U.S. Open Day 8: Jessica Pegula carries American hopes with world No 1s in action

Follow live coverage of day eight at the 2024 US Open

Day eight of the U.S. Open concludes the fourth round, with the last eight players in each singles draw to be decided by the close of play in New York.

World No. 1s Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner play, while Jessica Pegula carries American hopes, and the best match of the day is likely to take place on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Here’s what to watch.

Arthur Ashe

Start time: Noon ET, 9 a.m. PT
TV: ESPN, Tennis Channel

Diana Shnaider (18) vs. Jessica Pegula (6)

Pegula is very familiar with this stage of a Grand Slam tournament. She’s also very familiar with it being the last match she wins. Pegula is 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, but she’ll be feeling pretty good about playing Russia’s Shnaider based on their previous meeting in Toronto, a few weeks ago, which Pegula won 6-4, 6-3.

On the surface, at least. Shnaider reliably slammed her backhand into Pegula’s forehand to open up her own inside-in forehand, which she curls into the corner like all the best left-handed tennis players. The American was able to grit out a result as she so often does, coping better with windy conditions in Canada, but Shnaider is one of the most dangerous players in the draw. She won’t be an easy out.

Nuno Borges vs. Daniil Medvedev (5)

Anybody who saves three match points in a third-round match at a Grand Slam, particularly against a player as talented as Jakub Mensik, deserves some flowers. Anybody who beats Alexandre Muller, Benoit Paire, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Luca van Assche, and Matteo Berrettini to win a tennis title deserves them too. Enter Borges — and the fact that the title in question was an ATP Challenger event, the secondary rung of the ATP Tour. That tour has none of the glamour of a Grand Slam, but as that win in Phoenix shows, it has plenty of good players, and winning events there should not be dismissed as an indicator of form. Medvedev, who had to come through Flavio Cobolli in a hectic atmosphere Saturday night, will not be taking any chances.

Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Liudmila Samsonova (16)

Samsonova is down 0-3 against Swiatek, with two of those defeats coming on hard courts. Still, any player that isn’t Jelena Ostapenko or Elena Rybakina is down or equal to Swiatek, outside of one-off matches, so Samsonova can’t get caught up in looking at the past. The Russian’s ball-striking has the depth and ferocity to trouble Swiatek, and Samsonova also possesses the element of surprise — sometimes winning points from nowhere — that can sometimes send the world No. 1 into a tailspin. Course correction when under pressure has been a problem for Swiatek in many of her recent losses, so if Samsonova can start fast, she will feel like she has a chance.

Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Tommy Paul (14)

Paul would be the first to admit that if he plays as he did against Gabriel Diallo, the 6-8 Canadian who won five matches just to play him, then his match against Sinner will be troubling records for the shortest on record. There was something in the air on Louis Armstrong, as both players sprayed errors with abandon, and Paul’s slaloming, skittering brand of tennis lost its balance. The American did recover the situation, but Sinner doesn’t really let his opponents do that when they are down. The American’s fast-paced game may play into Sinner’s hands in the “bang bang” baseline exchanges, that Paul says he will try to avoid, but if he can take time away at the net, things might get interesting.

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Louis Armstrong

Start time: 11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. PT
TV: ESPN, Tennis Channel

Karolina Muchova vs. Jasmine Paolini (5)

Attention tennis fans: this match could be spectacular. The narrative of Paolini, a player largely in the wilderness of the WTA Tour for much of her career, and a sudden surge to two Grand Slam finals built on learning to play in a way that makes her diminutive stature a component of her game, rather than an albatross. The narrative of Muchova, a beaten semifinalist here last year, returning from wrist surgery and taking out another returning superstar, Naomi Osaka, in the second-round match that sparked the tournament into life. That’s a lot of narrative, and it’s not even the best part. These two play beautiful, textured tennis that spreads into all parts of the court as easily as water.

Karolina Muchova’s return to tennis is yet another string to the bow of the WTA Tour field. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Jack Draper (25) vs. Tomas Machac

Two of the most efficient players in the men’s draw and one is going to have their record spoiled — and exit the tournament. Draper, who is feeling himself in New York just as he did last year, has finally embraced his 6-foot-4 (193cm) frame in a bid to be the aggressive, all-court player that he needs to be to trouble the best in the sport. Machac, Olympic gold medallist in mixed doubles and conqueror of both Draper and Novak Djokovic in Geneva earlier this year, has been threatening a breakout Grand Slam run for some time. In an open tournament, their quarter of the draw is widest. Opportunity awaits.

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Caroline Wozniacki vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (22)

Haddad Maia earns the notable moment that getting through a tricky draw — an in-form Elina Avanesyan; the always awkward Sara Sorribes Tormo; the dangerous Anna Kalinskaya — should earn. She will be hoping that it replaces her most notable moment to date. During a point against Kalinskaya, she got to a double bounce, but hit the ball into the ground in the process. The video review failed to award Kalinskaya the point she had earned while up 2-0 in the first set, and she faded. Wozniacki has made full use of an opportunity created by the withdrawal from this quarter of Elena Rybakina, and loves playing in New York. Could she return to the quarterfinals for the first time in eight years?

Alex de Minaur (10) vs. Jordan Thompson

De Minaur was a point from a Wimbledon quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic when things went wrong. Sliding into a forehand against Arthur Fils, he heard and felt a crack in his right hip. He lost the point. He played on. Two points later, he won the match with a lovely cushioned volley that died on the grass. He stumbled out of the landing and looked up at his box. He knew.

De Minaur, whose foot speed, retrieval, and newly instilled aggression would have been a severe test of Djokovic’s recovery from knee surgery, withdrew on the morning of the match. He’s now back in the late stages of a Grand Slam a little earlier than anyone would have expected, against Thompson, his compatriot, who suffered a different kind of Wimbledon pain. Along with another Aussie, Max Purcell, Thompson reached the men’s doubles final, in which they surrendered three match points against Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara. Emphasis on surrendered. Two players looking for something like redemption.

Required reading

(Top photo: Robert Prange / Getty Images)