Anything can happen at the U.S.Open

Inseparable.

Jasmine Paolini and Bianca Andreescu will meet for the third straight Grand Slam! pic.twitter.com/a9H11F3WbT

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 22, 2024

Aryna Sabalena's outstanding, no-sets-dropped performance in Cincinnati makes her one of the favorites to win the U.S. Open. The courts in Cincinnati were extremely fast, and Sabalenka excelled on them, with a victory that included the defeat--in the semifinals--of world number 1 Iga Swiatek. 

Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula in the Cincinnati final. Pegula had just won Toronto, which means that she won a string of nine consecutive matches. In Cincinnati, she mentioned that one of her goals was to string together a longer series of matches at a major. Will playing nine matches straight at two 1000 events give Pegula the confidence that she needs, or will fatigue catch up with her?

I do consider Pegula a serious contender to win the U.S. Open title. And along with her and Sabalenka, I also consider Swiatek, the 2022 champion, to be a serious contender. And while Barbora Krejcikova has won the French Open and Wimbledon, I've always thought that hard courts were her best surface, so I like her chances, also. 

As for defending champion Coco Gauff, she was upset in the round of 16 by Diana Shnaider in Toronto, and she was upset in the second round by Yulia Putintseva in Cincinnati. We all know that, in tennis, anything can happen, but the defending champion isn't entering the U.S. Open from a strong position. 

Main draw play begins Monday, and here are some interesting first round mathces to watch:

Biatriz Haddad Maia (22) vs. Elina Avanesyan: Haddad Maia is known more for her performance on clay, but she's relentless on any surface. Avanesyan has been making steady progress, most recently defeating both Bianca Andreescu and Alona Ostapenko in Cincinnati. This has the potential to be an entertaining match.

Alona Ostapenko (10) vs. Naomi Osaka: The two-time U.S. Open champion would probably like to begin her U.S. Open campaign across the net from someone other than Ostapenko. When the Latvian star is dialed in, her extremely hard and accurate hitting can overcome just about anyone. But she's also very inconsistent, and an error-making Ostapenko could go out early against Osaka.

Bianca Andreescu vs. Jasmine Paolini (5): Andreescu won the U.S. Open in 2019, and since then, she's had a series of injury and recovery episodes that have taken her out of the conversation. Lately, we've seen tennis from her that is somewhat reminiscent of the 2019 Andreescu, but she'll have her hands full with Paolini, this year's finalist at both the French Open and Wimbledon. And in a rather odd twist, this will be the third major in a row in which Andreescu and Paolini have played one another. They met in the third round of both the French Open and Wimbledon, and Paolini won both of those matches.

Zheng Qinwen (7) vs. Amanda Anisimova: Anisimova is healthy again, which means that she's dangerous again, and Zheng isn't going to have an easy time of it with her.

Jaqueline Cristian vs. Daria Kasatkina (12): A hard court isn't a clay court, of course, but I can't help thinking about the quarterfinal that these two played in Charleston this years. It was, in my opinion, the best match of the tournament, and one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. Each woman brought an amazing variety of shots to each game, and the level of play remained high throughout the two-hour and 42-minute match.

Madison Keys (14) vs. Katerina Siniakova: Keys sustained a leg injury at Wimbledon and had to retire (against Jasmine Paolini, in the third set, round of 16). She's healthy now, but has been out for a while, and will need to play her way into the tournament. Siniakova, a doubles superstar, is capable of making Keys' first round interesting.