Nadal, Murray Facing Heavy Schedule

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray is one of eight players in the bottom half of the draw that will need to play four matches in five days to win the US Open title.

There is an action-packed schedule on Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, with all of the Top Four taking to the court. After persistent rain led to play being cancelled on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are among those players still locked in the fourth round, who will need to play four matches in five days if they are to win the US Open title.

Defending champion Nadal opens on Arthur Ashe Stadium as he takes on Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, a fellow left-hander. Nadal takes in an impressive 57-6 record against left-handers, but has lost to Muller before, falling in four sets in the second round of 2005 Wimbledon. The two met again at Wimbledon this year, with Nadal needing two tie-breaks before racing away with a bagel third set.

The Spaniard is bidding to win his 11th Grand Slam title in New York. Earlier in the year he captured the Roland Garros crown (d. Federer) for the sixth time and finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. Nadal is yet to drop a set in his 2011 US Open campaign, despite losing serve nine times.

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Three Americans remain in contention in New York, and all three take to the court in fourth-round action Wednesday. Should they win, it would mark the first time since 2005 that three homegrown players have reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.

No. 21 seed Andy Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, looks to upset fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer. Former World No. 1 Roddick, one of four Grand Slam champions remaining in the draw, has held 45 of his 49 service games to reach this stage, but will have to overturn a 3-5 record against Ferrer, whom he lost to on hard court in the Davis Cup quarter-finals in July. The 29-year-old Ferrer is bidding to go as far as the semi-finals in New York for the second time (also 2007).

Contesting the fourth round of a major for the first time, Donald Young will look to upset World No. 4 Andy Murray for the second time this season. The 22-year-old American upended the Scot in Indian Wells in March, with Murray suffering a slump in form after his Australian Open final defeat. The 24-year-old Murray has a career-best 19-3 record in Grand Slam play this season, having also reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon (l. to Nadal both times). He finished runner-up in the 2008 US Open final (l. to Federer), four years after winning the boys’ singles title.

In-form John Isner looks to keep his hot streak going against wily Frenchman Gilles Simon, the No. 12 seed, who ousted 2009 winner Juan Martin del Potro in the third round. The No. 28-seeded Isner came into the US Open fresh from winning his second title of the summer in Winston-Salem. The 26-year-old American has been serving up a storm at Flushing Meadows, holding 50 of 52 service games and firing 51 aces, and is bidding to reach his first major quarter-final. 

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