Alright. First round matches to watch....
Without going back over the draw, right off the top of my head, Tsitispas/Rublev. Rublev still on the comeback trail I guess. But had his ... 4th round (?) success here a few years ago. Just got the Fed upset in Cincy.... He's feelin good. Tsitsipas is still probably the better player and more match tough and more confident. Should win it. But Rublev can win it. And he'll fight for it.
Anyways, in the same quarter you've got FAA/Shapovalov. I don't know if Shapovalov's experience will win out or FAA's youth. By FAA's youth I just mean he hasn't been through what Shapovalov is going through now. The struggle. You've had some early surprise success but you're not a surprise anymore and your game isn't totally where you want it to be. But FAA has had the injury this year. And that gives you a bit of perspective. But. Overall. I think FAA is the better player. He's got the size advantage. Should be a good match. Pulling for FAA. But I just wanna see both of them play well. I'm not sure FAA has had enough time to play himself back into form. So Shapovalov will definitely be looking to take advantage now. Before FAA becomes the best player of the future (I think FAA will be one of the top 2 or 3 guys of this young crop. But I also accept that he'll have to deal with guys older than him and Djokovic and Nadal for another few years.)
Pella/PCB, from my last post. PCB former top 15 (did he make top 10?) and a semifinalist here. Pella having his career best year. Is in great form. Seeded. PCB struggling. But I think he's on the comeback trail right? I'd bet this one at least goes four sets. But Pella should be the favorite.
I spied Pouille/Kohlschreiber I think. PK getting on up there now. But after not making the fourth round from 2003 to 2011. He's made the fourth round 5 out of 7 years from 2012 to 2018. And if I remember correctly, there have been some seriously memorable matches in there. I think he beat Isner like 2 or 3 years in a row right? Pouille always one of the more vulnerable seeds. But he is in good form and loves the US Open and has had success here. He should take it. But don't be surprised by the Kohlschreiber upset. (Looks up Kohlschreiber's US Open record.) Yeah. So he beat Isner in the third round in '12, '13, and '14. Lost to Tipsarevic, Nadal, and Djokovic in the next round respectively. And Federer in the third round in 2015. Retired first round 2016. Then lost to Fed 4th round in 2017 and Nishikori 4th round last year, after beating Zverev. Which I had forgotten about. But I enjoyed that match because I was definitely pulling for the upset.
That's all I think I remember off the top of my head. Looking back over the draw... I don't see a ton of great first round matches.
Fritz/Lopez is here though. In Medvedev's 16th in Djokovic's quarter. Fritz has been on fire mostly. He's got a ceiling. But he's been doing his best to stretch it and has definitely been playing up to it. But old Feli has all that experience. He's just said in Winston-Salem that he's definitely not ready to retire. Which, after Queens Club would you be? Heck no. He's rarely an easy out. And in 5 sets, he's bound to get a set via tiebkeak if he has to.
Fognini/Opelka sticks out. Fognini always vulnerable on hard courts. Opelka playing well, up to his ability, of late. He'll look to take advantage.
Tsonga/Sandgren could be good.
Maybe Herbert/de Minaur could be good.
Hurkacz/Chardy. Hurkacz at a point where he should be the favorite in this. And he is. But Chardy an old vet who can take advantage of a guy like Hurkacz if he's not at his best. Chardy usually entertaining to watch as well.
Maybe watch Thiem/Fabbiano. Thiem has been down right atrocious since RG. Then he had a virus and lost in Canada, then pulled out of Cincy. If he's healthy, he can handle Fabbiano on zero preparation. But Fabbiano will give him everything he's got. As we saw at Wimbledon.
Berrettini/Gasquet. Berrettini had a great grass court season. But we've heard nothing out of him since. Gasquet just made his first master semi in 6 or 7 years. Berrettini has the height advantage that should give him the serve advantage on hard courts. But so far in his career it hasn't so much. And Gasquet, now healthy and feeling good, probably won't repeat his long run from Cincy. But he can pull an upset or two. And while I'd pick RBA to take out Gasquet in the third round, it's a match Gasquet can win. He's landed in a spot that he could pull a run to the quarters out of the hat.
Karlovic/Tiafoe. Tiafoe continues to struggle, but he's got the talent and the winner of this gets Zverev/Albot.
Then a couple of matches that aren't actually matches you'd usually care to watch but may have a story line or something like that.
Querrey/Londero, only because the winner gets Djokovic in the second round and I'd love to see Querrey take on Djokovic in a slam again. He'll lose this time. But I wanna see it.
Kudla/Tipsarevic, only because it could be Tipsarevic's last slam match. He's announced his retirement for later this year.
Darcis/Lajovic. Lajovic seeded. But that's from the clay season. Darcis 35 now. Almost certainly not gonna win this match. But Lajovic is always vulnerable on the hard courts. And they've only played once at the main ATP level and Darcis won it, on a hard court. But in challengers Lajovic won, on clay. I only mention this because it's a possible upset of a seed. But not super likely.
Wawrinka/Sinner. Wawrinka almost certainly wins this. But the 18 year old qualifier is much hyped. Worth watching just to see what he's got. He's not one of these giants. He's only 6'2" (188cm). So Stan actually has him beat in the size department too. I know nothing about this kid though. This would be one of the few I'd pick from this group to put in the actual list of first rounders to watch.
Svajda/Anderson. Svajda is the Kalamazoo winner this year. He's only 16. And only 5'9" (179cm). Not a threat to Anderson. Good for him to win the Boys Nationals in Kalamazoo. Good for him to have this slam experience. Probably not actually worth watching more than a few minutes. But if you care about the youngsters, and I mean, he's only 16. Here ya go.
Looks like I missed Kwon/Dellien in my qualifiers write up. So I'll give Kwon a mention here because I wanted to mention all of the qualifiers. Winner of this one gets Medvedev. So doesn't totally matter.
Nadal/Millman. Nadal wins this. I won't be watching it. But if you think Millman deserves some eye time after this upset of Fed last year and making the quarters here, this is your only chance.
If you just always wanna watch Fed, I don't know anything about this qualifier from India that he's playing. Fed may not either. Therefore he needs to show up and take this guy seriously. Rublev upsetting Fed last week doesn't give me huge cause for concern though. Fed hadn't played since Wimbledon. He obviously wasn't at his best. But he was clearly treating Cincy as a warmup for the US Open. Sure he loves Cincy and had final points to defend. But I think he was mostly just trying to get back in the swing of things after the tough Wimbledon loss.
Raonic/Jarry and Sock/Cuevas. The winner of these two matches will play each other. They sit in Fed's quarter, in Nishikori's 8th, Coric's 16th. Jarry is tall like Raonic. Raonic still probably the better player and probably wins that one. And I'm just curious if Sock can ever win a singles match again. If he can, 33 year old dirtballer Cuevas is the guy to do it to. But Cuevas will make him play. And if he can't find some sort of form, Cuevas will beat him. If he can beat Cuevas, he'll likely lose to Raonic or Jarry though. So doesn't totally matter.
:cuckoo: 
