Sigh.  I suppose there’s a tournament going on in New Haven.  Marcos Baghdatis, semifinalist at Cincy, decided to come to New Haven to play.  Mardy Fish, finalist at Cincy, decided to skip, even though he was scheduled to play.

It happens somewhat surprising that players get deep in a tournament before a Slam, and the luck of the draw puts them near each other in the Slam.

Case in point.  Denis Istomin beat Teimuraz Gabashvili in three sets in the quarterfinals.  These two could meet again in the second round of the US Open, but there’s only one way that could happen.  Gabashvili would have to beat Nadal in the first round.  So, the more likely story is Nadal beats Gabashvili, then moves into the second round, and beats Istomin.  Still, with both these players playing deep in New Haven, they might be in good enough form to bother Nadal somewhat.

Stakhovsky, who beat Baghdatis in three sets, will open against Aussie Peter Luczak.  He might get Ljubicic in the second round.  Given Ljubicic’s uneven form, Stakhovsky might be happy to meet Ljubicic and hope for the upset.

Baghdatis opens up against Clement.  His biggest challenge is likely in the third round where he might potentially meet Mardy Fish.  Two of the hottest players have the misfortune of meeting each other early at the Open.

Troicki just beat Stepanek in the late night quarterfinals.  Troicki has the misfortune of playing Djokovic in the first round of the US Open.  He’s only ever beaten Djokovic once, which was in their first meeting.  He’s also the answer to an interesting trivia question.  Gael Monfils nearly won the junior Grand Slam, winning 3 of 4 Slams, but missing out on the US Open.  Who did Monfils lose to?  It was Troicki.  Andy Murray won the junior US Open instead.

Radek Stepanek opens up his US Open with a tough opponent in Julien Benneteau who just barely missed getting seeded.  Hewitt was the last player seeded with Llodra the first player unseeded and Benneteau just behind him.  Stepanek is probably not in good enough shape to win his opening round having missed the entire clay court season and just getting back into playing tennis again.  Otherwise, he’s a tricky player that plays weird enough, attacks the net enough, that he poses a challenge to many players.

Korolev lost to de Bakker in straight sets.  At the US Open, Korolev will play a qualifier in his first round US Open match.  If he gets past that, he may play Cilic in the second round.  de Bakker also faces a qualifier in his US Open first round and may play a rusty Fernando Gonzalez in his first round match.

In the semifinals, Stakhovsky plays de Bakker while Troicki plays Istomin.  One plus of playing a tournament just before the US Open is that top players skip the event, so it gives an opportunity for lower ranked player to win a tournament.  Realize many players are happy with only a handful of tournament wins.  Tim Henman only won 11 titles in his career while Andy Murray won 11 titles in 2008-2009.