Three to See, US Open Day 3: Serena, Federer back; Venus vs. Svitolina

Before each day's play at the 2019 US Open, we'll preview three must-see matches.

The rankings and the recent head-to-head record both say Svitolina: She’s ranked No. 5 to Venus’s No. 52, and she’s won their last two meetings in fairly routine straight-set fashion. Svitolina is also coming off a long-awaited breakthrough at Wimbledon, where she reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam for the first time. But two other elements of this match say Venus: (1) The home crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium. And (2) Venus’` recent form. After sputtering through most of the summer, Williams found her game in Cincinnati, where reached the quarterfinals. She obviously still had it in her nearly flawless 6-1, 6-0 first-round win over Saisai Zheng on Monday at the Open. Winner: V. Williams

Is there any reason to think that Federer’s slow start in his first match—he dropped the opening set to 190th-ranked Sumit Nagal—portends trouble? He also lost in surprisingly one-sided fashion to Andrey Rublev in Cincinnati, and the conclusion you might draw is that he’s still trying to recover from a devastating defeat in the Wimbledon final—it would be hard to blame if he wasn’t. If that’s the case, or if Federer is just off his game again, Dzumhur won’t make an ideal opponent. Like John Millman, who beat Federer when he was struggling here last year, Dzumhur is a workhorse who makes up for what he lacks in size and firepower with quickness, variety, touch and consistency. After a surge in 2017 and 2018, the Croatian is ranked just 99th now, and has spent the summer playing Challengers. But he put together a decent three-match run in Winston-Salem last week. All of that being said, while Dzumhur’s shot-making could make this one entertaining, he’s 0-6 in sets played against Federer. Winner: Federer

After Serena’s first-round win, I wondered what would happen if she were suddenly able to fool herself into believing that all of her opponents were Maria Sharapova. Would she ever lose again? Would she ever lose more than a couple of games in a set again? For now, the more realistic question is whether the “super intense” practices Serena put in when she found out she was playing Sharapova will also pay off against other opponents. At various times this year, including the semifinals and final at Wimbledon, we’ve seen Serena play at a high level one day, and then fail to match it in the next round. If something similar happens on Wednesday, will the 17-year-old McNally, who is playing just her second Grand Slam event, be able to hold her nerve and take advantage of the opportunity? She did reach the semis at the Citi Open this summer, and she beat Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets on Monday. That’s not bad, but it’s not quite Serena-level yet. Winner: S. Williams

Wake up every morning with Tennis Channel Live at the US Open, starting at 8 a.m. ET. For three hours leading up to the start of play, Tennis Channel's team will break down upcoming matches, review tournament storylines and focus on everything Flushing Meadows.

Tennis Channel's encore, all-night match coverage will begin every evening at 11 p.m. ET, with the exception of earlier starts on Saturday and Sunday of championship weekend.