2017 Us Open Tennis Championships is set to pick its last names for the quarterfinals in today's session. The upper half of the draw is up for action and will feature several intriguing encounters. Nadal and Federer may be holding the headlines with their upcoming matches but there is another encounter that deserves a fair share of the general attention. 2009 US Open titlist Juan Martin del Potro (28 ATP) will take on Dominic Thiem (8 ATP) in the fourth round of men's contest. The winner of this one could bump into Roger Federer next with the Swiss tennis star facing Philipp Kohlschreiber for a place in the next round.
Thus, del Potro will collide with Thiem in the fourth round of the US Open for the second year in a row. Last year, the Argentine was the one with the winning ticket.
Del Potro is having a late surge in 2017
One match away from matching last year's result in New York and save those precious ranking points, Juan Martin del Potro, 28, is trying to get some momentum for the last part of the season. A late start in 2017 and some poor results hampered his progress this year. He entered the 2017 US Open with no big expectations and he already is in the fourth round without dropping a single set in the previous three rounds. Moreover, he holds a 2-0 lead in head to head stats against Dominic Thiem.
If he gets past the 23-year-old Austrian player, del Potro may face Roger Federer.
It would be their 22nd clash and only the second one in New York. They have a single US Open matchup dating back from 2009 when del Potro stunned Federer in an epic five sets final.
Dominic Thiem looking for consistency on hard
A fierce clay court player, Dominic Thiem is looking to improve his game on other surfaces too. He has been struggling to find form since the clay court season ended.
Entering the North American outdoor hard swing he failed to deliver. At the City Open in Washington, he lost to Kevin Anderson (the eventual runner-up in the round of 16). Moving to Canada for the Rogers Cup, he lost in the round of 32 to Diego Schwartzman. The last test before entering the US Open was the Masters 1000n in Cincinnati where he reached the quarterfinals before losing to David Ferrer.
Reaching the fourth round of the 2017 US Open he matched his best outcome in New York (2014, 2016). Now it might be the moment to take at least one more step but he is set to face the same guy who eliminated him last year. Back in 2016, he lost the first set against del Potro and was forced to retire due to an injury during the second one. Yesterday, Thiem turned 23-years-old so a breakthrough in New York would make the perfect birthday present.
