US Open 2011

[MaizeRage]

Anybody watching this yet? It's probably not going to last long, but so far, it's been a surprisingly good tournament for the Americans.

The best story has to be Irina Falconi. She's an NYC native and 15 minutes before she's supposed to go on for her match, gets told that Venus Williams had withdrawn and her match was getting moved to Ashe Stadium. She then pulled off a pretty amazing 3-set comeback win against the 14th seed, and had a pretty awesome celebration afterwards, including pulling out an American flag she just happens to carry in her bag. American Christina McHale also beat the 8th seed on the women's side.

Lots of American men still left too. Mardy Fish and John Isner are both playing really well right now and could make deep runs. I'm a little more skeptical of Isner just because it looks like he's going to have to win three tiebreakers to win every match. Jack Sock has to be the first Kalamazoo wild card to win a match here in a fairly long time. I'll even go out on a limb and predict that he upsets Andy Roddick in the next round.

Finally, what is the deal with a women's match being the last match of the night? It almost seems sacrilegious I hope that doesn't continue throughout the tournament.

 

[Jason A]

Re: US Open 2011

Roddick looked dreadfully mediocre last night, but wow, that would be something if Sock beats him. I actually think Roddick's current form, his worst in 10 years, is good enough to get through to the fourth round given his draw -- and maybe even beyond that if Ferrer (fractured wrist) isn't 100%.

The USO started putting the occasional women's match on late either last year or the year before. I think last year they did it once each week. Last night made sense because, with no roof to guarantee the completion of play, they wanted to prioritize Roddick's first-round match over Sharapova's second-rounder. The problem is that can be so late before the women's match gets started that a lot of people just leave.

 

[Jason A]

Re: US Open 2011

Tennis storylines!

TennisReporters Matt Cronin
Word offcourt is Roddick walked into ESPN studio last night & said 'no way I'm doing interview if HE's in there.' Take your guesses
5 hours ago

 

[MaizeRage]

Re: US Open 2011

Roddick has had a great career, but he's coming to the end of it, and rumors are his marriage isn't going so well. I don't think that helps his attitude, which has been kind of dickish, and why I think he'll lose to Sock tomorrow. Though I can kind of understand his frustration, after listening to the announcers last night having the same "how does Roddick need to change his game to be the best in the world" conversation we've heard for the past decade. Like I said, great player with a great career, but at this point, that's like asking what changes I need to make to beat Djokovic or Federer.

This was maybe the worst, least competitive day on Center Court ever. All four matches were huge blowouts that were over in the blink of an eye. The best match of the day was Monfils/Ferrero going five sets in a really entertaining match. It's frustrating to watch Monfils go out so early again though. He always seems to get sucked into those superlong grindfests. He was a guy that I legitimately thought had the capability to win every major at least once, and now it's looking like it would be a huge fluke if he even won one.

Also, wild card Sloane Stephens was the third young American to beat a seed in the women's draw. The two young girls that had upsets yesterday got absolutely railed in doubles today, so hopefully that cleared their head. McHale is supposed to have the best chance against Kirilenko, but Kirilenko beat her like 1 and 1 in doubles this afternoon.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

I thought Roddick's interview Wednesday night was great. He held no punches and let the folks from Bristol have it. Anytime the Mothership gets taken down a peg is fine by me. Funny that some of the tennis analysts can dish out the criticism but get offended when it's thrown back at them. They need a thicker skin; and a sense of humor wouldn't hurt. I can't imagine someone like the McEnroes taking offense at anything Roddick said.

Order of play today:

Arthur Ashe Stadium (DirecTV Channel 704)

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Anabel Medina Garrigues(ESP)[30] vs. Vera Zvonareva(RUS)[2]

Not Before:1:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Flavia Pennetta(ITA)[26] vs. Maria Sharapova(RUS)[3]

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Nicolas Mahut(FRA) vs. Rafael Nadal(ESP)[2]

Prime Time

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Christina McHale(USA) vs. Maria Kirilenko(RUS)[25]

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Andy Roddick(USA)[21] vs. Jack Sock(USA)

Louis Armstrong Stadium - Channel 705

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Monica Niculescu(ROU) vs. Lucie Safarova(CZE)[27]

Not Before:1:00 PM
Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Robby Ginepri(USA) vs. John Isner(USA)[28]

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Robin Haase(NED) vs. Andy Murray(GBR)[4]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Nadia Petrova(RUS)[24] vs. Samantha Stosur(AUS)[9]

Grandstand - Channel 706

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Juan Martin Del Potro(ARG)[18] vs. Diego Junqueira(ARG)

Not Before:12:30 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Shuai Peng(CHN)[13] vs. Julia Goerges(GER)[19]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Irina Falconi(USA) vs. Sabine Lisicki(GER)[22]

Not Before:5:00 PM
Men's Singles - 2nd Round
David Ferrer(ESP)[5] vs. James Blake(USA)

Court 11 - 707

Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Jamie Delgado(GBR) / Jonathan Marray(GBR) vs. Marcelo Melo(BRA)[12] / Bruno Soares(BRA)[12]

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez(ESP) vs. Gilles Simon(FRA)[12]

Men's Doubles - 2nd Round
Colin Fleming(GBR) / Ross Hutchins(GBR) vs. Max Mirnyi(BLR)[2] / Daniel Nestor(CAN)[2]

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Jean-Rene Lisnard(MON) vs. Florian Mayer(GER)[26]

Court 17 - Channel 708

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Alla Kudryavtseva(RUS) vs. Angelique Kerber(GER)

Not Before:12:30 PM
Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Stanislas Wawrinka(SUI)[14] vs. Donald Young(USA)

Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Rogerio Dutra Da Silva(BRA) vs. Alex Bogomolov Jr.(USA)

Mixed Doubles - 1st Round
Natalie Grandin(RSA) / Jean-Julien Rojer(AHO) vs. Taylor Townsend(USA) / Donald Young(USA)

 

[MaizeRage]

Re: US Open 2011

Huuuuge first set win for Donald Young against Wawrinka. Stan served for the set at 6-5 and got broken at love, and then served for the set once in the tiebreaker and lost the point. It's like watching a bazooka take on a six shooter, but DY is a scrappy kid. Hopefully the crushing first set loss causes Wawrinka to lose his head a little bit.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

American tennis continues to roll...Young just took the first set off #14M Wawrinka 9-7 in the tiebreak and #28M Isner leads fellow American Ginepri one set to love. Meanwhile #3W Sharapova is getting swept off the court by #26W Pannetta 0-4. Maria needs to step up her game.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Good bye Maria. Half of the top 8 female seeds are now out. Pennetta held on to win 6-4 in the third after being up 3-0 and 4-1 and watching Sharapova come back to tie it at 4-4.

Meanwhile, Donald Young is fighting for his life in set 5. DTV Channel 708.

ETA: Young is up two mini-breaks in the 5th set tiebreak, 4-0.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Saturday's schedule of play

Arthur Ashe Stadium

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)[1] vs. Vania King(USA)

Not Before:1:00 PM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Roger Federer(SUI)[3] vs. Marin Cilic(CRO)[27]

Not Before:3:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[4] vs. Serena Williams(USA)[28]

7:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Sloane Stephens(USA) vs. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[16]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[1] vs. Nikolay Davydenko(RUS)

Louis Armstrong Stadium

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Tomas Berdych(CZE)[9] vs. Janko Tipsarevic(SRB)[20]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Jelena Jankovic(SRB)[11] vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[17]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Kevin Anderson(RSA) vs. Mardy Fish(USA)[8]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Akgul Amanmuradova(UZB) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[15]

Grandstand

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Chanelle Scheepers(RSA) vs. Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[7]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Andrea Petkovic(GER)[10] vs. Roberta Vinci(ITA)[18]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Juan Monaco(ARG) vs. Tommy Haas(GER)

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[11] vs. Fernando Verdasco(ESP)[19]

Court 17

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Silvia Soler-Espinosa(ESP) vs. Carla Suarez Navarro(ESP)

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Marcel Granollers(ESP)[31] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP)

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Alexandr Dolgopolov(UKR)[22] vs. Ivo Karlovic(CRO)

Mixed Doubles - 2nd Round
Liezel Huber(USA)[1] / Bob Bryan(USA)[1] vs. Melanie Oudin(USA)/ Jack Sock(USA)

 

[MaizeRage]

Re: US Open 2011

The Young-Wawrinka match was absolutely amazing. First, it takes a lot of guts to come back and win a fourth set after you've dropped the previous two sets. Second, it takes a lot of guts to go from being down 4-1 in the fifth set and come back from that. Third, it takes a lots of guts to serve for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set, get broken, and still find a way to win in the tiebreaker. Young played an almost perfect tiebreaker. Just an incredible match to watch.

On the other hand, Sharapova was a joke. I've never seen anyone give up like that when they're serving at 4-5 to stay in a match. That match reminded me why I don't like women's tennis, even though I think it's gotten better in recent years.

I missed on my big Jack Sock prediction, but Roddick played very well. Not many players in the world are going to beat him when he gets his first serve in two-thirds of the time. It felt like Sock was trying to hit everything at an 11 out of 10. He was good enough to win his fair share of points, but Roddick stayed pretty conservative, was steady on his serve, and let the young kid make mistakes. Sock gave a pretty credible performance though. I love this kid's future. They asked during the broadcast tonight which young American male has the brightest future between Sock, Harrison, and Young and I'd go Sock by quite a bit.

 

[MaizeRage]

Re: US Open 2011

The daughter of Terry Pegula, of Penn State hockey fame, is seeded 14th in the Junior girl's draw, and won her first round match pretty easily.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Roddick wins in straight sets. Brooklyn looked not particularly bad in the stands.

Young is up two sets to love; #18M Del Potro is down 2 sets to one to #12M Simon.

 

[MaizeRage]

Re: US Open 2011

Ok, Alex Bogomolov won Kalamazoo in my final year of junior tennis. Please stop with the 'veteran journeyman trying to make a comeback in the twilight of his career' storyline. I'm not that old.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Lisicki is down a set and a break to #2 seed Zvonerava, currently airing on the Tennis Channel.

Tomorrow's singles schedule

Arthur Ashe Stadium

11:00 AM Women's Singles - 4th Round
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)[17] vs. Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[7]

Not Before:1:00 PM
Women's Singles - 4th Round
Serena Williams(USA)[28] vs. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[16]

Not Before:2:30 PM
Men's Singles - 4th Round
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[11] vs. Mardy Fish(USA)[8]

7:00 PM Women's Singles - 4th Round
Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)[1] vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[15]

Men's Singles - 4th Round
Roger Federer(SUI)[3] vs. Juan Monaco(ARG)

Louis Armstrong Stadium

11:00 AM Men's Singles - 4th Round
Janko Tipsarevic(SRB)[20] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP)

Not Before:1:00 PM
Men's Singles - 4th Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[1] vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov(UKR)[22]

Women's Singles - 4th Round
Andrea Petkovic(GER)[10] vs. Carla Suarez Navarro(ESP)

 

[Jason A]

Re: US Open 2011

Ok, Alex Bogomolov won Kalamazoo in my final year of junior tennis. Please stop with the 'veteran journeyman trying to make a comeback in the twilight of his career' storyline. I'm not that old.

He was on his way to winning the first set until he hit a horrible second serve to DF at 4-2 in the tiebreak, IIRC. After that Isner took over.

Four American men in the final 16? It's been a while since that's happened, I'd imagine. And although three are probably underdogs (though maybe Isner is a pick 'em vs. Simon), they all have a shot to advance (Young did beat Murray earlier this year in a Masters event).

Novak Djokovic SRB (1)
Alexandr Dolgopolov UKR (22)

Janko Tipsarevic SRB (20)
Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP

Roger Federer SUI (3)
Juan Monaco ARG

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (11)
Mardy Fish USA (8)

John Isner USA (28)
Gilles Simon FRA (12)

Donald Young USA
Andy Murray GBR (4)

David Ferrer ESP (5)
Andy Roddick USA (21)

Gilles Muller LUX
Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Tsonga and Fish are going to a 5th set. Match can be seen on ESPN2 before the regular prime time schedule begins.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Tsonga came back to win 6-2 in the 5th. Prime time at the Open just started with Rory McIlroy's girlfriend taking on #15 Kuznetsova. The late match will be Federer vs unseeded Monaco.

Wozniacki was broken in the first game, then broke right back. Currently at 2-1 on serve.

Might be a late night..finally

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Kuznetsova won the first set 7-6 (5) and just broke Caroline's serve to go up 2-0 early in the second.

 

[Priceless]

Re: US Open 2011

Kuznetsova was 5 points from the match but could never quite get there. Wozniacki wins the second set 7-5. Match is now over 2:30 old. The match is live on ESPN.

The Federer match isn't going to get started until close to midnight.

Edit: if it starts..Fowler just tweeted that there is a "huge blob" approaching on radar...
Caroline won the first 9 points of the set.

http://www.accuweather.com/us/radar/sir/ny_/radar.asp

 

[The Rube]

Re: US Open 2011

This is a helluva match. I don't watch tennis often, and can't consider myself a fan, but there was nothing else on at the time, and this play has hooked me for this particular match.









And Caroline is yummy.