-4 victory for the Canadian.

One of the big draws from this match will be that the winner could face No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz in the second round if the Spaniard beats Australian Li Tu in his debut.

Shelton vs Thiem
Last May, Dominic Thiem announced that he would be calling it quits at the end of 2024, making this US Open the last Grand Slam of his career. The 2020 champion received a wild card to bid farewell to the American tournament.

And the draw has drawn him against one of the big local hopes, No. 13 seed Ben Shelton, which will guarantee him a chance to play in one of the Flushing Meadows stadiums.

Shelton and Thiem have a tied Lexus ATP Head2Head to date at 1-1, although both clashes were in 2023. Precisely one of them, the one won by the American, was at the US Open, which ended with Thiem retiring 7-6(1), 1-0 on the scoreboard.