• 15-Time Major Champion vs. 6’8” Power Server & One-Time All-American at Univ. of Illinois
• One-Hour Preview Show at 3 p.m. ET
• ESPN Total Average Audience Keeps Rising: +11% after 11 Days
• Hall of Famer Martina Hingis Aims for 25th Major Title, Second in Two Days, in Women’s Doubles

The US Open Men’s Championship on ESPN on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4 p.m. ET is a battle of contrasts – swashbuckling top seed Rafael Nadal seeking his 16^th Major title vs. 6’ 8” big serving No. 28 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa playing in his first Major final.  Chris Fowler will call the match, joined in the Arthur Ashe Stadium booth by John and Patrick McEnroe, with Darren Cahill contributing from the sideline.

The match will be preceded by the one-hour US Open Men’s Championship Preview Special at 3 p.m., hosted by Chris McKendry.

Both are 31, but the similarities end there:

• Nadal has 73 career titles and will play his 23rd Major final (winning 15, second only to Roger Federer’s 19).
• Nadal regained the No. 1 in the world ranking in August, the fourth time in his career and first since June 2014.
• Anderson has three career titles, and his previous best Major performance was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2015 US Open.
• Anderson has been ranked as high as No. 10 in the world (October 2015).
• Anderson played three seasons of college tennis at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles. During his sophomore year (2005–06), he won the national doubles championship with playing partner Ryan Rowe.
• They’ve met on the court four times, with Nadal winning each, including in the Round of 16 at the 2015 Australian Open and earlier this year on the clay in Barcelona.

ESPN’s Total Average Audience for US Open up 11% after 11 Days

The total average audience for ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the US Open from New York through Thursday, Sept. 7, was up 11% to 952,000 viewers on average, compared to 856,000 for the first 11 days of last year’s event.  The increase includes a 50% rise in the audience for streaming.

Hingis Aims for 25th Major Title, Second in Two Days in Women’s Doubles Championship on ESPN2

Hall of Famer Martina Hingis will team with Chan Yung-Jan in the Women’s Doubles Championship Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN2 and the ESPN App, aiming for her 25^th Major title (five in singles, 12 in women’s, 7 in mixed).  It would be her second big trophy in two days, having won the Mixed Doubles Championship on Saturday with Jamie Murray.  The No. 2 seed duo will face No. 7 all-Czech partnership of Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova.

The 36-year old Hingis won her five Major singles crowns 1997-99; she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.  That year she came out of retirement to play doubles and has added nine more Major trophies in doubles.

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