Ricky’s picks for Day 8 of the U.S. Open: Sinner vs. Zverev and Medvedev vs. De Minaur

It’s Labor Day and it could hardly be a bigger day at the U.S. Open in the Big Apple. A handful of blockbuster fourth-round matchups are on the menu, including Jannik Sinner vs. Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev vs. Alex de Minaur.

Here are my previews and picks for those two matchups.

(12) Alexander Zverev vs. (6) Jannik Sinner

Zverev has won three of their four previous meetings, including three straight since losing to Sinner at Roland Garros in 2020. The current world No. 12 got the job done 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(7) at the 2021 U.S. Open before prevailing 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5) at the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2022.

Zverev was the favorite in all of those matches, but now the shoe is on a different foot. Sinner is up to No. 6 in the world, while 2023 is Zverev’s comeback season after suffering a nasty ankle injury at the 2022 French Open. The German has rounded back into stellar form, but he may not be all the way back to his highest level. This should be a competitive contest, but Sinner likely has the edge at this point in time.

Pick: Sinner in 4

(3) Daniil Medvedev vs. (13) Alex de Minaur

Medvedev will get a chance for revenge against De Minaur on Monday. They recently went head-to-head at the Toronto Masters, where De Minaur earned a surprising spot in the semifinals by beating the Russian 7-6(7), 7-5. Medvedev still leads the head-to-head series 4-2, however.

De Minaur, who eventually finished runner-up to Sinner in Toronto, kicked off his U.S. Open campaign by defeating Timofey Skatov in four sets. He then clobbered both Yibing Wu and Nicolas Jarry in straights. Medvedev has played 10 sets so far in NYC and has dominated an amazing eight of them by scorelines no more competitive than 6-2 (he also dropped one set to Christopher O’Connell along the way). Both of these guys are on fire, so something has to give in this one. Given that this is a major, Medvedev will probably be able to avenge his Toronto defeat. loss. He is a former U.S. Open winner (2021) and reached the final in 2019 to go along with a runner-up showing at the Australian Open in 2022. De Minaur has advanced past round four of a major just once in his whole career (U.S. Open quarterfinals in 2020).

Pick: Medvedev in 4

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.