2018 US OPEN: Kerber(4), Zverev(4), Kvitova(5), Garcia(6), Ostapenko(10)

I am attending the US OPEN this weekend and was treated to some amazing matches and more than a handful of shocking upsets (especially on the women's side) on Saturday.

The most prominent results of the day were the departure of the #4 seeds on both sides of the draw, who both happen to be German: Angelique Kerber and Alexandra Zverev. The matches I saw in person with my Day Session ticket to Arthur Ashe (which provides general admission to Louis Armstrong and Grandstand) were: Roger Federer defeating Nick Kyrgios, Naomi Osaka defeating Aleksandra Sasnovitch (6-0 6-0!), Kei Nishikori beat Diego Schwartzman, Philip Kohlschreiber beat Zverev and Aryna Sabalenka beat Petra Kvitova.

Other upsets that I didn't see were Maria Sharapova extending her undefeated night match record to 23-0 with a straight sets win over Jelena Ostapenko, Dominika Cibulkova outlasting Kerber in 3 tight sets, Carolina Garcia losing a 3rd set tiebreak to Carla Suarez Navarro and Kiki Bertens losing to 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova in a 3rd set tiebreak. These results mean that there is no Top 10 player remaining in the bottom half of the Round of 16 draw:

• Carla Suarez Navarro-Maria Sharapova
• Madison Keys-Dominika Cibulkova
• Aryana Sabalenka-Naomi Osaka
• Marketa Vondrousova-Lesia Tsurenko

It does feature some ferocious hard-hitters though: Sharapova, Keys, Cibulkova, Sabalenka and Osaka all bludgeon the ball, so I imagine it would come down to movement I would give Cibulkova and Osaja the edge in that department. Also, speaking of NextGen, Sabalenka, Osaka and Vondousova are all 20 years old or younger. Meanwhile the Top half of the women's draw looks like this:

• Kaia Kanepi-Serena Williams
• Ash Barty-Karolina Pliskova
• Sloane Stephens-Eise Mertens
• Anastasija Sevastova-Elina Svitolina

Defending champion Sloane Stephens is still in the mix and so is 23-major champion Serna Williams but Serena has a rough draw with Halep-beater Kaia Kanepi and a potential Karolina Pliskova (who has beat her in New York two years ago in the 2016 semifinals) in the way of a major semifinal meeting with Stephens.

Meanwhile the men;s draw look like:

• Nadal-Basilashvili
• Thiem-Anderson
• Del Potro-Coric
• Isner-Raonic
• Cilic-Goffin
• Nishikori-Kohlschreiber
• Djokovic-Sousa
• Millman-Federer

So there are only 4 unseeded players remaining in the men's draw, representing 15 different countries, with Croatia represented twice. The top half of both draws play today. I'll be watching (again) in person!