Caught in the heat wave that has gripped much of the nation, the Atlanta quarterfinals were played today. Andy Roddick played a rematch of his very first final, coincidentally in Atlanta when he won his first final as a wildcard over Xavier Malisse. Roddick played Malisse again (as a wildcard, but number 1 seed) and
Today, four singles matches were played, and five Americans played, and in every match, the American won. Taylor Dent took on fourth seed Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. In the only all-American second round, Mardy Fish took on Robby Ginepri. Fish continued to show the form that got him to the finals at Queen's and
It's rare, in tennis, to have a double-header, that is, to play two matches in one day (the term comes from baseball, where double-headers are often used to make up for games that were canceled due to weather). Due to Hurricane Danny, the mid-Atlantic coast up through to New England got doused with rain. This
Sam Querrey is tennis's marathon man. He's the only player that has played the entire US Open Series. Indeed, he's played every week since Wimbledon ended, including a grass event at Newport. He's played a lot of tennis. Querrey won Los Angeles, then played two matches in DC, losing to eventual finalist, Andy Roddick. In
Ever since Andy Murray moved up to number 2 in the world in Montreal, the possibility lingered that Nadal and Federer could now appear in the same half of the US Open draw. Tournament organizers had to be hoping fervently that that wouldn't happen. Although Americans are Anglophiles, Andy Murray still lacks the name recognition
It's quarterfinal day and for fans of tennis, probably the single day that gives you the most bang for your proverbial buck. If you have tickets, you can usually watch two quarterfinals that have top players. The elite players have mostly headed to NYC to start training for the US Open, many having arrived on
Let's look back to last year's US Open men's quarterfinals. Rafael Nadal beat Mardy Fish. Andy Murray beat Juan Martin del Potro. Novak Djokovic beat Andy Roddick. Roger Federer beat Gilles Muller. Of the eight quaterfinalists, one was very surprising (Gilles Muller), two were surprising (del Potro and Fish), and one was mildly surprising (Roddick).
Novak Djokovic had a great match last night, playing steady tennis, hitting great shots with his tennis racquet when he had to, and took out Rafael Nadal. It's tough to say how Nadal is doing now, but it's safe to say he isn't fully 100%. Djokovic had beaten Roger the last two times they played,
Tournament organizers must have been thrilled when the top four seeds made the semifinals. Although Murray recently ascended to number 2 in the world, this wasn't reflected soon enough for the seedings in Cincinnati. Murray was still seeded 3. Had he been seeded 2, Murray could only have met Federer in the final. The semifinal
Already more than half way through 2009, this is the first time the top 4 seeds have reached the semifinals, and what bigger event to meet, short of a major, than the Cincinnati Masters. What was once the terrific trio of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have now become the Fab Four, with Murray added to
