US Open Matches to Watch: Day 1

Day 1 of the US Open kicks off tomorrow with a number of the top players in action. Here are a list of matches that should not be missed:

Monday August 30, 2010

Daniela Hantuchova vs. Dinara Safina
Hantuchova is currently ranked 26th in the world, with Safina ranked 59th. Both players have reached the quarterfinals of the US Open before, but only Safina has ever been the world number one and she has a head-to-head record of 6-3 over Hantuchova. Either player could win this match, but I think Safina has a good shot if she can focus and play the way we know she can.

Jurgen Melzer vs. Dimitry Tursunov
It looks like Melzer should easily win this match, as he's ranked 15th in the world and Tursunov is ranked much lower at 482nd. However, Tursunov has been ranked as high as 20th in the world, and he can play a lot better than his ranking suggests. Melzer should win, but I wouldn't be all that surprised to see an upset here.

Lleyton Hewitt vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu
Hewitt is currently ranked 32nd in the world, but he is a former US Open winner and former world number one. Mathieu has been ranked as high as number 12 in the world, but he is currently ranked 107th. People will expect Hewitt to win this match, and no one should be surprised if he does, but Lleyton hasn't been able to play consistent tennis for quite a while now, and this match could be closer than expected.

Taylor Dent vs. Alejandro Falla
Alejandro Falla has played some great tennis this summer, including the near-upset of Federer in the first round of Wimbledon, and I think he can take out some good players if he's playing well. Falla is currently ranked 66th in the world, and his best result at the US Open is a second round finish in 2006. American Taylor Dent is ranked 70th in the world, and his best result here is a fourth round finish in 2004. This could prove to be an exciting match as both players are of a similar ranking and skill level, but Dent has an advantage in that he will have the support of the crowd.

Brian Dabul vs. Roger Federer
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Federer is the favourite to win this match. The current world number 2 has won this title 5 times already, while the 94th ranked Dabul is making his first appearance at the Open. Federer is considered a favourite at this tournament and he should easily win this match, but if he doesn't completely destroy his opponent (or if he loses a set!) then I'm sure the talk will switch back to the whole "Federer is done" thing once again.

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?