Preview / Schedule US Open 2024 Day Three - Wednesday 28 August as Djokovic and Gauff continue title defence

The US Open schedule continues with Day 3 of the event. It features some proper bangers, such as Matteo Berrettini taking on Taylor Fritz, but it's hardly the only great match in our preview.

Plenty of great matches will be played across the courts on the third day of the US Open. Novak Djokovic will be on the court again to take on Laslo Djere as he did last year.

Coco Gauff will also be on the court to face Tatjana Maria in a really interesting one, as will Alexander Zverev, so let's take a closer look at the schedule for Wednesday August 28.

Let's start with the grandeur of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the heart of the US Open. The day kicks off at noon local time with a match between Madison Keys and Maya Joint. Keys, who started with an impressive win over Katerina Siniakova, is set for another strong performance. The Ashe Stadium is the perfect stage for her to make a great run, just like she did last year when she reached the semi-finals.

The crowd will be certainly into it, and we should expect a really great match because Maya Joint is a really solid and capable young player. She won't be overwhelmed by the occasion either.

After that one, we'll get another American on the courts, and it's crowd favourite Frances Tiafoe. The American had a really solid start to his US Open campaign, continuing the good form he found in Cincinnati. The opponent is Alexander Shevchenko, who is a fascinating player capable of some really solid tennis at times. Shevchenko, however, has been struggling with his form recently, which could give Tiafoe an advantage.

Even so, the Kazakhstani is quite streaky and that could make it in tough but unlikely to be a huge problem for Tiafoe. Getting a chance to play on Ashe was Tiafoe's dream because Ashe was one of the first prominent African-American players in the sport and, hence, a huge role model for all those who followed, including Tiafoe. Any time he's on it, he excelled, so he should cruise in this one.

The night session is reserved for the defending champions, Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic. Gauff will be the first one on the courts, facing Tatjana Maria in a match that promises to be full of surprises as the American tries to figure out a unique style of play of the German veteran.

She could struggle mightily in this one because she's going to see a lot of slices back at her, which can be tricky when hitting the court. Her struggles with her forehand are well known, and if she's not careful here, this might be a very problematic matchup.

Djokovic hopes that it wouldn't last very long because his previous match had started late, as the previous night's match had been extended. That had him finish around midnight, something he explained after his match that he didn't like. The organizers didn't help him out much, giving him the second-night match again.

He's facing compatriot Laslo Djere, whom he beat last year at the US Open. It was a very tough match that went to five sets. This is another one that should be very interesting, and it will conclude the Arthur Ashe programme for Wednesday.

The second biggest stadium will kick off an hour earlier with a match between native player Taylor Townsend and Paula Badosa. This is a very interesting one because Townsend is playing really solid tennis. She's generally done rather well on native soil and will fancy her chances here.

Badosa has been one of the best performers in recent weeks, winning the Washington Open and continuing to play really well after that. She's going to be heavily favoured in this one, but this isn't going to be an easy match.

The second match on that court will be between Alexander Zverev and Alexandre Muller. Zverev is the huge favourite, though the French player is quite tricky to play against. He's given more than a few seeds some problems in the past, so Zverev will have to do better than in the opening round.

He kind of complicated that match without any reason, and if he does that again here, he's going to be in a bit of trouble. Even so, overall, the German should win the match comfortably.

Next up is a match between Aryna Sabalenka and Lucia Bronzetti. Sabalenka started her campaign with a pretty solid win, and she'll be looking to keep it going against this opponent. It's a fair opponent who can play well, but Sabalenka shouldn't have any issues. She's expected to perform better with every match, and this one should be a rather quick affair in two sets.

The night session will feature two matches, and the first one will see Azarenka taking on Clara Burel. The veteran has been playing really solid tennis once more, and she's going to try to keep her solid run this year going against a player who had a tremendous comeback against home favourite Sloane Stephens. That's the match that pushed Djokovic to play until midnight.

The final match at the second-biggest stadium will be between Matteo Berrettini and Taylor Fritz. This might be the best match of the day, and the crowd will be heavily backing their player against Berrettini, who has made the semi-final here. Fritz is the minor favourite because he's never lost against the Italian, but anything can happen so late in the night. What is certain is that this will be a really interesting match between two very good players.

The third-biggest court will see a couple of really interesting matches as well. We're starting with Krejcikova and Ruse, who are a fascinating matchup due to how volatile Ruse can play. She can be amazing at times but is also very streaky, which should give Krejcikova enough chances to win the match. Let see if she can find some Wimbledon magic in New York.

The next match is between Qinwen Zheng, who barely survived her 1st round match against Anisimova and Erika Andreeva. The older sister of tennis phenom Mirra Andreeva has been amazing in recent weeks, but it's widely expected that Zheng will be able to win the match. If her serving woes reappear once more Andreeva could make this a very interesting one.

Next up is Ben Shelton against Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard is a seasoned veteran who has fallen off quite a bit from where he was a couple of years ago. He's still solid and could give Shelton some problems if the American doesn't find his best tennis. Judging by his match against Thiem, he likely will.

The final match on the Grandstand is another fascinating matchup between Casper Ruud and Gael Monfils. Ruud did amazingly well in the first round after struggling for a couple of weeks. Monfils bested Diego Schwartzman in his final-ever match at the US Open, so both are riding a high. We'll see who ends up doing better in this rather interesting matchup that has Ruud generally favoured to win.

As always, we also have some other interesting matches on the outside courts. Grigor Dimitrov will be facing Rinky Hijikata, which is a very interesting clash of styles. Dimitrov lost some of his step from earlier this year, but maybe he can find it here.

Andrey Rublev is taking on Arthur Rinderknech in a matchup we saw last year at the US Open. Rublev lost one set, so we might see an interesting match once more. Emma Navarro is going to try to give the US crowd a show similar to what she did in the opening round when she won 6-1 6-1.

The American is slowly proving herself to be a really strong player who could do some damage. We'll also get a Ukranian match between Svitolina and Kalinina. We don't know who will win this match, but we do know that they will shake hands at the end of it.

A couple of other notable matches need to be named. Jiri Lehecka is back to playing solid tennis, and he'll play against native player Mitchell Krueger. That should be an easy win. Peyton Stearns will put her tennis to the test against Daria Kasatkina, while another American, Brandon Nakashima, will try to follow up the huge win over Holger Rune against Arthur Cazaux.

Ajla Tomljanovic will face Elise Mertens, which is a really strong match for an outside court. This could have easily been played on the Grandstand. Another interesting one will be between tennis supertalent Jerry Shang and Roberto Carballes Baena. Shang bested Bublik and will look to keep it going but he's also struggled physically lately so we'll see if he remains healthy enough.

(14) Madison Keys (USA) v Maya Joint (AUS)

Alexander Shevchenko (KAZ) v (20) Frances Tiafoe (USA)

Tatjana Maria (GER) v (3) Coco Gauff (USA)

Laslo Djere (SRB) v (2) Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Taylor Townsend (USA) v (26) Paula Badosa (ESP)

Alexandre Muller (FRA) v (4) Alexander Zverev (GER)

Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) v (2) Aryna Sabalenka

(20) Victoria Azarenka v Clara Burel (FRA)

Matteo Berrettini (ITA) v (12) Taylor Fritz (USA)

(8) Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) v Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU)

(7) Qinwen Zheng (CHN) v Erika Andreeva

(13) Ben Shelton (USA) v Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)

(8) Casper Ruud (NOR) v Gael Monfils (FRA)

Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v (9) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

(6) Andrey Rublev v Arthur Rinderknech (FRA)

(13) Emma Navarro (USA) v Arantxa Rus (NED)

(27) Elina Svitolina (UKR) v Anhelina Kalinina (UKR)

Mitchell Krueger (USA) v (32) Jiri Lehecka (CZE)

Harriet Dart (GBR) v (19) Marta Kostyuk (UKR)

Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) v (18) Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)

Peyton Stearns (USA) v (12) Daria Kasatkina

Diane Parry (FRA) v Yafan Wang (CHN)

Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) v Jule Niemeier (GER)

Brandon Nakashima (USA) v Arthur Cazaux (FRA)

(28) Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Pedro Martinez (ESP)

(29) Francisco Cerundolo (ARG) v Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG)

(29) Ekaterina Alexandrova v Iva Jovic (USA)

(24) Donna Vekic (CRO) v Greet Minnen (BEL)

Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) v Juncheng Shang (CHN)

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) v (33) Elise Mertens (BEL)

(21) Sebastian Baez (ARG) v Tallon Griekspoor (NED)

(17) Ugo Humbert (FRA) v Francisco Comesana (ARG)