NEW YORK (AP) — The first major men’s showdown takes place when defending U.S. Open champion and No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev plays No. 23 Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios, the Wimbledon runner-up, and Medvedev play in the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Medvedev is trying to became the first repeat champion since Roger Federer won five straight from 2004 to 2008. Medvedev has made at least the semifinals in each of the last three Opens. Kyrgios, who had complained that he was bothered by what he thought was the smell of marijuana during a U.S. Open match this past week, won the most recent match between the two in Canada. The big match on the women’s side comes during the afternoon at Ashe when No. 12 seed Coco Gauff plays Shuai Zhang. Gauff, a French Open finalist this year, is trying to reach the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open for the first time in her career.
SUNDAY’S FORECAST
Cloudy. High of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius).
SATURDAY’S KEY RESULTS
Women’s Third Round: No. 1 Iga Swiatek beat Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-4; No. 8 Jessica Pegula beat Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-0; No. 19 Danielle Collins topped Alizé Cornet 6-4, 7-6 (11-9); No. 21 Petra Kvitova beat Garbiñe Muguruza 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (12-10); No. 22 Karolina Pliskova topped No. 13 Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; No. 26 Viktoria Azarenka defeated Petra Martic 6-3, 6-0.
Men’s Third Round: No. 2 Rafael Nadal beat Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1, 7-5; No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz beat Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; No. 7 Cam Norrie beat No. 28 Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4, 6-1; No. 9 Andrey Rublev got past No. 19 Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (10-7); No. 11 Jannik Sinner defeated Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; No. 22 Frances Tiafoe beat No. 14 Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-4.
STAT OF THE DAY
44 — The number of 6-0 sets Rafael Nadal has won in his career in a Grand Slam event.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s open for someone to step up. As women’s tennis has shown, it’s been hard to be dominant. That’s why you look at someone like Serena, dominant over several eras. It’s pretty crazy.” — Jessica Pegula, on the state of women’s tennis following Serena Williams’ retirement.
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More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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