America's favourite Mardy Fish takes on the challenge of Tunisian Malek Jaziri for a place in the third round of the 2011 US Open, season, fourth and final Grand Slam event being played here at Flushing Meadows in New York, USA.

Reigning Olympus US Open series champion Mardy Fish is, in many critics' opinion, the man with a big outside chance to win this year's Open at Flushing Meadows. For a considerably long time, Mardy Fish lived in the shadow of his much more successful contemporary and friend, Andy Roddick. However, the American star made a successful start to his somewhat second innings on ATP tour in 2009 when he claimed his first title in three years, in Delray Beach. More success followed next year when Fish picked up titles in Newport and Atlanta before reaching the final of Cincinnati Masters.  Fish's best performance this year came in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Fish also made semifinals in Delray Beach and Memphis. Fish's best Grand Slam performance this year came at Wimbledon where he finished a quarterfinalist to Rafael Nadal. More success followed during the American summer and Fish reached the final of three consecutive events he entered, defending his title in Atlanta and finishing runner up to Gulbis and Djokovic in Los Angeles and Montreal respectively. In the previous round here in New York, Fish overwhelmed Tobias Kamke in straight sets.

Fish's opponent, Tunisia's Malek Jaziri made his nation proud by claiming his first Grand Slam match win. With the victory over Dutch Thiemo De Bakker, Jaziri became the first Tunisian in the open era to win a Grand Slam match. With the win, Jaziri is bound to atleast get his career high No.181 ranking and the added bonus is that he plays on the show court against America's top seed, Fish.

This is the pair's first meeting and Fish is clearly a favourite going into the match. Despite the surprise element in the match, the American is likely to register win in straight sets.

TennisEarth.com's Pick - Mardy Fish in three well contested sets.