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.

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

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.

Results Roundup: Atlanta Tennis Championships

Singles, Second Round

Roddick defeats Ram 61 76 63

Isner defeats Muller 46 76 76

Fish defeats Ginepri 61 75

Malisse defeats Marchenko 63 63

Anderson defeats Young 75 63

Dent defeats Zeballos 46 62 60

Russell defeats Schuettler 16 62 75

Lacko defeats Hewitt 64 62

So, looks like my semifinals prediction has been ruined with the loss of Lleyton Hewitt. I'm surprised he went down so easily to Lukas Lacko--the young player from Slovakia ranked 76th in the world--although I guess you can't really expect too much from Lleyton these days. Isner, Roddick and Fish are still in the mix though so it will be interesting to see which players can get through to the finals.

Atlanta Tennis Championships Early Predictions

Obviously you've got to go with Andy Roddick as the favourite here, but there are a few other good players in the draw who have a chance at the title as well, including Lleyton Hewitt and John Isner.

Based on the draw here are my early predictions:

Quarters: Roddick vs. Malisse, Blake vs. Fish, Tipsarevic vs. Hewitt, Schuettler vs. Isner

Semis: Roddick vs. Fish, Hewitt vs. Isner

Finals: Roddick vs. Hewitt

Winner: Roddick

I would actually love to see a Roddick vs. Hewitt final. When these two play I always feel like it's 2003 again.

Tennis Player Hierarchy

When I watch tennis there is a Player Hierarchy in my head that determines who I want to win the match. I know that everyone has a favourite player, but I didn't realize until recently that I had an actual hierarchy in my head. Let me explain...

For me, Roger Federer is at the top of the hierarchy. This means that in any match he's playing, I want him to win, regardless of who the opponent is. Second in the list is Andy Roddick--so I always want him to win his match, unless he's playing Federer (although if those two meet in a Wimbledon final again I'm going to want Andy to win).

It's easy to name your top few players but it's hard to make a top ten list where you will ALWAYS want your number 6 guy to beat any of the players listed beneath him--and if you can't promise that you want number 6 to beat number 10 every single time then you can't include him in that spot (and yes, the making of a tennis player hierarchy is very serious).

So here's my current top ten:

1) Roger Federer

2) Andy Roddick

3) Andy Murray

4) Rafa Nadal

5) Lleyton Hewitt

6) David Ferrer

7) Mikhail Youzhny

8) Tomas Berdych

9) Tommy Haas

10) Marcos Baghdatis

The last half of the list can easily change at any time, but the top (especially the top two) is pretty permanent. I sort of feel bad about putting Nadal way down in spot number four. The truth is, I think he's amazing but sometimes I want him to lose his matches just so he doesn't break any of Federer's records. And yes, the fact that I've thought this through so much does in fact make me a little crazy.