Rogers Cup Photos and Recap: Qualifying Day 1

Back home from my first day of covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto. I'll be at the tournament every day this week, so check back often for photos, videos, and news. As expected, there were not many big name players on the practice courts today, as they either withdrew (Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Almagro, and most recently Feliciano Lopez) or they're still at the Olympics (Djokovic and Murray). However, I did get a chance to see lots of great players sweating it out in the ridiculous heat of Toronto.

First up on Court 1 was Italian Fabio Fognini who defeated Canadian Pavel Krainik in the first round of qualifying.

I heard Milos was on the practice courts so I quickly ditched the Fognini match and headed over to watch everyone's favourite Canadian. He was practicing with fellow Canadian Peter Polansky.

Then Milos stated telling his coach some crazy story where he made monster-like movements with his arms.

While watching Milos on the practice courts I turned around to catch Bernard Tomic posing for photos with a bunch of fans. Made me like him a little more.  

Day 5: French Open Men's Matches to Watch

Milos Raonic vs. Jesse Levine (first match on Court 3)
Who doesn't love a little Canadian vs. American action? Although interestingly enough, although he's listed as an American player, Jesse Levine was actually born in Canada. Milos is the clear favourite to win this match, but who knows, Mr. Canadian-turned-American might find a way to give Milos some trouble. I'm going with Raonic in three sets.

Marcos Baghdatis vs. Nicolas Almagro (second match on Court 2)
Like the other Spaniards, Almagro is a pretty decent clay court player, but Baghdatis has never done so well on the clay. But regardless of his poor record on this surface, Baghdatis is rarely boring, and so this is a match I'm interested in watching. I'll go with Almagro winning in four sets.

Richard Gasquet vs. Grigor Dimitrov (fifth match on Court Suzanne Lenglen)
And now we come to a match between two highly touted players who didn't quite live up to their expected potential. I'm going to go with Gasquet pulling through in four sets, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see him crash out in straight sets either.

Analyzing the US Open Men's Draw

Click here for the official men's draw for the 2010 US Open.

First Quarter (or Nadal's Quarter)

Obviously Nadal has to be the favorite to make it to the quarters, along with Verdasco, Nalbandian, and Ferrer. I wouldn't be surprised if Gulbis made it far as well, and I'd love to see him play Nadal in the quarterfinals.

Most interesting first round match:
Gulbis vs. Chardy or Ferrer vs. Dolgopolov.

Most interesting possible second round match:
Nadal vs. Istomin (and really, Nadal should kill him...but not many interesting second round matches to choose from so if you're going to watch someone you might as well watch Rafa)

Most interesting possible third round match:
Nalbandian vs. Verdasco

Most interesting possible round of 16 match:
Ferrer vs. Nalbandian (or Verdasco)

Quarterfinals prediction:
Nadal vs. Nalbandian

Second Quarter (or Murray's Quarter)

In my opinion, Murray and Berdych are the clear favorites to reach the quarterfinals in this section. Querrey and Wawrinka are capable of upsets but they'd have to beat Murray to get to the quarters, and I can't see that happening. Berdych could have some trouble with Almagro, Youzhny, or Isner (but that's only if Isner plays and if he's healthy, which at this point seems like it won't be happening), however, I'd be surprised if Berdych doesn't make it to the quarters.

Most interesting first round match:
Berdych vs. Llodra or Youzhny vs. Golubev

Most interesting possible second round match:
Stepanek vs. Robredo (I tried to find a better one, really I did)

Most interesting possible third round match:
Murray vs. Wawrinka or Almagro vs. Querrey

Most interesting possible round of 16 match:
Murray vs. Querrey or Youzhny vs. Berdych

Quarterfinals prediction:
Murray vs. Berdych

Passing Shots

Baghdatis always keeps his promises. (Forty Deuce)

Rafa and Roger are interviewed by some mini journalists. (cincinnatidotcom)

I love Judy Murray. And her blog. (LTA Judy's Blog)

Sharapova's Evian Event (Down the Line)

Thoughts on Federer's Cincy win. (Peter Bodo's TennisWorld)

Questions asked and answered in Jon Wertheim's Mailbag (SI Tennis)

The Fed vs. The Fish in Cincy Finals

Roger Federer and Mardy Fish have both made it to the finals of the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters event (seriously, the name of this tournament is way too long) in Cincinnati. They will play against each other tomorrow in the last big event before the US Open. 

Federer played a great semifinal match against Baghdatis today to book his spot in the finals, and he is the only player to make the finals of the Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati this year. More importantly, he seems to be playing better with each match, and he's starting to look more and more like the Roger Federer who was nearly impossible to beat.

Fish has had an unbelievable summer as well, and he showed us how much he's improved—and how much his 30 lb. weight loss has helped his game—by defeating Andy Roddick today in three sets. I never thought I'd be saying this, and I know majors are a different thing altogether, but Mardy could do some serious damage at the US Open. 

I think you have to go with Roger as being the favourite tomorrow, but after reading Mardy's interview today you can see how much he wants this: 

Q: Any preference on who you play tomorrow?

MARDY FISH: No. I mean, it’s not where I expected to be in the beginning of the week. Like I said, I knew I was playing well, but how high or the level, you know, I wasn’t too sure about. So I feel like I can beat anyone, to be honest. I mean, I remember the final here in 2003 like it was yesterday. This will be my third Masters Series final. I desperately want to win one.

Watch out Roger! Mardy wants this bad. 

But something tells me R. Fed does too.

Federer is Back! And other news...

Amazing match yesterday evening at the Rogers Cup with Federer defeating Chela 7-6, 6-3. The Toronto crowd was very pro-Roger and they went absolutely crazy when he won. Federer looked confident and played aggressively and I really think he's going to go far in this tournament.

Other exciting matches yesterday included Nalbandian vs. Ferrer, with Nalby winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-3; Soderling vs. Gulbis, with Sod defeating Ernie 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Berdych vs Stakhovsky, with Tomas winning 6-2, 6-4; Verdasco vs. Chardy, with Verdasco going through 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; Monfils vs. Devvarman, with Monfils winning 7-6(3), 6-3; and Wawrinka vs. Dancevic, with Wawrinka knocking out the Canadian 6-1, 6-4.

Below are some match photos from yesterday...

Roddick, Berdych: Top Seeds at Legg Mason

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic begins this weekend in Washington, D.C, with quite a few of the top players in attendance—minus, of course, Federer and Nadal, the two players everyone has been waiting to see since Wimbledon. But although Rafa and Roger won’t be playing until next week at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic has the potential for some great matches.

Seeded Players and Their Chances at Legg Mason:

1. Tomas Berdych (CZE)
Tomas has had an amazing season so far with a semifinal result at Roland Garros and a final appearance at Wimbledon, where he had to beat 6-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer along the way. Berdych hits the ball incredibly hard and he should be able to overwhelm the majority of other players at this event. If he plays the way he’s played all year then he should make the finals where he’ll likely meet Andy Roddick—the only player who will really be able to challenge him for the title.

2. Andy Roddick (USA)
Even though Andy lost early last week in Atlanta, he should make it to the finals in Washington where he has a good chance of winning the title. He’ll want to prove that the loss in Atlanta was a fluke and that he’s ready to do well for the rest of the US Open Series, and there’s no one in his half of the draw that he can’t beat.

3. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Verdasco should win his first two rounds fairly easily and then he’ll likely meet Ernests Gulbis or Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals. Baghdatis did not look good in L.A. this week and Gulbis needs to calm down on court (ie. stop smashing multiple raquets) if he wants to win his matches, so Verdasco should make it to the semifinals where he’ll more than likely fall to Berdych.

4. Marin Cilic (CRO)
Cilic really hasn’t done much lately so it would be surprising if he went too far into the draw. To get to the quarterfinals he’ll have to go through Mardy Fish, one of the hottest players of the summer, and if Mardy is healthy I just don’t see it happening.

5. John Isner (USA)
Isner has had some decent results this summer, although he couldn’t take down Mardy Fish in the recent Atlanta finals. He should make it to the quarterfinals though, where he’ll likely lose to Berdych.

The rest of the top ten includes (6)Sam Querrey (USA), (7) Stan Wawrinka (SUI), (8) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP), (9) Ernests Gulbis (LAT), and (10) Radek Stepanek (CZE). Can’t see any of these players winning the title, although Querrey could make the semis, and at this point I’d take the number 11 seed Lleyton Hewitt, or number 15 seed Mardy Fish (as long as his injured ankle has healed) over guys like Baghdatis, Gulbis, or Stepanek.

The entire draw can be seen at the website for the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

Murray Looks Questionable at Farmers Classic

Andy Murray did not look good yesterday. True, he did win his match, but it took him three sets to win against an opponent who he should have beaten very easily. It was obvious when watching the match that something was wrong, but it was hard to tell exactly what. In a later interview Murray said "I was struggling a little bit with my movement, when I got stiff and sore. But I managed to find a way to win." So there you have it. He was stiff and sore. Which is fine I guess, but also a little worrisome. But maybe it was just a "first match back" thing and he'll be totally fine for the rest of the tournament, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Looks like there will be some good Quarterfinal matches today at the Farmers Classic. In fact, all of the singles matches have the potential to be interesting:

Schuettler vs. Querrey (predicted winner: Querrey)
Tipsarevic vs Baghdatis (predicted winner: Tipsarevic)
Lopez vs. Blake (predicted winner: Lopez)
Murray vs. Falla (predicted winner: Murray)

Sam Querrey is the defending champion but he's likely going to have to go through Murray to win the title. In a previous post I predicted a Murray/Querrey final and I still think that's likely.  Let's just hope Murray isn't stiff and sore tonight.

Baghdatis, Tipsarevic, Murray and More!

Nice work by Marcos Baghdatis to beat American Ryan Sweeting 36 62 63 at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Okay, so maybe Baghdatis should have won in straight sets since this Sweeting character is only ranked 118th in the world, but this is the first tournament back for Baggy since Wimbledon so let's just be happy for him, okay?

Congrats also to Janko Tipsarevic (who is quickly becoming my favourite player on tour because he is the best tennis tweeter ever!) who defeated Somdev Devvarman from India 76(9) 62. At least this was a straight sets win. Goooo Tipsy!

Baghdatis and Tipsarevic will face each other in the next round, and my money is on Tipsarevic to win the match. I think I'm choosing Tipsarevic solely on the fact that he seems to be on a roll with his twitter account, and therefore I assume he'll be on a roll on the court. And yes, I'm aware that my thought process in this instance is idiotic.

On to Andy Murray! Very, very excited that he'll be playing tomorrow. My Murray love seems to be growing everyday and I have no idea why. He should win his match fairly easily since I've never even heard of his American opponent, Tim Smyczek (just looked him up and he's ranked 192 in the world, so yeah, Murray might want to beat him).

Other matches tomorrow include Feliciano Lopez vs. Dudi Sela (worth watching just because Feli Lopez is perhaps the most attractive athlete on the ATP tour), Alejandro Falla vs. Ernests Gulbis (remember how Falla almost beat Federer at Wimbledon?) and James Blake vs Benjamin Becker (not so interesting).

Is it bad that I just want all of these smaller tournaments to be over so that the Rogers Cup can start and I can see Federer and Nadal again?