Monday at the U.S. Open

Monday (Labor Day) is a much different day because both the men and the women are in the fourth round; that means all of the singles matches are either in Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong. Needless to say, that is not ideal for the fans. However, there are often some great doubles matches on the Grandstand, as well as doubles and juniors on the outer courts.

This was definitely one of the better Mondays in my career of attending the U.S. Open.

Since the Grandstand lineup was nothing special (nothing compared to Sunday!), we did not have to get there early or reserve front-row seats. So after entering the tennis center at 10:00, I just walked all over the grounds, taking in the atmosphere and seeing if anything interesting (practices) was happening on any of the courts.

view of practice courts from Ashe

view of grounds from Ashe

Around starting time (11:00) I went back into the Grandstand and still was able to sit down low behind the baseline for Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes vs. Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle. Dlouhy and Paes took care of them in straight sets, although they could have lost. Dlouhy was borderline bad, but Paes played well as always and carried the team. We would not have thought it then, but Dlouhy and Paes went on to win the title! Come to think of it, Melzer lost to the eventual champions in both singles and doubles. Wow.

Melzer

Dlouhy and Paes

After another walk around the grounds and brief stop in Armstrong for Nikolay Davydenko vs. Robin Soderling, I went back to the Grandstand for some up Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic (the No. 1 doubles team in the world) vs. Robert Kendrick and Janko Tipsarevic. Three of the four players in this one have Serbian ties (Tipsy and Zimonjic are from there, and Nestor was born there). The tennis was pretty good; Kendrick and Tipsarevic kept it close and they even won the second set after I left before losing in three. Nestor and Zimonjic ended up reaching the quarterfinals, where they were upset by Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram.

Tipsarevic and Kendrick

I had to leave the doubles match (no-brainer to do it) because Melanie Oudin was attempting to make another comeback from a set down over on Arthur Ashe. Oudin (from Atlanta!) had taken out Maria Sharapova in the third round (7-5 in the third set) and was down a set to Nadia Petrova (another heavily-favored Russian) when I got over there. She was also behind in the second, but Oudin stormed back and pulled out an EPIC second set in a tiebreaker. Atmosphere was electric (especially for a day match), and Oudin went on to dominate the third. Absolutely huge victory!

Oudin vs. Petrova

IMMEDIATELY when Oudin won the match, we SPRINTED over to Louis Armstrong to beat the rest of the departing Arthur Ashe crowd and get over there in time for Isner vs. Verdasco, which we knew would be filled to capacity. We got there in time; unfortunately, PLENTY of time. The preceding women’s singles match simply would not end; not even when one of the women (Wickmayer, who went on to reach the semifinals) was leading 5-2 in the third set. Wickmayer finally pulled it out 7-5 and even though it lasted forever, we knew we would have time to see a fair amount of Isner-Verdasco before having to leave for the airport.

Isner won something like 15 of the first 17 points of the match (broke for 2-0 en route to a 3-0) lead, so that was pretty awesome to see. He somehow gave the break back midway through the set, but he broke again at 5-4 to finish off the set. Nonetheless, Isner just did not have it like he did two days earlier against Roddick. He played OK, but far from the match of his life like he played in the epic win. We left after Isner lost the second set 6-4, and he ended up losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Not a perfect ending to the trip, but still definitely the best weekend ever for me in 10 years at the U.S. Open!

Isner vs. Verdasco in Armstrong

That’s all, folks. Next stop…probably Memphis 2010!

Sunday at the U.S. Open

Sunday’s schedule of play on the Grandstand was something like I had never seen before; at least not in recent memory. Back-to-back-to-back: Fernando Gonzalez, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gael Monfils (Gonzo vs. Tomas Berdych, Tsonga vs. Julien Benneteau, and Monfils vs. Jose Acasuso).

Needless to say, a lineup of such proportions required an extremely early arrival and unprecedented spring to the back baseline of the Grandstand. I got there around 8:45 and was probably the 15th person in the speed line (no bags). When the gates opened right at 10:00, I was the second person into the back entrance of the Grandstand after an all-out sprint and secured the usual baseline box.

First, however, we had to sit through a women’s doubles match that preceded the three men’s singles matches. Fortunately it featured Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina, so it wasn’t too terrible. Prior to the start of Berdych-Gonzo, though, I was mostly watch Gilles Simon vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero in Armstrong. I was hoping this one would be on the Grandstand, but we ended up not missing too much–Ferrero got the win early in the fourth set when Simon retired due to a knee injury. I only saw the firt set, however, and Simon absolutely DESTROYED Ferrero; didn’t stick around for what was obviously a substantial turnaround.

Kirilenko and Vesnina

Simon

After an excruciatingly long women’s doubles match, it was finally time for men’s singles. None of the matches turned out to epics, but there was some good news in that at the same time: none were very competitive because in each match, the guy we wanted put on an amazing display. First it was Gonzalez against Berdych. They had recently faced each other in the Cincinnati first round; Berdych won the first set and then a disinterested Gonzalez retired. Not surprisingly, Gonzalez was far more interested this time around. With revenge at stake as well as a berth in the fourth round of a Grand Slam, Gonzo blasted Berdych in straight sets. At various points in the match, all Berdych could do was laugh at how on fire Gonzo was.

Berdych forehand

Gonzo serve

Gonzo wins

Tsonga was equally impressive in a straight-set demolition of fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau. He brought Richard’s “Woo Hoo” sign more than a few times with some spectacular shot-making.

Tsonga

Tsonga wins

Then it was another Frenchman’s turn to put a good show. In fact, Monfils was so good that Acasuso could not even take it for more than two sets. Monfils, of course, also does an awesome job of getting the crowd into his matches, and he certainly did that as he was taking apart Acasuso. After two impressive sets from Monfils, Acasuso waved the white flag due to a knee injury.

chest pound

Monfils wins

Because all three matches were pretty quick, we were hoping that Marin Cilic vs. Denis Istomin would be moved to the Grandstand. Their scheduled court (11), however, had already opener up so Cilic and Istomin remained on the outer court. It didn’t really matter, though, because Court 11 has some baseline seats and we watched most of the match in great seats. Cilic played far better than he did in the previous two matches and rolled over Istomin in straight sets, although Istomin picked his game up to make things competitive in the third.

Cilic serve!

The women’s night match on Ashe (Flavia Pennetta vs. Vera Zvonareva) was a marathon (especially a second set in which Zvonareva blew SIX match points. She ended up melting down in the third), so Andy Murray and Taylor Dent were just getting started when Cilic and Istomin ended. We went up to the stratosphere of Ashe, and it was jam-packed even way up there. I guess people wanted to soak in the night atmosphere even if they weren’t expecting a great match; or perhaps everyone had heard about Dent’s epic win over Navarro on Friday and wanted to see the tournament’s sentimental favorite. Murray, however, was far too tough and we left after the second set of what proved to be a routine win for the No. 2 seed.

Dent vs. Murray

We did not see any instant classics (at this point we almost EXPECT to see such a match every day!), but the action on the Grandstand was thoroughly entertaining. Another great day at the U.S. Open!

Saturday at the U.S. Open

After two days of spending a ton of time on the outer courts, the first day of round three took most of the action–and the fans–to the stadiums.

I arrived at the gate relatively early; at least in time to get front row seats on the Grandstand for the first match featuring Radek Stepanek and Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German had looked good two days earlier when I watched him against Somdev, and he started off well by winning the first set on Saturday. Stepanek, however, was just too solid and he cruised the rest of the way to win it in four.

on the Grandstand

Kohlschreiber

Stepanek

I was expecting Kohlschreiber vs. Stepanek to last much longer than the 11:00 match on Louis Armstrong: Novak Djokovic vs. unheralded American Jesse Witten. Amazingly enough, however, Witten was still testing Djokovic when Kohlschreiber and Stepanek ended, so I went next door to Louis. Witten had a real chance in the fourth set, blasting forehands while Djokovic did not seem to be happy with his own game (or with anything else, for that matter). Djokovic finally pulled it out with a late break in the fourth, but Witten was the story. He was ranked 200-something and had just been dropped by Nike because he was not even winning many matches on the Challenger circuit! Both players–even Witten–were interviewed on the court after the match.

Djokovic vs. Witten in Armstrong

Then it was right back to the Grandstand for all over Sam Querrey vs. Robin Soderling. Querrey had won the U.S. Open Series, but he simply got pushed around by Soderling, who was extremely impressive. The Swede won in four, and it very easily could have been (and should have been) in straights. Querrey did well to take the third, saving one match point en route to winning it in a tight tiebreaker. Soderling dominated the fourth, though; and I had no idea that Soderling’s backhand could be that solid.

Soderling serve

When Soderling wrapped up the win, Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Haas were over in Armstrong battling late in a fourth set. To the delight of the crowd (which always wants a fifth set in pretty much any situation), Haas won it to force a fifth. Verdasco looked like he was done both mentally and physically, and then he promptly got broken early in the final set to fall behind 3-1. I was even tempted to leave early and head over to Ashe for the early parts of Andy Roddick vs. John Isner, but I decided to say. Somehow, Verdasco stormed back and broke for 4-4, then broke again at 5-4 to finish off what seemed like an unlikely victory just 20 or 30 minutes prior.

Haas preparing for 5

After then, we ran over to Ashe. As usual, we only hand grounds passes (no Ashe access), but it’s beyond easy to just wait for a second outside one of the exits and get ticket stubs from people leaving. Amazingly, too many people for some reason don’t realize how to do that. Anyway, we got into Ashe right away (in the middle level behind the baseline; great seat!) with Isner having just won the second set to seize a surprising two-set lead on Roddick, the world No. 5 and 2003 U.S. Open champion.

Isner vs. Roddick

Isner

Roddick

Isner quickly earned a 0-40 advantage on Roddick’s serve early in the third; essentially three match points since Roddick was showing no signs of being able to break the Isner serve. But Roddick saved all three and held serve; and for a while, that proved to be the turning point of the match. The heavily-favored of the two American compatriots soon broke Isner at 4-3 with an on-the-run backhand pass, closing out the set on serve one game later. Set four featured 10 straight holds; although not before Roddick saved one MATCH point at 4-5 with an ace down the T. Surely pumped up after that moment, Roddick promptly broke at 5-5 and served it out to force a fifth.

Day had turned into night (long since turned into night), with Isner and Roddick on the way to a 4+hour match and two long matches having preceded this one (Oudin over Sharapova and Federer over Hewitt). When it’s night-time in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the atmosphere gets even more electric; without question the best atmosphere in tennis. And the fifth set between Roddick and Isner did not disappoint. Both men took care of their six service games to force a phenomenon in tennis unique to the U.S. Open:  fifth-set tiebreaker. Isner got an all-important mini-break with a huge backhand crosscourt passing shot for a 4-2 lead. At 4-3, he handled his next two points on serve for 6-3, giving him three more match points. Roddick the first two on his serve, before Isner got a chance on his own racket. After a standing ovation (another one), Isner blasted a first serve, but Roddick got it back in play. Roddick made Isner hit two volleys, but the No. 5 seed could not return the second one. The 6′10” underdog pulled off the stunned upset 7-5 in the fifth-set tiebreaker in front of a packed Arthur Ashe house that was both thrilled and stunned (and also in front of thousands of fans who had arrived for the night session over two hours earlier and had to watch on the big screens. Isner-Roddick ended at 9:18, approximately two hours after the night session was supposed to begin. I heard from a friend later that you could not move one foot all the way from outside the Grandstand to outside Ashe; that’s what the sea of people was like).

Isner disbelief

after Isner's win

We were too emotionally exhausted to stay for the night session; although the real decision to leave was based on 1) we had just seen the most epic match possible, and 2) they moved the women’s match to Armstrong so it was not going to be a very late night (later is better for us). It turned out to be a good decision, since James Blake got hammered by Tommy Robredo.

It had already been a great day even before Isner-Roddick. Needless to say, this was one of the best days at the Open ever!

Friday at the U.S. Open

Day 2 (Friday) started with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Jarkko Nieminen on the Grandstand. Needless to say, the chance to see Tsonga from the front row of the Grandstand required an early arrival at the tennis center (9 AM for the gate-opening at 10) and a sprint right when the gates opened.

It was worth the early arrival and the sprint. Tsonga put on a great show and won in straight sets: 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. And of course he did his great victory celebration afterward, although one or two people on the Grandstand claimed that they don’t like it. Well, it’s awesome! It was also good to see Nieminen in the second round of the Open; he has missed almost the entire season with a wrist injury.

Ali (Tsonga) TKOs Nieminen!

victory dance

Fortunately Tsonga won pretty fast, and that allowed me to see the latter parts of two-five setters on the outer courts: Marin Cilic vs. Jesse Levine on Court 11 and Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Philipp Petzschner on Court 13. Both Cilic and Ferrero came back from two sets down to win; Ferrero in more dramatic fashion. He was getting blown out 6-1, 6-3, 2-0 before storming back to force a fifth. Then he got down 4-1 in the fifth before winning the last five games of the match! I saw some of the fourth and all of the fifth. After losing the first two sets, himself, Cilic steamrolled Levine. I did not have to stick around too long there, as it was pretty obvious Cilic had things in cruise control. No idea how he lost the first two sets! Good effort from Levine, though, even though he disappeared mentally in the fifth.

improbable comeback for JCF

Cilic serve

After those five-setters I headed into Louis Armstrong for the end of Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Jurgen Melzer. The match was not exactly competitive, but it was a good decision, since I would not want to go the whole trip without seeing the eventual tournament champion! I had already seen Del Potro a bunch this season (especially in Memphis and Washington, D.C.) but I would not have wanted to miss him on the way to by far his biggest title! He won in straights against a tough opponent in Melzer and I saw most of the third set, including the end.

Delpo wins!

Then it was back to the outer courts, where tons of matches were going on (that’s what is so great about the early rounds of this tournament, and any other tournament). I saw some of Gilles Simon putting a beatdown on Thomaz Bellucci, caught the very end of what looked like an awesome match between Fernando Gonzalez and Josselin Ouanna, and also saw John Isner and Sam Querrey play Ivan Ljubicic and Michael Llodra; packed house on Court 10 for that doubles showdown! Isner and Querrey blew at least five match points in the second-set tiebreaker (including one on which Isner botched an easy overhead in the net) and lost it 14-12. Fortunately I did not stick around for the third because the Americans got scorched. No recovering from that second set!

Simon forehand

Gonzo happy with the win

Isner made up for this loss on Saturday!

But the mast match of the afternoon on the outer courts was Nicolas Lapentti vs. Denis Istomin. It took four and half hours, lasting five grueling sets. I saw some of it during the second, then return for the entire fifth set, which was nothing short of dramatic. Lapentti got down an early break, was cramping, and struggling to move. He saved two MATCH POINTS while serving at 3-5, including one with an unreal forehand pass. Somehow, Lapentti managed to break for 5-5 and despite moving terribly, took it into a tiebreaker. An incredible fighter; and to think he is 33 years old! Istomin played great in the tiebreaker and pulled it out seven ponts to four. AMAZING effort from both men.

Lapentti

Istomin wins at last

After cruising the grounds for a while, I went back to Court 4 for David Ferrer vs. Jose Acasuso. It turned out to be another five-setter, although not as dramatic. Surprisingly (because Ferrer is generally better than Acasuso on hard courts), Acasuso stormed back for two-sets-to-one deficit and overpowered Ferrer to win in five. I should have left because a more epic five-setter was going on at the same time on the Grandstand, but it’s always hard to know what is going to turn out to be the best match at a certain time.

Luckily, THANK GOODNESS, Acasuso finished off Ferrer fast enough for me to get to the Grandstand for the end of Taylor Dent vs. Ivan Navarro. And trust me, the minute Acasuso won, I was SPRINTING to the Grandstand. I had also made the smart move of leaving the Court 4 bleachers and watching the end of Acasuso-Ferrer from the other side where you can leave whenever you want.

I made it to the Grandstand in time for the changeover with Navarro leading 6-5 in the fifth. It was a day match that turned into a night finish, so it was not packed; I sat about 10 rows up behind the baseline. Some of the usual Grandstand crew were in the front-row spot and had been there the whole match (LUCKY!). Dent held to force a tiebreaker, saved one match point at 8-9 (or maybe 7-8) and FINALLY won it 11-9 with a backhand return passing shot. It was unbelievable; another instant classic on the Grandstand.

And the aftermath was even better. After hugging Navarro, Dent grabbed the chair umpire’s microphone and thanked the crowd right then and there. He then did not one but TWO victory laps around the Grandstand, high-fiving all of the enthralled fans. After that, Dent seriously spent about 30 minutes signing autographs for every single person who wanted one. Then and only then did he finally exit the Grandstand. Incredible night. Had I been there for the whole thing, it would have definitely been one of the best matches I ever witnessed. Even so, it was easily one of the best moments!

Dent vs. Navarro

Dent wins! UNREAL

VICTORY LAPS!

The atmosphere in the Grandstand was nothing like I had ever seen it before. The crowd was SO behind Dent, and why not? He retired two years ago due to a bad back and needed surgery, the doctors said, just to have a chance at living a normal lifestyle in the future. Well, he is doing that now…and a lot more!

I did not think anything could come close to topping this the rest of the weekend. But, of course, the U.S. Open never ceases to amaze….

Thursday at the U.S. Open

Entrance to the BJKNTC

Normally I arrive at the Open on Saturday morning and leave on Monday night, but after recent trips to Washington (5 days) and Cincinnati (whole week), I’ve realized that three days at a tournament is just not enough. You need more. So I decided to fly up to NYC on Thursday morning for two extra days. STELLAR DECISION!

Plus, Thursday and Friday of the first week can be two of the best days of the whole tournament, as the men are in the second round. That means there are not only a ton of matches going on non-stop all over the grounds, but most of them are also GOOD matches (whereas in the first round you can get a lot of duds).

Not surprisingly, the Grandstand was the dreaded “filled to capacity” for Tommy Haas vs. Robert Kendrick by the time (well after the gates opened) I arrived at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. So I headed out to the practice courts and Federer was out there, so that was not a bad alternative to match play, nor a bad way to start the five-day trip. Federer had already won two rounds and was not playing again until Saturday, so he obviously looked relaxed and did not have too serious of a practice session.

Federer practice

Next I perused the outer courts for some men’s singles: an all-Spanish clash between Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Court 10, Maximo Gonzalez vs. Jesse Witten on Court 11, and Fernando Verdasco vs. Florent Serra on Court 13. All three were just getting started; I saw Witten, with a rowdy group of Kentucky fans looking on, drop the first set in a tiebreaker. Robredo and Verdasco were in the very early stages of their eventual victories.

GGL forehand

Robredo jump forehand

Verdasco

The Grandstand had cleared out by this point since Haas was up two sets to love on Kendrick, so I went over there (to the BEST court / BEST place to watch tennis in the world) for the end of that match. Kendrick played him tough, but Haas was too good at the clutch moments and won in three tight sets (tiebreaker in the third). Obviously (since I did not get there right at the start of the day) I was not front row for this as I usually am on the Grandstand, but there is no bad seat on this court.

Grandstand

I was not planning on watching any of Sam Querrey (U.S. Open Series winner) vs. fellow American Kevin Kim, but Kim was unexpectedly keeping it close so I scooted next door for that match in Louis Armstrong Stadium. Kim played better than I had ever seen him play before, hitting really big forehands, but Querrey is just far more talented. The big man pulled it out in four competitive sets.

Then it was back to the outer courts for both singles and doubles. Mikhail Youzhny lost to Marco Chiudinelli in four after winning the first set; more entertaining was a doubles match featuring the French team of Julien Benneteau and Jeremy Chardy vs. Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman. Moodie and Norman won the first set, lost the second in a tiebreaker, and pulled put the third 6-4. In the early evening, I went out to Court 4 to watch Somdev Devvarman take on Philipp Kohlschreiber. A considerable underdog, Somdev bounced back from losing the first two sets to dominate the third 6-0. Kohlschreiber, however, was apparently just saving energy for the fourth, in which he played great tennis and closed out the match.

Benneteau/Chardy

Somdev

Although it was disappointing to see Somdev fall short, the first day/night ended on a great note with an impressive performance by John Isner on the Grandstand. I was back on the front row for this one with the usual Grandstand contingent, and we had a good time trying to dodge Isner’s first serves, which often bounced over the wall behind the baseline. We almost got blasted a few times, but nobody took one too bad (except maybe the on-court camera man in the far corner!). Isner rolled over Marcel Ilhan of Turkey in the first two sets, but of course Isner cannot go a whole match without playing at least ONE tiebreaker, so he went to a tiebreaker in the third. Needless to say, he dominated it. The win put Isner in the third round of the Open for the second time in his three-year career and set up a showdown (and what a showdown it turned out to be!) with Andy Roddick.

Isner about to bomb one

victory

That’s all for Thursday. A GREAT start to the trip!

U.S. Open Series – Day 5 in Montreal

(7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (1) Roger Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(3)
After losing the first set in dramatic fashion, Federer won 11 of the next 13 games, taking a 5-1 lead in the third set. For how Federer managed to lose this match after THAT, there is only one explanation: he wanted no part of Andy Murray…. And for good reason; Murray would have routined him. Good fight back by Tsonga, but the real story, of course, is Fed’s meltdown.

(3) Andy Murray d. (8) Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-4
:scared:

(5) Andy Roddick d. (4) Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(4)
Never in doubt. Seriously, it never was. The only time Roddick was troubled was when Djokovic went up 3-1 in the second set and had game point to hold of 4-1. Djokovic appeared to have won the game when a Roddick forehand was called long, but then an interesting thing happened. Djokovic TOLD Roddick to challenge it; Roddick did, it was in, and Roddick won the game two points later. Granted Roddick probably would have challenged it anyway, but I’ve got to hand it to Djoker; he may rub some people the wrong way, but at least when he is on the court his sportsmanship is the best in the business.

(6) Juan Martin Del Potro d. (2) Rafael Nadal 7-6(5), 6-1
The only two pieces of good news for Nadal after this one: 1) his knees did not seem to be an issue, and 2) Del Potro was absolutely INSANE in the second set. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: multiple Grand Slam winner in the future, this Del Potro. The bad news for Nadal is that it would take too long to type out all the pieces of bad news in this space. Let me just say right now that–without any doubt–Murray and Del Potro are (and have been for some time) the two best players in the world. And Roddick is third.

Sunday at the Legg Mason Classic

What I anticipated would be the best Legg Mason tournament ever (with an amazing field due to increased ranking points available and improved scheduling) got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday morning. Rain.

So I went to the Mall to do some D.C. sightseeing, but even though it was raining steadily there, it was apparently clear at the tennis center. In a much-anticipated final round qualifying match, Somdev Devvarman and Josselin Ouanna were already on the court by about 1:00, so I raced over there for tennis. Amazingly enough, it did not rain the rest of the day (at least not at tennis) until much later in the evening when almost all them matches had concluded.

Devvarman lost the first set but was way up in the second when I arrived. He finished that set off, then went down a break midway through the third before recovering to prevail 7-5. Into the main draw for the second straight year!

Somdev serving in his qualifying win over Ouanna

After that, another relatively interesting qualifying match between Nicolas Lapentti and Alejandro Falla was just starting on the Grandstand. Lapentti was getting destroyed late in the first set when I left, but he ended up making it competitive before losing in three (he also ended up getting a lucky loser entry into the main draw).

Lapentti serving in his qualifying loss

With only one main draw match going on at the time (Wayne Odesnik vs. Paul Capdeville), it was time for some practice court action. As they usually are before the tournament really starts, the practice courts were stellar. The highlight was Juan Martin Del Potro practicing with Lleyton Hewitt; they were absolutely bashing the ball and seemed to get along really well, also.

Hewitt practicing with Del Potro

Also on the practice courts during the afternoon were Marin Cilic, John Isner, Ivo Karlovic hitting with Mikhail Youzhny, Dudi Sela, Mahesh Bhupathi practicing with doubles partner Mark Knowles, and doubles partners Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram.

Cilic working on his awesome service motion

Isner practice

Bhupathi practice

Youzhny practicing with Karlovic

Odesnik and Capdeville went into a third set, so I decided to head into the stadium for that. It was a decent match; Odesnik had the crowd behind him (including his own bandana-wearing fan club) and he was the more solid player–especially mentally–so he prevailed.

Odesnik points to his fans after the win

Ernests Gulbis and Kevin Kim were up next on the stadium in the only other main draw match of the day. I was front row for this one as well; not difficult since attendance is sparse on the first Sunday. Gulbis won the first set then did a usual mental walkabout in the second. He also looked he like has sick late in the second set. He got broken at 3-5 while barely even trying. A 20-minute rain delay occurred just before the third set, otherwise Gulbis certainly would have lost. But he got to regroup in the locker room and came back out and won comfortably in the third.

Gulbis serving in his win over Kim

No night session on Sunday, so I made an early (relatively speaking, since most of my tennis-watching days end after midnight or 1:00 AM) departure. It was a solid start to the week in Washington, especially considering like the day appeared it would be a complete washout in the morning.

U.S. Open Series – Day 4 in Montreal

Novak Djokovic d. Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4
Youzhny played like the 2007 Youzhny for one game, breaking Djokovic right away for a 1-0 lead in the first set. From then on, however, Youzhny remembered that this is 2009 and he promptly played the rest of the match like the 2008/2009 Youzhny. All Djokovic had to do was keep the ball in play to Youzhny’s forehand and the point would be over. That won’t be enough against Roddick on Friday.

Andy Roddick d. Fernando Verdasco 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(5)
Roddick leads the ATP Tour this season in tiebreakers won. Verdasco–despite improvement in all areas of his game–is among the leaders in collapses at crucial moments of matches. As such, this was really never in doubt even when Roddick shockingly got broken while serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set (and even 40-15). Verdasco’s forehand went from terrible (at 5-5 in the third) to amazing (at 5-6 and early in the final tiebreaker) then back to absolutely terrible (throughout the latter stages of the tiebreaker).

Juan Martin Del Potro d. Victor Hanescu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Hanescu led Del Potro 6-3, 3-1 before reality set in. It was a reality that sounded something like this: “I am Victor Hanescu. I am overachieving at the moment by beating up on lesser players, but I can’t beat anyone good. He is Juan Martin Del Potro, one of th best players in tennis right now and possibly a future No. 1.” Not long thereafter, the match was over in Del Potro’s favor. And let’s be honest, THANK GOD the tide turned! Who wants to see VICTOR HANESCU vs. Nadal when you can see Del Potro vs. Nadal?

Rafael Nadal d. Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-2
We still have no idea how Nadal is playing in his first tournament back from the knee injury. David Ferrer, whose knees are even worse than Nadal’s (at least right now), retired after games. Petzschner should have retired before stepping on the court. He was awful. Nothing else needs to be said, just read the hilarious match comments at MTF and you will get the idea in a hurry. Maybe on Friday we will finally get a real look at Nadal. But who knows, at this rate Del Potro’s right shoulder will fall off during their quarterfinal showdown (it almost did against Hanescu).

Andy Murray d. Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-3
:scared:

Nikolay Davydenko d. Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(2), 7-5
I honestly think Murray vs. Davydenko should be the Montreal final instead of a quarterfinal. Davydenko is in insane form at the moment, and the scoreline of Murray vs. Ferrero just leaves me speechless.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3
The final two matches of Thursday night were far from inspiring. They featured countrymen and friends who had no interest in beating the player on the other side of the net. In this one, Tsonga simply could not have lost this one even if he had wanted to. Simon (by 2008 Simon standards) is playing abysmal tennis right now. In fairness to Skinny Legs, however, by pre-2008 Simon standards he is still having a great year.

Roger Federer d. Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 7-6(5)
Federer and Wawrinka set off fireworks when they played doubles together at last year’s Olympics, winning the gold medal. However, these two Swiss players should never be allowed to step on the same tennis court at the same time  ever again until the 2012 London games. This–as usual–was another disgraceful singles match between the two. It was even worse than Lopez vs. Verdasco in round one. Federer tried to lose the second set after going up 6-1 in the tiebreaker, but Wawrinka refused to let him do so. Oh well, at least the quarterfinal matchups are mouth-watering…. First time in ATP history that the top eight players are in the quarterfinals of the same event!

U.S. Open Series – Day 4 in Los Angeles

(4) Dudi Sela d. Robert Kendrick 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
I have nothing to say about this. I’d be surprised if anyone does, actually.

(6) Sam Querrey d. (Q) Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3
Querrey apparently finally got tired of throwing away matches against fellow Americans to whom he has no business losing (first Rajeev Ram in Newport then Robby Ginepri in Indianapolis). It looked like Querrey was going to do it again after the second set, but he got his act together. And it’s good news for the fans that he did! Because a quarterfinal clash now pits Querrey and “The Samurai” against Sela and “The Hebrew Hammers.” The fan sections will be more interesting than the tennis!

Leonardo Mayer  d. (5) Igor Kunitsyn 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 6-3
See my comment on Sela vs. Kendrick. Same applies here…for obvious reasons.

(2) Mardy Fish d. Chris Guccione 6-7(3), 7-6(12), 6-4
Guccione had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR match points in the second-set tiebreaker. Normally I would say Guccione blew it and then I would go on to berate him for it, but in fairness to the Gooch, on one match point he hit an unbelievable return and Fish stabbed a backhand drop-volley at his feet that landed just a few inches on the other side of the net. What makes this loss even more painful than squandering four match points? Guccione would have gotten to play LEONARDO MAYER in the quarterfinals of an ATP-LEVEL tournament!

U.S. Open Series – Day 3 in Los Angeles

(8) Marat Safin d. Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
Ernests “Doubles Specialist” Gulbis strikes again! On Wednesday in Los Angeles, Gulbis lost a singles match he “should” have won, then won a doubles match he “should” have lost. A master of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Gulbis led Safin by a set and a break, then even after throwing away the second set he once again led by a break in the third! No matter. He still found a way to lose. Then just hours later with an injured partner (Dmitry Tursunov had just retired in singles), Gulbis and Tursunov–last week’s Indianapolis champions–upset No. 2 seed Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett and it wasn’t even close (6-2, 6-4). The good news for Gulbis fans? His 2008 Cincinnati quarterfinal points come off the board this week, so Gulbis will be out of the Top 100 on Monday and will no longer get into any worthwhile singles tournaments. So he HAS to become a doubles specialist even if he doesn’t want to!

(Q) Carsten Ball d. Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 1-0 (retired)
Given Gulbis’ recent results, he probably DOES want to become a doubles specialist…. Tursunov apparently does, too. Apparently whatever injury he had was bad enough so that he couldn’t play singles, but not bad enough to prevent him from blowing out the No. 2 seeds in doubles. Oh, and it’s not like he was playing Roger Federer in singles. He was playing someone named CARSTEN BALL!

John Isner d. Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-6(11)
Isner has now played six matches during this U.S. Open Series and not one has gone to a third-set tiebreaker. Of course, if you can’t have a third-set tiebreaker, 13-11 in the second-set ‘breaker is not a bad alternative in terms of drama. Best moment of this match (although it was almost the worst moment if the injury had been slightly worse): Isner rolled his ankle at 10-10 in the tiebreaker, after which Baghdatis went over to Isner’s side of the court and started tending to his opponent like he was a trainer. Maybe he should be, because as everyone knows, Baghdatis has spent more time in his career dealing with injuries than he has playing tennis. Anyway, Baghdatis saw Isner get hurt at 10-10, then was so scared that he would suffer another devastating injury of his own that he promptly lost the next three points to lose the match.

(1) Tommy Haas d. Jesse Levine 6-1, 6-3
If you follow Jesse Levine on Twitter–@JesseLevine7 in case you don’t–you know that he spent the afternoon (prior to this night match) at the Playboy Mansion. Turns out he should have stayed there. Then again, he should have stayed there even if he was assured of winning this match!