Monday’s pick of the Women’s Matches at the US Open Tennis From New York City (Flushing Meadows) by Ros Satar

Written by: Staff on 30th August 2015

Monday's pick of the Women's Matches at the US Open Tennis From New York City (Flushing Meadows) by Ros Satar |

It’s almost here – the start of the last Slam of the year, and the organizers have given us a fine kick-off, with picks for wins on the big courts in bold.

Kicking off the day’s action on Arthur Ashe will be seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, facing Dominika Cibulkova. The plucky Slovakian pocket rocket has been coming back from injury this year, otherwise on her day she would well be problematic for the sometimes erratic Ivanovic, who has been lighting up photoshoots and generally enjoying her run up to the big show.

There should be more stability to Ivanovic’s game now that she has reunited with former coach Nigel Sears. When we spoke to her at Cincinnati, she had proved she had the grit to fight back in tough matches, yet was begging Sears to be there – she’s really a player that needs that reassurance, so hopefully now he is in New York she will rattle through her first round match with ease.

Venus Williams sadly had to withdraw in Cincy, before her match with Ivanovic, suffering from her virus. When she is on form (as she was earlier this year) it is still a glorious site to behold, and as we are constantly being reminded, we need to cherish these fine athletes while we have them. She faces Monica Puig, one of the many WTA Rising Stars who has hit a bit of a rocky patch of late, while some of her contemporaries are soaring. If Venus is feeling better, this should be a win for her.

Oh, those pesky men take up some time on the great court, and while we’re on the subject, that roof structure makes it look something else! And let’s be serious – not before time!

Before we come back to Ashe though, let’s have a little gallop around the other notable courts. One of the ladies in waiting is Karolina Pliskova. Consistent play across the US Open Series saw her win the prize pot ahead of the US Open, and while a mega-bundle would await her if she won the whole shebang (get me getting all American!), she has yet to prove to us that she has that capability to go the whole hog. But she should progress with no issues today out on Grandstand, who end their day with some home cheer for Madison Keys. She had such a good run earlier in the year at the Australian Open, but her emotions have to be kept under wraps as she all too often lets the frustration get to her – but when this girl is on, she can batter a ball to within an inch of its life.

Out on Court 5, fans should go settle in the afternoon to help themselves to wildcard and another home favourite Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who comes in on a wildcard. Experience should see her through the first round, and a home cheering squad certainly should help one of the tour’s most enduring characters. Stick around, because our Dark Horse pick for the tournament is coming straight up afterwards – Belinda Bencic. Fiercely competitive on the court and just like any teenager of it, she is having a great ride on the hard courts at the moment. She ran to the quarter-finals last year – that is a lot of points to be defending at a time in the year when everyone has aches, pains and niggles, including this young Swiss Miss. She had to retire tearfully in Cincinnati but wanted to give herself the best chance possible in New York.

Who could be our names to crumble in the first day? Former champion and 30^th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova has a tough opener against Kristina Mladenovic. Kuznetsova is another one of the tour’s great characters – her press conferences are routinely hilarious, but this could be a tough fight as she handed Sloane Stephens a walkover in Washington and hasn’t stepped foot on a court since.

Also having a bit of a downturn is one of the tour’s nicest players – quiet and unassuming, after reaching the finals in Miami and Rome, she tailed off on the grass, bouncing out of Wimbledon in the first round, and could be on the cards for the highest scattered seed, as she hasn’t won a match since reaching the Birmingham quarter-final.

People may also want to see how Genie Bouchard fares. She may or may not be consulting with Jimmy Connors, but it is a long way back after a particularly spectacular fall from grace. She faces Alison Riske and again, on her day with an enthusiastic crowd, the American could scalp a seed on day one.

We do expect first round wins though for Agnieszka Radwanska who may have felt she’s gone through the mill a bit this year, with gaining and losing super-coach Martina Navratilova, and dropping out of the Top 10, but maybe with the pressure off she could flourish. Jelena Jankovic seems to be rounding out some form at just the right time, with a good run to the Cincinnati semi-final.

Let’s head back to Grandstand – we have an all-American match-up with Sloane Stephens, who finally put paid to all the ‘when is she going to win an title’ malarkey by… winning a title – Washington to be exact. Not a bad start to her US Open campaign! She faces Coco Vandeweghe, before the night (well ok, early evening… what we would call tea-time) match is between Maria Sharapova and Daria Gavrilova. Gavrilova stunned her in Miami, but on her way to the title, Sharapova got her revenge in the Rome semi-final. If we could guarantee that Sharapova was in tip-top form then I think Gavrilova would put up a good fight but ultimately succumb, But Sharapova had to pull out of Cincinnati and she comes her match-empty. Gavrilova’s form may not be quite as consistent as earlier in the season, but she is not one to give up on opportunities when they come her way – this is a tough opener for the World No. 3.

Let’s come full circle, and back we go to Arthur Ashe, where we could see the start of an historic run, as Serena Williams opens her bid for her first career slam against Vitalia Diatchenko. Williams admitted to us in Cincy that missing out Stanford maybe left her a little rustier than usual, but she certainly has seemed at ease in a lot of the media preamble – playing table tennis with Stan Wawrinka, hitting the karaoke mic, and so on. Now is the time to get down to business… career slams do not win themselves!

Ros Satar is a regular contributor to 10sballs.com and runs Britwatch Sports (@britwatchsports), because we Brits like watching sport. Occasionally we’re not bad at it.

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Belinda Bencic, BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, NYC tennis, Serena Williams, Tennis, US Open, us open women preview, women tennis update, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

August 30, 2015 at 2:23 pm

Monday’s pick of the Women’s Matches at @usopen #tennis From #NYC (Flushing Meadows) by @rfsatar – http://t.co/TPSNWiGlvR @BleacherReport

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