US Open 2010 Day 2 Open Thread

Schedule for Day 2: Tuesday, August 31 2010

Arthur Ashe Stadium 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[4] v. Simona Halep (ROU)
Not Before:1:00
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Viktor Troicki (SRB) v. Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3]
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Jarmila Groth (AUS) v. Maria Sharapova (RUS)[14]
Arthur Ashe Stadium 7:00 Start Time
1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1] v. Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)[1] v. Chelsey Gullickson (USA)

Louis Armstrong Stadium 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)[16] v. Arnaud Clement (FRA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) v. Na Li (CHN)[8]
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Kristof Vliegen (BEL) v. James Blake (USA)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Zuzana Kucova (SVK) v. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)[7]

Grandstand 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[11] v. Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN)
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jan Hajek (CZE) v. Mardy Fish (USA)[19]
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Fabio Fognini (ITA) v. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[8]
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) v. Sabine Lisicki (GER)

Court 4 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)[22]
v. Jamie Hampton (USA)
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Eduardo Schwank (ARG) v. Robby Ginepri (USA)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) v. Maria Kirilenko (RUS)[23]
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) v. Denis Istomin (UZB)

Court 6 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Alicia Molik (AUS) v. Mirjana Lucic (CRO)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Beatrice Capra (USA) v. Karolina Sprem (CRO)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Tommy Robredo (ESP) v. Lukas Rosol (CZE)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) v. Urszula Radwanska (POL)
5. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Stephen Huss (AUS) v. Rajeev Ram (USA)
Andre Sa (BRA) Bobby Reynolds (USA)

Court 7 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Feliciano Lopez (ESP)[23] v. Santiago Giraldo (COL)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Shuai Peng (CHN) v. Shelby Rogers (USA)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
David Ferrer (ESP)[10] v. Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)

Court 8 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) v. Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) v. Jill Craybas (USA)
[B]3. Men's Singles - 1st Round [/B]
Benjamin Becker (GER) v. Daniel Brands (GER)
4. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)[3] v. Martin Damm (CZE)
Leander Paes (IND)[3] Filip Polasek (SVK)

Court 10 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Rainer Schuettler (GER) v. Benoit Paire (FRA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Tamira Paszek (AUT) v. Lucie Safarova (CZE)[26]
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Florent Serra (FRA) v. Florian Mayer (GER)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kai-Chen Chang (TPE) v. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)

Court 11 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Aravane Rezai (FRA)[18] v. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[9] v. Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Juan Monaco (ARG)[30] v. Peter Polansky (CAN)
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
David Nalbandian (ARG)[31] v. Rik De Voest (RSA)
5. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Andrea Petkovic (GER) v. Nadia Petrova (RUS)[17]

Court 12 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) v. Patty Schnyder (SUI)
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Philipp Petzschner (GER) v. Dusan Lojda (CZE)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Romina Oprandi (ITA) v. Julia Goerges (GER)
4. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Andrew Courtney (USA) v. Wesley Moodie (RSA)[10]
Michael Shabaz (USA) Dick Norman (BEL)[10]

Court 13 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) v. Ernests Gulbis (LAT)[24]
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) v. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)[15]
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Radek Stepanek (CZE)[28] v. Julien Benneteau (FRA)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Alize Cornet (FRA) v. Kaia Kanepi (EST)[31]

Court 14 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) v. Sorana Cirstea (ROU)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Anne Keothavong (GBR) v. Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Pere Riba (ESP) v. Adrian Mannarino (FRA)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) v. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)

Court 15 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)[25] v. Julie Coin (FRA)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Lukasz Kubot (POL)[5] v. Ross Hutchins (GBR)
Oliver Marach (AUT)[5] Scott Lipsky (USA)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) v. Iveta Benesova (CZE)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)[30] v. Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP)
5. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Rohan Bopanna (IND)[16] v. Brian Battistone (USA)
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)[16] Ryler DeHeart (USA)

Court 16 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Regina Kulikova (RUS) v. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) v. David Martin (USA)
Lukas Lacko (SVK) Donald Young (USA)
3. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Frantisek Cermak (CZE)[6] v. Marcelo Melo (BRA)
Michal Mertinak (SVK)[6] Bruno Soares (BRA)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) v. Stefanie Voegele (SUI)

Court 17 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Pablo Cuevas (URU) v. Julio Silva (BRA)
2. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) v. Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
3. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)[9] v. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
Marcin Matkowski (POL)[9] Albert Montanes (ESP)
4. Men's Doubles - 1st Round
Michael Russell (USA) v. Simon Aspelin (SWE)[14]
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) Paul Hanley (AUS)[14]

US Open 2010 Day 1 Open Thread

Reuters

A boy carries an oversized tennis ball used for gathering autographs at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York August 29, 2010. The tournament begins here August 30.

::

The last Slam of the year is upon us and I won't have a whole lot of time to watch or write about it. I'm in the final stretch of my campaign to become a member of the Maine House of Representatives, it's already harvest season, and I'm already tired enough to hibernate for the winter.

I'll watch what I can watch and report what I can report as best I can. As always, we appreciate those of you who provide great match reports in the comments. If you've got a special report to submit, please use my email address. I'll check it more regularly throughout the fortnight.

Enjoy the US Open.

Schedule for Day 1: Monday, August 30 2010

Arthur Ashe Stadium 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Melanie Oudin (USA) v. Olga Savchuk (UKR)

Not Before:13:00
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Greta Arn (HUN) v.Kim Clijsters (BEL)[2]
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Stephane Robert (FRA) v. Andy Roddick (USA)[9]
Arthur Ashe Stadium 19:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Roberta Vinci (ITA) v. Venus Williams (USA)[3]
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Brian Dabul (ARG) v. Roger Federer (SUI)[2]

Louis Armstrong Stadium 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)[6] v. Michael Russell (USA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[24] v. Dinara Safina (RUS)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Samantha Stosur (AUS)[5] v. Elena Vesnina (RUS)
Not Before:17:00
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)[32] v. Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)

Grandstand 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[6] v. Ayumi Morita (JPN)
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Robin Soderling (SWE)[5] v. Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Taylor Dent (USA) v. Alejandro Falla (COL)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)

Court 4 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Martin Klizan (SVK) v. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)[22]
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Shahar Peer (ISR)[16] v. Jelena Kostanic Tosic (CRO)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ricardas Berankis (LTU) v. Ryan Sweeting (USA)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) v. Jie Zheng (CHN)[21]

Court 6 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Johanna Larsson (SWE) v. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)[28]
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)[20]
v. Kristina Barrois (GER)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Jurgen Melzer (AUT)[13] v. Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Michael Berrer (GER) v. Andreas Beck (GER)

Court 7 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Illya Marchenko (UKR) v. Marin Cilic (CRO)[11]
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR) v. Sania Mirza (IND)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)[32] v. Renata Voracova (CZE)
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Kevin Anderson (RSA) v. Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Court 8 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Vera Dushevina (RUS) v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[29]
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Igor Andreev (RUS) v. Horacio Zeballos (ARG)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Virginie Razzano (FRA) v. Klara Zakopalova (CZE)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Rebecca Marino (CAN) v. Ksenia Pervak (RUS)

Court 10 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Simon Greul (GER) v. Richard Gasquet (FRA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Petra Kvitova (CZE)[27] v. Lucie Hradecka (CZE)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Albert Montanes (ESP)[21] v. Michal Przysiezny (POL)

Court 11 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Olga Govortsova (BLR) v. Elena Dementieva (RUS)[12]
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Gael Monfils (FRA)[17] v. Robert Kendrick (USA)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Monica Niculescu (ROU) v. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[10]
4. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Tim Smyczek (USA) v. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)[26]
5. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Irina Falconi (USA) v. Flavia Pennetta (ITA)[19]

Court 12 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Thiemo de Bakker (NED) v. Marc Gicquel (FRA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Sally Peers (AUS) v. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Agnes Szavay (HUN) v. Sandra Zahlavova (CZE)

Court 13 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Kei Nishikori (JPN) v. Evgeny Korolev (KAZ)
2. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ivan Dodig (CRO) v. Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)[27]
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Marion Bartoli (FRA)[13] v. Edina Gallovits (ROU)
4. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Vania King (USA) v. Christina McHale (USA)

Court 14 11:00 Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Bjorn Phau (GER) v. Ricardo Mello (BRA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) v. Sybille Bammer (AUT)
3. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Pauline Parmentier (FRA) v. Alberta Brianti (ITA)

Court 15 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Sara Errani (ITA) v. Tathiana Garbin (ITA)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) v. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) v. Olivier Rochus (BEL)

Court 16 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) v. Sophie Ferguson (AUS)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Gisela Dulko (ARG) v. Angelique Kerber (GER)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) v. Guillaume Rufin (FRA)

Court 17 11:00 Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Elena Baltacha (GBR) v. Petra Martic (CRO)
2. Women's Singles - 1st Round
Polona Hercog (SLO) v. Mandy Minella (LUX)
3. Men's Singles - 1st Round
Carsten Ball (AUS) v. Milos Raonic (CAN)

US Open 2010 Women's Draw

by Savannah


Caroline Wozniacki DEN (1) v Chelsey Gullickson USA
Kai-Chen Chang TPE v Carla Suarez Navarro ESP
Anne Keothavong GBR v Yung-Jan Chan TPE
Qualifier v Lucie Safarova CZE (26)

Aravane Rezai FRA (18) v Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
Beatrice Capra USA v Karolina Sprem CRO
Qualifier v Iveta Benesova CZE
Jarmila Groth AUS v Maria Sharapova RUS (14)

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (11) v Kimiko Date Krumm JPN
Regina Kulikova RUS v Anastasija Sevastova LAT
Yvonne Meusburger AUT v Jill Craybas USA
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE v Maria Kirilenko RUS (23)

Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ (30) v Qualifier
Anna Chakvetadze RUS v Urszula Radwanska POL
Dominika Cibulkova SVK v Stefanie Voegele SUI
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR v Na Li CHN (8)



Jelena Jankovic SRB (4) v Simona Halep ROU
Alicia Molik AUS v Qualifier
Chanelle Scheepers RSA v Qualifier
Alize Cornet FRA v Kaia Kanepi EST (31)

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP (22) v Jamie Hampton USA
Kirsten Flipkens BEL v Patty Schnyder SUI
Romina Oprandi ITA v Julia Goerges GER
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS v Yanina Wickmayer BEL (15)

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (9) v Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP
Shuai Peng CHN vShelby Rogers USA
Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA v Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP
Andrea Petkovic GER v Nadia Petrova RUS (17)

Alexandra Dulgheru ROU (25) v Julie Coin FRA
Sofia Arvidsson SWE v Sorana Cirstea ROU
Coco Vandeweghe USA v Sabine Lisicki GER
Qualifier v Vera Zvonareva RUS (7)



Francesca Schiavone ITA (6) v Ayumi Morita JPN
Qualifier v Sophie Ferguson AUS
Melanie Oudin USA v Qualifier
Vera Dushevina RUS v Alona Bondarenko UKR (29)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (20) v Kristina Barrois GER
Qualifier v Qualifier
Gisela Dulko ARG v Angelique Kerber GER
Qualifier v Victoria Azarenka BLR (10)

Shahar Peer ISR (16) v Jelena Kostanic Tosic CRO
Pauline Parmentier FRA v Alberta Brianti ITA
Agnes Szavay HUN v Sandra Zahlavova CZE
Qualifier v Flavia Pennetta ITA (19)

Tsvetana Pironkova BUL (32) v Renata Voracova CZE
Polona Hercog SLO v Qualifier
Qualifier v Ksenia Pervak RUS
Roberta Vinci ITA v Venus Williams USA (3)


Samantha Stosur AUS (5) v Elena Vesnina RUS
Bojana Jovanovski SRB v Anastasia Rodionova AUS
Sara Errani ITA v Tathiana Garbin ITA
Johanna Larsson SWE v Alisa Kleybanova RUS (28)

Daniela Hantuchova SVK (24) v Dinara Safina RUS
Vania King USA v Christina McHale USA
Qualifier v Sybille Bammer AUT
Olga Govortsova BLR v Elena Dementieva RUS (12)

Marion Bartoli FRA (13) v Edina Gallovits ROU
Virginie Razzano FRA v Klara Zakopalova CZE
Ana Ivanovic SRB v Ekaterina Makarova RUS
Timea Bacsinszky SUI v Jie Zheng CHN (21)

Petra Kvitova CZE (27) v Lucie Hradecka CZE
Elena Baltacha GBR v Petra Martic CRO
Qualifier v Aleksandra Wozniak CAN
Greta Arn HUN v Kim Clijsters BEL (2)

US Open 2010 Men's Draw

by Savannah

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) v Teymuraz Gabashvili RUS
Maximo Gonzalez ARG v Denis Istomin UZB
Gilles Simon FRA v Donald Young USA
Tobias Kamke GER v Philipp Kohlschreiber GER (29)

Feliciano Lopez ESP (23) v Santiago Giraldo COL
Rainer Schuettler GER v Qualifier
Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR v Peter Luczak AUS
Qualifier v Ivan Ljubicic CRO (15)

David Ferrer ESP (10) v Alexandr Dolgopolov UKR
Benjamin Becker GER v Daniel Brands GER
Jarkko Nieminen FIN v Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP
Jeremy Chardy FRA v Ernests Gulbis LAT (24)

David Nalbandian ARG (31) v Qualifier
Florent Serra FRA v Florian Mayer GER
Pere Riba ESP v Qualifier
Fabio Fognini ITA v Fernando Verdasco ESP (8)


Andy Murray GBR (4) v Lukas Lacko SVK
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP v Dustin Brown JAM
Juan Ignacio Chela ARG v Yen-Hsun Lu TPE
Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ v Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (25)

Sam Querrey USA (20) v Bradley Klahn USA
Marcel Granollers ESP v Andreas Seppi ITA
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Lukasz Kubot POL
Potito Starace ITA v Nicolas Almagro ESP (14)

Mikhail Youzhny RUS (12) v Andrey Golubev KAZ
Dudi Sela ISR v Xavier Malisse BEL
Jack Sock USA v Marco Chiudinelli SUI
Frederico Gil POR v John Isner USA (18)

Radek Stepanek CZE (28) v Julien Benneteau FRA
Tommy Robredo ESP v Qualifier
Victor Hanescu ROU v Carlos Berlocq ARG
Michael Llodra FRA v Tomas Berdych CZE (7)


Nikolay Davydenko RUS (6) v Michael Russell USA
Simon Greul GER v Richard Gasquet FRA
Kevin Anderson RSA v Somdev Devvarman IND
Tim Smyczek USA v Thomaz Bellucci BRA (26)

Gael Monfils FRA (17) v Qualifier
Igor Andreev RUS v Horacio Zeballos ARG
Janko Tipsarevic SRB v Olivier Rochus BEL
Stephane Robert FRA v Andy Roddick USA (9)

Marcos Baghdatis CYP (16) v Arnaud Clement FRA
Eduardo Schwank ARG v Robby Ginepri USA
Pablo Cuevas URU v Qualifier
Jan Hajek CZE v Mardy Fish USA (19)

Juan Monaco ARG (30) v Qualifier
Kristof Vliegen BEL v James Blake USA
Philipp Petzschner GER v Qualifier
Viktor Troicki SRB v Novak Djokovic SRB (3)


Robin Soderling SWE (5) v Qualifier
Taylor Dent USA v Alejandro Falla COL
Thiemo de Bakker NED v Qualifier
Qualifier v Fernando Gonzalez CHI (27)

Albert Montanes ESP (21) v Michal Przysiezny POL
Carsten Ball AUS v Qualifier
Qualifier v Evgeny Korolev KAZ
Illya Marchenko UKR v Marin Cilic CRO (11)

Jurgen Melzer AUT (13) v Dmitry Tursunov RUS
Qualifier v Ryan Sweeting USA
Bjorn Phau GER v Ricardo Mello BRA
Qualifier v Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP (22)

Lleyton Hewitt AUS (32) v Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA
Leonardo Mayer ARG v Guillaume Rufin FRA
Michael Berrer GER v Andreas Beck GER
Brian Dabul ARG v Roger Federer SUI (2)

Federer Defends Cincinnati Title Over Fish

Roger Federer won his first non-major final of the year after losing 3 finals in a row (on 3 different surfaces: Madrid to Rafael Nadal, Halle to Lleyton Hewitt and Toronto to Andy Murray) in Cincinnati on Sunday over American Mardy Fish. The title was his 53rd overall, tying Bjorn Borg on the all-time list at 5th. It was Federer's 17th ATP Masters series title, tying Andre Agassi but still one behind Nadal's 18.

Federer has now won the Cincinnati title in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010. Next year it will become a combined male-female 8-day event (immediately following simultaneous men's and women's tournaments in Toronto and Montreal).

The match with Fish was a close, high-quality 3-set affair featuring 2 tiebreaks, one break of serve and only 6 breakpoints between the two players. The final score was 6-7(5) 7-6(1) 6-4. In the first set, Federer had 4 breakpoints and failed to convert any of them due to brilliant serving by Fish. Federer faced one breakpoint in the second set but was able to get through to a tiebreak. In the first set tiebreaker Federer held a 5-4 lead, but Fish played a brilliant point to even the breaker at 5-all and Federer played a loose point to be down 6-5. Fish won the first set on a service winner. In the second set tiebreaker Federer was much sharper, jumping to a quick 4-1 lead and never looked in danger of losing that breaker. The only break in the match came in the 9th game of the third set where, for once, after facing a break point Fish was unable to make a first serve and eventually lost the breakpoint and the game, and eventually the match when Federer served it out pretty easily on his second match point.

Four Times In A Row

Reuters

That's how many times each Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick have now defeated their Cincinnati Masters quarterfinals opponents to face-off in the first all-American semifinal at this event since Andre Agassi defeated Andy in a third-set breaker six years ago.

You may recall the year before that Andy and Mardy met up in the finals and played one of the best matches of 2003. Mardy lost in a third-set breaker and fell to the eventual US Open champion without ever even dropping his serve.

Yesterday, he almost did the same. Andy Murray, one of the best returners in the game, so some say, wasn't able to breakthrough in three sets, so when he forced a third-set breaker, I wasn't sure if Mardy would be able to come through. But he fought like a pit bull and pulled out the victory.

Reuters

Novak Djokovic simply can't stand the heat and so, once again, Roddick had his way with him. It really wasn't a match at all.

If you listen to the propagandists and even some of the readers of this blog, you'd think Roddick has never been out of the top 10 for even a week since he first arrived there 8 years ago (he has) and that American men's tennis is totally in the toilet.

Consider this. Two Americans beat two European top-four players for the fourth time in the row to get to this place.

I'm going to say that again: Two Americans beat two European top-four players for the fourth time in the row to get to this place.

Carry on.

Breaking News

by Savannah

Serena Williams is out of the US Open. I'm assuming her foot injury has not healed enough for her to play. More details, and official announcement will be posted later.


With Serena's withdrawal Caroline Wozniacki will be the top seed at the US Open. A Grand Slam. WTA you will have a lot of 'splaining to do.

USTA Announcement

Serena Williams withdraws from 2010 US Open

Friday, August 20, 2010

Top-ranked Serena Williams has officially withdrawn from the 2010 US Open as she continues to recover from a cut to her right foot.

Williams cut her foot on a piece of broken glass in July, which required surgery, and has not competed on the WTA Tour since winning her 13th career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. She is a three-time US Open champion.

"It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the US Open," Williams said in a statement released by her publicist. "My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal."

She called missing the tournament "one of the most devastating moments of my career."

US Open Tournament Director Jim Curley released the following statement regarding Williams' withdrawal:

"We regret that Serena Williams is unable to play the US Open and wish her a speedy recovery. She will be missed, but the tournament is about the competition and the players on the court. This year's US Open will be a memorable event, as it has been every year."

7 Games, Walkover

That's what Roger Federer played/received to advance to the quarterfinals in Cincy, where he awaits the winner of, well...

It should be another walkover, virtual or otherwise.

Seven games played total and Raja is into the quarterfinals of what remains the hottest, most humid event on the ATP calendar.

It's nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if.....

You're lucky.

US Open Series Champs

Getty

Kim Clijsters of Belgium poses with the trophy after defeating Maria Sharapova of Russia 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in the singles final match on day seven of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on August 15, 2010 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

::

Sharapova wasted three match points?


Reuters

Andy Murray of Britain holds the winners trophy after beating Roger Federer of Switzerland 7-5, 7-5 in their final match at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Toronto August 15, 2010.

::

Saw most of the first set and a bit of the second before rain suspended play. Was interesting to hear Darren Cahill making excuses for Roger Federer after he dropped the first set.

And the melody still lingers on....

US Open Series Update

BY MADPROFESSAH

Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic 6-1 3-6 7-5 to regain his World #2 ranking and defending champion Andy Murray defeated World #1 Rafael Nadal to retain his World #4 ranking in today's semifinals at the Toronto Masters.

Federer followed up his clutch win over Tomas Berdych (despite being down 2-5 in the deciding set!) to improve to 10-5 against the Serbian. The Swiss player was up 6-1 2-0 and was two points away from a second break when after holding Djokovic smiled and relaxed and reduced his error count considerably while Federer continued to struggle on break points and ended up losing the set. In the third set, Federer took a commanding 4-1 lead and had multiple opportunities for a 5-2 lead. Instead, he got broken and the next game was a titantic 15-minute struggle (9 deuces!) which Djokovic won to even the match at 4-all in the 3rd. Federer fell behind 15-40 on his very next service game but served three consecutive huge first serves to get himself out of trouble and nosed ahead 5-4. The match looked like it was going to a deciding set tie-break with Djokovic up 40-15 on his serve at 5-6 but Federer fought back to deuce and won the match on his first match point after another backhand and forehand error by the former World #2.

The first semifinal between Murray and Nadal was relatively uneventful, with ineffectual serving from the World #1 which eventually led to a deciding break in the first set. In the second set, Murray had an early break which he relinquished to even the match and then surprisingly Nadal lost the 9th game of the match on his serve through some excellent returns from Murray, who then coolly served out the set to win the match.

Tomorrow's final should be a reprise of this year's Australian Open men's final which was won by Federer. Murray, however leads their head-to-head 6-5 but Federer has won their three match-ups in finals (2008 US Open final, 2010 Australian Open final and the Thailand Open).

I expect a barn-burner tomorrow with Federer pulling it out in 3-sets.

On the women's side Kim Clijsters will face Maria Sharapova. Sharapova has won the last 3 times they have played, but Clijsters leads their head-to-head 4-3. I like the defending 2009 US Open champion versus the 3-time major champ.

He Needed The Crowd

Roger Federer barely beat Tomas Berdych in a third-set tiebreak in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.

But in sport, barely doesn't matter.

The propagandists give the "greatest of all time" credit for his aggressive game and resolve.

I give credit to the crowd.

If you saw the match, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

If you didn't, I imagine someone else will fill you in.

If you're a fan of the man in the pink paneled shirt, you probably agree with the propagandists and nothing anyone else can say will matter a crumb.

Back to the campaign.

US Open Series Champs

Reuters

Argentina's David Nalbandian celebrates after beating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus to win the finals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington August 8, 2010.


Getty

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia poses with the trophy after defeating Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during the championship match in the Mercury Insurance Open at La Costa Resort and Spa on August 8, 2010 in Carlsbad, California.

Bird's Eye View: Washington Quarterfinals

Found this gem by James7 over at Talk About Tennis:

So yesterday I missed the first QF but got there just before the second.

No one was on the practice courts, but I saw ESPN had set up a little tented booth area. There was a little crowd gathered to be behind the two people at the desk. I don't know the name of the one guy, but the other was Gimmie-Slob, sitting with a little hand held mirror and fiddling with something at his left ear for several minutes. Either hair or earpiece.

Slobs companion recorded a voiceover to a Verdasco/Baghdatis promo or lead-in montage. The first take flubbed a little and they repeated it. I decided thatit probably wasn't worth it to try to be in the background of any footage they would take and headed off.

Right next door on court 2 I saw very few people in the stands and someone on the court so I headed over and sat down. There I was treated to Stan the Man who I had managed to miss this week! He was fooling around with someone I didn't recognize (probably from his team?). Exercising, I'm sure, but it looked like he was having fun. They were kicking this ball around and passing it without hands back and forth. I was trying to understand the rules of the game they were playing, but didn't get it. Got some video and good pictures where it FINALLY dawned on me to use the action setting of my camera. I was a little pissed now that I realized all of those earlier trashed photos probably could have been saved and non-blurry all week.

Read the rest...

Roddick: Hard Work Equals Longevity

Ricky Carioti-The Washington Post

::

A rather nice article. Like him or not, Andy Roddick has worked as hard as any player to remain fit, focused, and hungry for major tennis success.

Legg Mason Tennis Classic: Hard work has kept Andy Roddick around

Andy Roddick returns to the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in search of his fourth title at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2010

Even before last year's loss to Roger Federer in the longest, most soul-sapping singles final in Wimbledon history, Andy Roddick wondered if his best had passed him by.

The only way to find out, he decided at a particularly low point in the summer of 2008, was to keep working.

And that may well prove the legacy of Roddick's career, remembered as the player who poured as much effort into slogging away at the daily drudgery of professional tennis as he did reveling in its spoils.

At 27, Roddick is far from retirement, to be sure. But after a decade as a touring pro, the ethic of his career is well established.

If ever a millionaire athlete married to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model could be mistaken for a working-class guy, Roddick is it.

Read the rest...

::


Jonathan Newton-The Washington Post

Querrey Wins Fourth Title Of 2010

Getty

American Sam Querrey became the first person since Andre Agassi in 2001 to defend his title in Los Angeles by defeating the top seed, World #4 Andy Murray 5-7 7-6(2) 6-3 on Sunday.