 Caroline Amukova versus Serana Castella. It's the first quarterfinal for the ladies US Open for 2023. Both players have had impressive runs to get to this stage. Castella came into the tournament as the number 30 seed and will take on Day in the first round. This was no problem getting through in straights 6-2, 6-3. In the second round she took on Callan Skyer and again this was no problem getting through in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. In the third round she took on the number four seed Rabakina who had just gotten a walkover win in a previous round and after dropping the second set she came back to win in three 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. In the fourth round she took on the 14 seed Benchich who'd made the semi-finals back in 2019 at this tournament but this was no problem for Castella getting through in straights 6-3, 6-3. Mukava entered the tournament as the number 10 seed and will take on Hunter in the first round. This was no problem getting through in straights 6-4, 6-love. In the second round she took on Frey and again this was no problem for Mukava getting through in straights 6-3, 6-3. In the third round she took on Townsend who had just taken out a Dajmeyer and after a close first set Mukava would win in straights 7-6, 6-3. In the fourth round she'd take on Wong who'd been of a bit of a surprise to get to this stage and after splitting the first two sets Mukava would run away with the match getting through in 3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. These two have played four times before with Mukava leading the head to head 3-1 including three meetings this year with it being split 2-1 in favor of Mukava. If Castella is going to win this one she needs to keep her cool and try to be a little aggressive. We know Mukava is going to come out and try and make all the shots. Maybe she might get a little nervous though Mukava and Castella's got to capitalize on that, get as many shots back as possible and maybe be a little aggressive on the front foot. If Mukava is going to win this one she needs to bring that variety. We know she can do the variety and wish Fjontek out of her draw. She has a big chance of making a final again out of slam so she just has to get through Mukava and she has a good head to head record. If she can bring that variety use what she did in Montreal a couple weeks ago she might get to the semis. This is such a fun matchup with randomness in Castella of course that was going to be a random section of the draw. Mukava's starting to become more of a grand slam player now. We've seen that at the French in here. I've got to go with Mukava in 3. I feel like she's just playing so well at the moment this year especially and when she's healthy she can beat anybody in the planet and we've seen that this year as well so I think she's going to make the semi-finals but let me know down in the comments below who's making the semis.