With Federer’s dismissal of Juan Monaco in the fourth round, Federer found himself in yet another Slam quarterfinal, his 30th in a row.  The iron man of tennis had saved his best tennis for Monaco in a thorough beatdown using his power to leave Monaco hapless.  However, Federer really hoped that his tennis was going to be enough against Tsonga.  In particular, Federer was attacking the return of serve, especially on the backhand.  Fed is hitting his forehand harder than usual, and has developed a hook forehand which he can use from the middle of the court, similar to what Nadal can do.

Although the day had been free of rain, within a few games, with Federer taking a one break lead, the rains fell.  Fortunately, the rain lasted about an hour and a half and did not come back.  There were several differences between this match and Federer’s previous matches against Tsonga.  The main difference was Federer’s ability to return Tsonga’s serve and get engaged in points.  At Wimbledon, Federer did not see any break points after a set, and despite taking two sets in tiebreaks, it was a recipe for disaster.  This time around, Federer saw break points and therefore had chances to win the match.

Tsonga also struggled with his serve.  He barely had 50% first serves and only won 40% of his second serves which gave Fed plenty of opportunities.  Tsonga also seemed off.  He was not able to take control of the rallies as much as he did before.

Final score: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic played countryman, Janko Tipsarevic.  Tipsarevic did a very good job keeping up with Djokovic.  He had leads in the first and second set.  He served well, played aggressive.  It’s just that Djokovic continues to get balls back, and even when he’s not playing spectacular, he stays even with his opponent.  Djokovic took the first set in a tiebreak, then Tipsarevic took the second in a tiebreak.  After that, it was all Djokovic.  Djokovic won 9 consecutive games before Tipsarevic retired in the fourth set.

Final score: 7-6, 6-7, 6-0, 3-0, ret.

The schedule was re-worked probably due to player complaint and potential inclement weather.  In particular, they will play the other two quarterfinals on Friday as originally rescheduled.  The men’s semifinals will be played on Saturday as originally scheduled.  However, the final will be played on Monday at 4 PM (alas, holding it in prime time is likely to cause problems with Monday Night Football which is one reason to hold it at 4 PM).

Federer will meet Djokovic for the fifth consecutive year.  They met in the 2007 finals, and have met in the US Open semifinals every year afterwards.

At noon, Andy Murray will play John Isner.  They’ve only met once, back in the 2010 Australian Open, which Murray won in straight sets.   Isner plans to play a similar strategy as he did with Simon.  Play big, hope to hold serves, and win tiebreaks.  He’ll want to play big off the ground.  Murray has more weapons than Simon and will likely want to play more aggressive too, or at least mix it up to confuse the big man.  Isner did play the longest match of the day against Gilles Simon while Murray had a much easier match.  Still, Isner showed he was resilient in that marathon match against Mahut last year.

Following that match, the other Andy, Andy Roddick faces off against Rafael Nadal.  One issue with this match is whether Roddick is hurt.  If he’s hurt, it’s going to make it that much easier for Nadal to win.  Roddick will have to play the match of his life and hope that Nadal is off his game to win.  The odds seem stacked against it as Nadal is still trying to gain form.

On an aside, Jack Sock, who lost in the second round to Andy Roddick, has reached his first Slam final by partnering with Melanie Oudin (who has a massive losing streak in singles).  They got a walkover in the semifinals when Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina pulled out.  They will play the 8th seed, Eduardo Schwank and Gisela Dulko.  Sock and Oudin upset top seed Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber in the second round.  The mixed doubles finals will be played after both men’s quarterfinals.

This will be the fourth consecutive year that the US Open final will be played on a Monday.  Ratings are generally much worse when it’s played on a Monday, partly because it’s played during the American workday and it’s not a holiday, and partly because it can’t be moved to the evening because it conflicts with American football.  One reason the finals are played at 4 PM on Sunday is to minimize some conflict with football.