US Open Series - men

juvenal

With the Indianapolis event not attracting the top players, the men's series continued to Toronto this week.

The weather has been fairly crap here this week, so there's been a few delays.

So far the usual suspects of Roddick, Djokovic and Nadal are through the first round, but the biggest shock is that Gilles Simon beat Federer this evening; 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

From what I saw Federer was making a lot of unforced errors, hitting long for no reason whatsoever and his first serve percentage was down.

No doubt this will cause further discussion re rankings and also his attitude after RG and Wimbledon.

The rest of the schedule is:

21/7 Toronto
28/7 Cinncinnati
4/8 Los Angeles
11/8 Washington DC / (2008 Olympics Beijing)
18/8 New Haven, CT
25/8 US Open, Flushing, NY

token56

I dont think Roger will win the US Open not because of his recent losses to Nadal and now Simon, but because I feel there are better hard court players than him out there at the moment and I would not be suprised if the winner is not one of the big 3 either. I feel men's tennis is a bit more open on hard court but we will have to wait and see.

juvenal

It will be interesting to see how the month of August pans out. I read somewhere the Federer is quite focused on the Olympics this year, he's looking for gold.

According to BBC Sport, Federer led the rankings by 1,445 points in January but if Nadal wins in Toronto it would be less than 300.

anotherlostie

Andy Murray beat Djokovic for the first time last night and is up against Nadal next. I wonder will he put up a better fight on his preferred hardcourt surface than he did at Wimbledon?

shut up!

anotherlostie wrote: »

Andy Murray beat Djokovic for the first time last night and is up against Nadal next. I wonder will he put up a better fight on his preferred hardcourt surface than he did at Wimbledon?

That would be a ... eh, no! :pac:

elmolesto

Nadal is really on top of his game this year, I think he will be hard to beat in the following weeks.

I also was really impressed by Gilles Simon, won in Indianapolis last week, lost a very close matck against Kiefer in the semis last nite. I will keep my eyes on him next week in Cincinatti.

juvenal

I watched most of the Simon-Kiefer match, and I thought Simon would pull through, but fair play to Kiefer for winning. Given that the match was almost three hours, I can't see him topping Nadal today.

I didn't see the Nadal-Murray match, but it looks like Nadal is in some form and he'll be #1 in the world next week.

Edit: I just saw Nadal beat Kiefer 6-3, 6-2. According to BBC Sport, there's only 300 ranking points between Federer and Nadal now, and if Nadal wins/reaches final in Cincinnati next week and RF goes out early, he may end Ferder's streak. Although Federer's four-and-a-half year stint at the top of the rankings is more likely to end on 18 August when he loses the 850 points he gained for reaching last year's Toronto final and winning in Cincinnati.

davyjose

juvenal wrote: »

Although Federer's four-and-a-half year stint at the top of the rankings is more likely to end on 18 August when he loses the 850 points he gained for reaching last year's Toronto final and winning in Cincinnati.

I read this myself, but don't quite understand it. Does this mean that it's certain Nadal will go to Number 1 on August 18th? It seems to suggest it's definitely going to happen (he lost eaqrly in Toronto).

It's proper order IMO. He isn't the best player in the world right now.

juvenal

davyjose wrote: »

I read this myself, but don't quite understand it. Does this mean that it's certain Nadal will go to Number 1 on August 18th? It seems to suggest it's definitely going to happen (he lost eaqrly in Toronto).

It's proper order IMO. He isn't the best player in the world right now.

I'm not quite sure how the rankings are calculated. One of the girls tried to explain it in another thread, and my best recollection is that it's a rolling score, and Federer can only equal his points from last year having won the US, whereas Nadal can improve as he didn't win.

Perhaps someone else can translate it into laymans terms.

Either way, even though I'm not a fan, I agree that Nadal is currently the better player by far. He's won his last five tournaments, and even though Wimbledon could've gone either way at the end, RF hasn't been up to his usual standards. Unless he wins in Cincinnati and also in Flushing, and goes on a roll for the rest of the season, I can't see him holding onto the #1 spot. Nadal is just too hot right now.

I watched Federer's match against Simon, and he was cruising the first set, and then he just went to pot. Credit to Simon, he played some great tennis in Toronto this week, and having also seen the semi, could easily have been in the final. Either way, Nadal would probably have won no matter who the opposition was.

This week will give us a much clearer picture of the size of the gulf between Federer and Nadal I think.

Crumbs

juvenal wrote: »

I'm not quite sure how the rankings are calculated. One of the girls tried to explain it in another thread, and my best recollection is that it's a rolling score, and Federer can only equal his points from last year having won the US, whereas Nadal can improve as he didn't win.

Perhaps someone else can translate it into laymans terms.

Federer has 500 points to defend from winning Cincinnati last year. Nadal, I think, only has 5 points to defend because he lost his first match. Effectively, each player loses their points from last year's tournament and gains points from this year's, so Nadal can gain a lot of ranking points this week while Federer can only avoid dropping any.

However, last year both the Canadian and Cincinnati tournaments were held in August while this year they were moved to July to accommodate the Olympics. This means that the players don't "lose" their points from those 2007 tournaments until Aug 11th and 18th respectively.

Nadal could still gain the no. 1 spot by next Monday but more likely is that he'll become the "moral" no. 1 but have to wait until Aug 11th or 18th to make it official.

elmolesto

Crumbs wrote: »

Federer has 500 points to defend from winning Cincinnati last year. Nadal, I think, only has 5 points to defend because he lost his first match. Effectively, each player loses their points from last year's tournament and gains points from this year's, so Nadal can gain a lot of ranking points this week while Federer can only avoid dropping any.

However, last year both the Canadian and Cincinnati tournaments were held in August while this year they were moved to July to accommodate the Olympics. This means that the players don't "lose" their points from those 2007 tournaments until Aug 11th and 18th respectively.

Nadal could still gain the no. 1 spot by next Monday but more likely is that he'll become the "moral" no. 1 but have to wait until Aug 11th or 18th to make it official.

There's only 300points difference between Federer and Nadal on the new ATP ranking published this morning.

If Nadal wins in Cincinnatti this week, he will be number 1 by next monday but Federer will only lose his points on the 18th of august.

juvenal

There's a breakdown of the race for #1 and the permutations here:

http://www.tennis.com/features/general/features.aspx?id=140332

juvenal

Federer had a big scare today in his first round match against Robby Ginepri.

Ginepri won the first set in a tie-break (7-2), and Federer was facing his third loss in a row since August 2002 when Ginepri was serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set. Federer broke serve and won the tie-break (7-5) to send it into the decider which he ran away with 6-0.

Tomorrow sees Djokovic and Nadal in action.

juvenal

There were wins today for Andy Murray, James Blake, Djokovic and Nadal. Blake defeated Simon 6-4, 6-3.

Tomorrow sees Blake and Federer in action against Gulbis and Karlovic respectively.

anotherlostie

Federer out - beaten by Ivo Karlovic for first time in seven matches. If Nadal wins on Sunday, he's world number 1.

juvenal

Not shocking really, even if I was hoping Federer would bounce back from Toronto to win the Cincy title and prolong the battle a bit!

It looks increasingly likely that this will be the first season since 2002 that Roger Federer will not will a Grand Slam title. Nadal is absolutely outstanding at the moment, and just won his 30th match in a row. Nadal will be #1 next Monday if he wins in Cincy.

In other news, Andy Roddick withdrew with a neck injury, and Gulbis surprised James Blake 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Andy Murray also advanced with a straight-sets over Tursunov.

Federer's next action will be in Beijing.

pd101

Nadal is now world no. 1. The shots he played tonight were absolutely brilliant especially in the second set.

anotherlostie

pd101 wrote: »

Nadal is now world no. 1. The shots he played tonight were absolutely brilliant especially in the second set.

Well technically he won't be number 1 until August 18th unless he wins the tournament, in which case he will be number 1 on Monday. Mind you given his recent form, that probably will happen anyway.

juvenal

anotherlostie wrote: »

Well technically he won't be number 1 until August 18th unless he wins the tournament, in which case he will be number 1 on Monday. Mind you given his recent form, that probably will happen anyway.

Yeah, he's really on fire. Unless Djokovic can throw a spanner in the works later today, he'll probably win this tournament as well. Some record of late.

Is there live television coverage of Cincy at home?

juvenal

Andy Murray this afternoon defeated Karlovic 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first Masters Final, which will be against the winner of tonight's other semi, between Nadal and Djokovic.

Murray will go to a career-high #6 in Monday's rankings.

pd101

Djokovic beat Nadal 6-1 7-5 and will play Murray in the final.

MisterAnarchy

pd101 wrote: »

Djokovic beat Nadal 6-1 7-5 and will play Murray in the final.

Well played Djokovic,hopefully he wins the final and I've no doubt he will .

juvenal

Bit of a shock, but Nadal had to lose at some stage. I personally thought it would be the Olympics!

Djokovic has to be the strong favourite for tomorrow's final. Nadal will have to wait un Monday 18th to become #1, by which point the Olympic tennis will be over.

Sea Devils

So far so good for Murray.

Won the first set in a Tiebreaker 3-3 in the second:)

juvenal

Second set looks like it could be headed for a tie-breaker as well.

juvenal

Fair play to Murray, his first Masters Final appearance. 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5)

Good result for him against the #3, and also heading into Beijing and Flushing. Djokovic double-faulted twice in the second tie-breaker, it seems to be something he's had problems with?

elmolesto

A bit of a surprise tbh. Djokovic was my favourite for the tournament and I definitely didn't expect him to lose this match.

Fair play to Murray, for producing such a good solid match.

davyjose

elmolesto wrote: »

A bit of a surprise tbh. Djokovic was my favourite for the tournament and I definitely didn't expect him to lose this match.

Fair play to Murray, for producing such a good solid match.

I think Murray has the game to win a hard court grand slam in the not-too-distant future. I'd have to put him no lower than fourth favourite for the US Open this year.

It'll be a weird tourno. I'd put Nadal favourite to beat anyone except Djoko, but I would say Djoko is more likely to be beaten by anyone else moreso than Nadal, if anyone catches my drift. In other words, the only person I would make 50/50 to beat Nadal is Djoko, but I think djoko is more open to get beaten by another top 10 player than Nadal is.
And those two would be my 2 favourites. Federer has plummeted and I think he needs some time out to re-assess his game.

Sea Devils

Very well played Andy, deserved the tourney win, and a clear winner even though he got a bit nervous at 5-3 and serving for it.

His game really is advancing now, and it looks like hard courts suit him the best. What was really impressive about the win was that after all the comments about his fitness a couple of years ago, he looked very strong this week, moreso than Novak.

juvenal

After the Olympics, the focus turns to Flushing Meadows for the final Grand Slam of the season.

In the first round, #1 seed Nadal will face a qualifier, and #2 Roger Federer will face Argentinian Maximo Gonzalez.

#3 seed Djokovic faces Frenchman Arnaud Clement and #4 seed David Ferrer will also face an Argentinian, Martin Vassallo Arguello.

Other top seeds:

Nikolay Davydenko (5) (RUS) v Dudi Sela (ISR)
Andy Murray (6) (GBR) v Sergio Roitman (ARG)
David Nalbandian (7) (ARG) v Marcos Daniel (BRA)
Andy Roddick (8) (USA) v Fabrice Santoro (FRA)

The action kicks off on Monday 25th August.

juvenal

Action kicks off in roundabout 15mins. Today's show courts schedule is:

Arthur Ashe Stadium (that's the main court)

11am ET (4pm Irish): Dementieva (RUS)[5] v Amanmuradova (UZB); Davenport (USA)[25] v Wozniak (CAN); Nadal (ESP)[1] v Phau (GER)

7pm ET (midnight Irish): Vandeweghe (USA) v Jankovic (SRB)[2]; Blake (USA)[9] v Young (USA)

Louis Armstrong Stadium

11am ET (4pm Irish): Ferrer (ESP)[4] v Arguello (ARG); Zhang (CHN) v Kuznetsova (RUS)[3]; Roitman (ARG) v Murray (GBR)[6]; Makarova (RUS) v Chakvetadze (RUS)[10]; Del Potro (ARG)[17] v Canas (ARG)

juvenal

Nalbandian [7] bt Daniel 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Ferrer [4] bt Vassalo 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2
Monfils [32] bt Cuevas 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
Murray [6] bt Roitman 6-3, 6-4, 6-0
Wawrinka [10] bt Bolelli 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-3

Nadal is being made to work by qualifier Phau so far, even though he's up 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 4-3 (with serve). There's only been one break of serve. Game time so far is over 2hrs 25mins.

stev2604

juvenal wrote: »

Nalbandian [7] bt Daniel 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Ferrer [4] bt Vassalo 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2
Monfils [32] bt Cuevas 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
Murray [6] bt Roitman 6-3, 6-4, 6-0
Wawrinka [10] bt Bolelli 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-3

Nadal is being made to work by qualifier Phau so far, even though he's up 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 4-3 (with serve). There's only been one break of serve. Game time so far is over 2hrs 25mins.

Murray was pretty impressive, but Nadal not as much so, although Phau played outstandingly!

juvenal

stev2604 wrote: »

Murray was pretty impressive, but Nadal not as much so, although Phau played outstandingly!

Yeah it was a good game; 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to Nadal.

I thought Phau deserved at least a set for the way he played.

juvenal

Arthur Ashe Stadium

11am ET (4pm Irish)

- Ana Ivanovic (SRB)[1] v Vera Dushevina (RUS)

- Vincent Spadea (USA) v Marat Safin (RUS)

- Serena Williams (USA)[4] v Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)

7pm ET (midnight Irish)

- Samantha Stosur (AUS) v Venus Williams (USA)[7]

- Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) v Roger Federer (SUI)[2]

Louis Armstrong

11am ET (4pm Irish)

- Kristie Ahn (USA) v Dinara Safina (RUS)[6] 3-6, 4-6

- Tommy Haas (GER) v Richard Gasquet (FRA)[12]

- Mardy Fish (USA) v Robert Smeets (AUS)

3pm ET (8pm Irish)

- Nathalie Dechy (FRA) v Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)[32]

juvenal

Hass and Gasquet looks like it's going to be the match of the day as expected. 6-7, 6-4, 2-2 at the moment.

If it's like Blake v Young last night we'll be in for a marathon!

juvenal

Marat Safin just came through a 5-setter against Vince Spadea.

3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Safin had a bit of a McEnroe-esque wigout after getting his second foot fault in a matter of minutes. The fault gave Spadea set point in the fourth, as Safin had a row with the chair umpire in Spanish - and dropped a few f-bombs in English live on US television (which is always nice listening to the commentators squirm and apologise!). He then sat down at set-point, then the tournament referee appeared and Safin took a toilet break and obviously had a few words with the referee. He then lost the set but bounced back by breaking Spadea in the first game of set 5. Good match.

Tommy Haas beat Richard Gasquet 6-7(3-7), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2

stev2604

I was surprised that Hantuchova lost to Groenefeld. Groenefeld has been ranked as high as 14 but she's been terrible for the past 2 years. Just waiting for Federer to play now!

juvenal

Federer beat Gonzalez in 1hr 23min 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Decent game; Gonzalez had never played on hard court before, but played well in the first and third and can be pleased considering the opponent and surface! He even broke Federer in the third set, but RF was never really stretched. Good for Fed's confidence; I think he was serving over 70% and played some really great shots that he was doing for fun at this peak. He'll be a little irritated with dropping a service game, but otherwise decent performance.

cfitz

stev2604 wrote: »

I was surprised that Hantuchova lost to Groenefeld. Groenefeld has been ranked as high as 14 but she's been terrible for the past 2 years. Just waiting for Federer to play now!

I always want to see Hantuchova make a come back - she seemed to have it very tough when things started to go wrong for her a number of years ago. But despite her rise in the rankings and some great results she is still shockingly inconsistent. In my mind, she is not a safe bet in any match.

stev2604

cfitz wrote: »

I always want to see Hantuchova make a come back - she seemed to have it very tough when things started to go wrong for her a number of years ago. But despite her rise in the rankings and some great results she is still shockingly inconsistent. In my mind, she is not a safe bet in any match.

Yeah I'd love to see her make a breakthrough someday too. I felt so bad for her when she lost to Ivanovic in Melbourne having taken the first set 6-0. Despite her inconsistencies, given Groenefeld's previous form I thooght Hantuchova would come through.

juvenal

Roddick up against Santoro at the moment. Rafa is in action tomorrow in his second round tie.

stev2604

juvenal wrote: »

Roddick up against Santoro at the moment. Rafa is in action tomorrow in his second round tie.

Roddick was actually pretty impressive. Before the tournament I didn't give him a chance of doing anything but now I think he could possibly give Djokovic a lot of trouble if not beat him.

juvenal

stev2604 wrote: »

Roddick was actually pretty impressive. Before the tournament I didn't give him a chance of doing anything but now I think he could possibly give Djokovic a lot of trouble if not beat him.

Yeah, I was flicking back and forth so didn't see the whole match, but I was surprised how quickly he raced into a lead. Apparently Andy and his brother have parted ways and Patrick McEnroe is with him for the duration of the US.

I thought Santoro would give him more of a run, it will be interesting to see where Roddick goes now, as missing Beijing didn't really help him and I wasn't expecting him to be much of a threat this week.

juvenal

I didn't see Federer last night, but according to the reports he's in good shape. He's up against Andreev next, and if he gets by him a probable quarter-final against Davydenko/Muller.

Apparently Djokovic had a late one last night, I think it was after 1am local before he wrapped it up. I haven't seen anything over the weekend as the cable is out :mad:, and am resigned to watching online updates for Nadal/Querrey.

shortys94

Does anybody have any links for live streams?

stev2604

Murray was very impressive last night; winning 6-1 6-3 6-3. He has a great chance against Del Potro, and if he wins he'll probably play Nadal. If he plays his very best I'd say he can take out Nadal, who seems to be getting more tired as the tournament goes on. It won't be easy though.

Federer looks to be picking up his form nicely, he's been the most impressive of the top 3 so far for me, and at the moment I'd put him as the favourite for the title.

juvenal

Sounds like Fed is getting into a nice groove alright, but I'm nervous about his chances. You can never discount Nadal or Djokovic, despite the fact that they've dropped sets so far.

Murray looks like he put in a very strong performance last night, it will be interesting to see how the quarters go.

anotherlostie

Murray v Del Potro will be a very interesting match, I hope. Murray seems to be coming into form based on the Wawrinka performance, while Del Potro is coming off the back of 4 consecutive tournament wins, and 23 straight matches won.

Women's tournament is interesting too - there are four players who could take over as Number 1 based on how they perform. These include Jankovic, Safina and one of the Williams sisters. I don't know the permutations aside from that.

juvenal

anotherlostie wrote: »

Murray v Del Potro will be a very interesting match, I hope. Murray seems to be coming into form based on the Wawrinka performance, while Del Potro is coming off the back of 4 consecutive tournament wins, and 23 straight matches won.

Women's tournament is interesting too - there are four players who could take over as Number 1 based on how they perform. These include Jankovic, Safina and one of the Williams sisters. I don't know the permutations aside from that.

Yeah Del Potro is playing well - it should be a great match.

I don't follow the ladies game as much, but the #1 spot is a lottery almost! I think the Williams' play each other in the quarter-finals, so one of them will be gone. Safina can also take it if she wins, and Jankovic doesn't make the final, so it's all to play for there.

juvenal

Federer is being put through the ringer here by Igor Andreev. They're in the fifth set, it's 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-1, with Andreev serving at 1-4.

Edit: Federer had a couple of break points at 4-1, but Andreev held on and it's 4-2 with Fed serving.