PREVIEW US Open ATP & WTA Day Seven: Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek aim to book Last 16 spots

We head a week into the US Open and the Last 16 is set to be confirmed later on Saturday 30 August with Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek all in action in top ties as we preview Day Seven.

The US Open has ran to script thus far with Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz not spectacular but through. Aryna Sabalenka too has led from the front but shocks have happened including Ben Shelton's shoulder injury for instance so there is value there when it comes to perhaps thinking the underdog might prevail.

The biggest surprise in reality of Day Seven might not come from the match results but might be the scheduling. Iga Swiatek is perhaps the lamb to the slaughter when it comes to picking one of two WTA stars who don't like to play at night.

Coco Gauff surprisingly given the fact she is the biggest home hope left won't play in the night session perhaps in a conscious effort. Tommy Paul headlines against Alexander Bublik and so would have the spotlight shone elsewhere perhaps if Gauff played at night. Also it is a good way to get Arthur Ashe packed earlier.

Gauff who captured her first Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows in 2023 returns again. She won a second major crown at Roland Garros this summer with her two week run on clay culminating in Aryna Sabalenka being defeated in the final. Albeit it went from Gauff at her brilliant best then to question marks now. She has struggled to recapture the form and lost early at Wimbledon. She reached just the fourth round in Montreal and quarter-finals in Cincinnati. She then dispensed somewhat surprisingly with coach Matt Daly and hired Gavin MacMillan, a mechanics coach to try and fix the one issue that is constantly blighting her. Her serve.

She was taken three sets by Ajla Tomljanovic and while she found her focus to dispel Donna Vekic, it has not been Gauff at her brilliant best yet. Magdalena Frech is one of the big spoilers on the tour, she is into the third round for the first time in her career. She had never been beyond round two in four previous tries. She has had a poor season at times so Gauff should be expected to win through but it could still be tight.

Onto Jannik Sinner who holds a losing record against his next opponent albeit his Canadian adversary found out too what it was like to have that expunged. That being Denis Shapovalov. Felix Auger-Aliassime was unbeaten until recently against Sinner and got easily beaten.

He will hope for the same here as he takes on Shapovalov who won back in 2021 at the Australian Open when they last met. Hard to gauge Sinner so far who has eased about his business but after his scare at the Cincinnati Open, he will be wary not to get too ahead of himself as he aims to reach the Last 16.

Onto the night as Anna Kalinskaya faces Iga Swiatek. Kalinskaya lost easily in Cincinnati but it was a bit of a fractious tie with the Russian showing his displeasure for Swiatek being favoured of sorts by letting her have her way in regards to early scheduling after Kalinskaya played the night before till past 2am.

She lost 6-3, 6-4 in a repeat of their Dubai semi-final meeting which Kalinskaya won back then. She will hope that with scheduling on her side this time that she can show a better account of herself. Seeing off Clervie Ngounoue and Yulia Putintseva so far, Kalinskaya has looked good all summer and will likely be either an easy roadblock for an unstoppable Swiatek or the banana skin that could lead to a shock. Expect all outcomes and given the storm that was kicked up then the end result, expect Kalinskaya to be ready.

Then finally on Arthur Ashe, Tommy Paul will feel the weight of expectation. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe are already gone having lost in a fall swoop last night. Taylor Fritz survived his tie but it remains ironically two of the players who have been standard bearers for men's american tennis for some time.

He faces Alexander Bublik who for a time earlier in the season was borderline unstoppable. He has slowed down a bit since then and has played less tournaments. But it is a pretty even tie which could go either way and headlines after Kalinskaya v Swiatek.

Onto Louis Armstrong and it features an all Italian clash as Lorenzo Musetti faces Flavio Cobolli. Naomi Osaka has been touted by many but faces a tough test in Daria Kasatkina.

While Alexander Zverev takes on Felix Auger-Aliassime in one of the matches of the day before two resurgent lights in Beatriz Haddad Maia and Maria Sakkari also face off.

Elsewhere Karolina Muchova faces Linda Noskova, while Amanda Anisimova is set for Grandstand and takes on Jaqueline Cristian. Marta Kostyuk takes on Diane Parry as Zizou Bergs who took advantage of the Jack Draper withdrawal faces Jaume Munar. Alex de Minaur also continues his progression as he faces Daniel Altmaier.