Preview / Schedule US Open 2024 Day Seven Sunday 1 September including Navarro-Gauff, Ruud-Fritz, Zverev and Sabalenka

Day Seven of the US Open (Sunday 1 September) will feature some really interesting matches, though the programme got a bit depleted with some of the upsets we’ve had in recent days. We’ll still see Coco Gauff out on the courts among other names in our schedule.

As always in our preview. we’re going to start with the biggest court, Arthur Ashe, and work our way to the smaller courts. As we’re getting closer to the prize, there are fewer and fewer matches, so we will take a closer look at the matchups themselves as opposed to just previewing which matches are being played.

So, the first match on the biggest stadium will begin at noon. That was pretty standard in the previous days, so in that sense, nothing changed, but for the first time this year we’ll see Grigor Dimitrov but also Andrey Rublev. Neither got a chance to play on Ashe this year, but on Sunday they’re going to get it, and it’s a fabulous matchup.

Dimitrov has been on fire so far in New York, but that shouldn’t surprise anybody. He’s been generally really good at this event over the years, and he’s been in really good shape for much of this year. He’s had a far better year than Rublev, for example, even though the Russian had some highlight moments like winning the Madrid Open.

Generally, the ceiling of Rublev does tend to be higher because he’s shown in the past with a couple of runs, but he’s generally been pretty bad at Grand Slams. He makes a 4th round or a quarterfinal but doesn’t really go beyond that. The first time he faces a really strong player, the Russian kind of caves, which is a bit odd as he can be quite good at times.

It’s been a very interesting matchup so far with a couple of close matches, but Rublev has generally been on top. The most recent match last year in Shanghai was won by Rublev, and it was a pretty close one. It seems likely that happens again.

The second match on Ashe will feature Emma Navarro and Coco Gauff. Now this is a pretty special matchup as it’s an all-American battle at the US Open. It’s also a matchup that could yield a potential upset because the last time they played, Navarro beat Gauff, and easily too. It was earlier this year at Wimbledon, and Gauff was left stunned by the American who was playing wonderful tennis.

There was basically nothing she could do as Navarro dissected her game into pieces and smashed her comfortably. She’s certainly playing well enough to do it again, especially with how Gauff struggled recently. The matchup so far has been 1-1 because the first one this year in Auckland was won easily by Gauff, but she hasn’t really played on that level for a very long time.

Gauff has been pretty lacklustre in recent weeks, and even the most recent matches here at the US Open haven’t been that great. She won them, but she certainly showed herself to be quite vulnerable as a player. Navarro, on the other hand, has looked really good in recent weeks and also really strong at the US Open. While she’s not favoured to win this one, the American can certainly win it, and that’s what makes this one a must-see match.

The night shift on Ashe will feature two matches. The first one of those will feature Frances Tiafoe taking on Alexei Popyrin. Many had hoped that this matchup ends up being Tiafoe taking on Novak Djokovic, but Popyrin ousted the Serbian with a pretty sturdy showing, and that certainly won’t be easy to overcome for Tiafoe.

It’s an interesting match on paper, but the American is heavily favoured because he’s playing on home soil, and it’s also the night shift on Ashe where he did some amazing things in the past. Two years ago, he nearly beat Alcaraz and made the final, so he’s certainly capable of winning this match and likely will.

The final match of the day on Ashe is the repeat of the Olympics final. Qinwen Zheng will be facing Donna Vekic in a matchup that we recently saw on clay in Paris. That match was won fairly comfortably by Zheng, and she’s going to be favoured to do that again. It doesn’t mean that she will because Vekic has been really good in recent weeks and, in some ways, might even be a better fit on this surface than Zheng.

She certainly looked more confident so far than Zheng, who faced problems in basically all her matches but was still able to win. That resilience will come in handy if this match goes south early.

As there aren’t as many matches as before, there won’t be any singles matches on the Grandstand anymore, so we only have to look at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. As always, the court will have five matches in total, with the first one of those starting one hour earlier than on Ashe, so 11 a.m. local time.

The first one on Sunday will be between Paula Badosa and Yafan Wang. It’s an interesting matchup on paper, but the Spaniard is heavily favoured in this one because she’s overall the better player. Wang has played well, but she had a bit of luck with her draw. Badosa endured some really tough opponents, and that should have made her mentally stronger.

She will certainly fancy her chances here, and she should because she is the better player than Wang. The second match on this stadium will feature Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz. Now, this is a really solid matchup because, on the one hand, we have Fritz, who has looked really good. He wounded Matteo Berrettini like it’s nothing, and that’s certainly a memorable win.

Then we have also Casper Ruud, who has played better here than in the weeks before, but the most recent match showed that he can be overwhelmed by a player who is very aggressive and hits the ball well. Well, that’s exactly what type of player Fritz is, and he’s been demolishing the ball really well.

Ruud and Fritz are about even right now, but the crowd will certainly back the American more, and he is very likely to win this one. We’ll see if it happens but Ruud has the better results at the US Open historically so maybe it will be him. Should be really good regardless so don’t miss it.

The next one is another interesting one as it features Alexander Zverev and Brandon Nakashima. Zverev has played really well so far at the event, winning a couple of matches comfortably.

Nakashima has also been really good at the event, serving at an incredible level and just doing the work. He’s been in very good shape in recent weeks generally and is a tough player. Being a native player will surely skew the crowd on his side, which is an added bonus. Still, the German has won all of their matches so far, including one at the US Open.

Overall, it should be a good match where Zverev will likely win. He is favoured, and he’s the better player, although it won’t be easy. The last time he faced him at the US Open was when Nakashima won a set, and nobody would be shocked to see that happen again.

The final match will be between former doubles partners Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka. They know each other really well, and while Sabalenka is by far the better player, Mertens has been doing really well in recent weeks, beating some really nice opponents like Madison Keys in the previous rounds.

She’ll certainly fancy her chances here even though Sabalenka is obviously in better shape and favoured to win. The Belarusian is the favourite to win the event because she’s just been that good lately. She won Cincinnati and didn’t disappoint so far with her performances at the US Open.

She did face some troubles in her previous match against Ekaterina Alexandrova but still responded very strongly, beating the Russian simply in two sets. Overall, it promises to be a somewhat interesting affair, but the Belarusian should win this one comfortably.

So, there you have it. That’s day 7 and its schedule. There aren’t many matches because we’re getting close to those final rounds, which means that we’ll be getting fewer and fewer matches. Still, each one of those matchups is a dandy matchup that should, in theory, be a really good match because the opponents are closely matched in skill, and most of them have won a couple of matches, showing great form.

They’re also some of the favourites to go all the way at the event, which certainly adds more to it. Overall a packed day so stick with us for all the latest from the US Open.

(6) Andrey Rublev v (9) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

(13) Emma Navarro (USA) v (3) Coco Gauff (USA)

(20) Frances Tiafoe (USA) v (28) Alexei Popyrin (AUS)

(7) Qinwen Zheng (CHN) v (24) Donna Vekic (CRO)

(26) Paula Badosa (ESP) v Yafan Wang (CHN)

(8) Casper Ruud (NOR) v (12) `Taylor Fritz (USA)

Brandon Nakashima (USA) v (4) Alexander Zverev (GER)

(33) Elise Mertens (BEL) v (2) Aryna Sabalenka