As the first week of the Open begins to wind up, we’re getting to the serious part of the tournament. Roger Federer has still not dropped a set. He beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. He faced only 4 break points, and didn’t get broken. Federer was also efficient breaking winning 4 of 6 break points.
Robin Soderling also played efficient tennis, and he, too, has yet to drop a set. He beat Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Soderling hit more winner, made fewer errors, and only got broken once.
Janko Tipsarevic was unable to take Roddick’s advice and beat his next round opponent. Roddick must a little unhappy about that. Yen-Hsun Lu beat him at Wimbledon, but lost in the next round to Novak Djokovic. While Tipsarevic is a better player and while his opponent, Gael Monfils, is not nearly the player Djokovic is, Tipsarevic was unable to beat Monfils. Although Tipsarevic took a set from Monfils, it was a comfortable win: 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
Speaking of Asians who won a five set match, but couldn’t win the next round, Kei Nishikori had to withdraw after dropping the first set to Albert Montanes, and only playing a few games in the second. His five set win over Marin Cilic took a lot out of him. Nishikori felt himself cramping in the second set, and yet managed to pull out the win in nearly 5 hours.
Richard Gasquet followed up his straight set dismissal of Nikolay Davydenko with a straight set win over Kevin Anderson. The 6’7″ player from South Africa pushed Gasquet to a second set tiebreak, but couldn’t get a set: 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Mardy Fish and Arnaud Clement have split two sets each. Fish got an early break to go up 3-1. He gave up that break and the two are back on serve.
James Blake takes on Novak Djokovic in the evening match. Juan Carlos Ferrero takes on Jurgen Melzer in the only other remaining men’s match of the day.
Next round, Nadal takes on Simon. It’s hard to say where Simon’s game is now. If he can play like he did in 2008, he can give Nadal trouble. Simon plays good steady tennis and can elongate rallies. So far, Nadal has been playing bigger hitters. It will be interesting to see how he handles a counterpuncher. Simon has beaten Nadal before, but it’s been a while since Simon was on top of his game. Nadal should win, but if Simon plays well, there’s a good chance he can do OK.
Feliciano Lopez takes on Sergiy Stakhovsky in the next round. This section of the draw was fairly friendly. Ljubicic was the high seed, and he wasn’t in great form. Sergiy has a peculiar style of play that involves finesse and approaches to the net. Lopez is more of a power player, but he also likes coming to net. This could be an interesting match. Both players came off of five sets win. I kind of like Stakhovsky here.
David Ferrer takes on Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the battle of the Spaniards. The two have only met once, on clay, back in 2009 at Estoril. Ferrer won that match easily. One assumes he’ll win this match too.
David Nalbandian takes on Fernando Verdasco in one of the more intriguing matches in the third round. The two only met once, back in 2006 at Wimbledon, which Verdasco won. Verdasco hasn’t had a great summer, but he’s played well at the US Open. The two share something in common. Both needed five setters to win the first round, and both won their second round in straight sets.
Andy Murray will take on Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round. Wawrinka has had an indifferent year, but history seems to show that even when that happens, the lower-ranked player remembers how he played against a higher ranked player and plays above his level. Igor Andreev, who had a blah year, pushed Roger Federer to four sets at the Aussie Open. Wawrinka pushed Murray to five sets at Wimbledon in 2009. I expect Wawrinka to give Murray some trouble, but for Murray to get through this match comfortably.
Sam Querrey takes on Nicolas Almagro. Querrey has played Almagro once, back in 2009, in Auckland, in a tuneup for the Australian Open. That was an easy win, but often, players are rusty in January. Querrey has been the more “in-form” player, but Almagro is a big hitter by Spanish standards.
Mikhail Youzhny takes on John Isner in the third round. Youzhny won their only meeting, back in 2009 at Montreal. Isner seems to be playing well despite his ankle ligament problems, but Youzhny is a pretty good hitter. Hard to call, but Isner will have the crowd behind him.
Michael Llodra plays Tommy Robredo. Robredo hasn’t played well in quite a while. However, he’s not dropped a set. Neither has Llodra. I like Llodra, only because his unusual serve-and-volley style, might cause Robredo issues.
Richard Gasquet plays Gael Monfils in the fourth round, guaranteeing that some Frenchman will make the fourth round. Gasquet may be the “hotter” player since his rank was lower. The two have split matches, winning 2 apiece. I think Gasquet is playing better and should be favored.
Mardy Fish needed five sets to beat the wily veteran, Arnaud Clement. Fish got an early break, but Clement broke back. Fish broke back and threatened to break again, but had to settle for holding to win the match. He takes on the winner of Djokovic and Blake. He’s friends with both of them, but served as best man for Blake’s wedding. Blake is playing as well as he ever has, despite an indifferent year. If he can maintain his form, he might give Djokovic a scare. Djokovic isn’t playing his best, but he seems to go deep in Slams nonetheless.
Soderling will play Montanes in the fourth round. Both Soderling and Montanes had to play 5 sets to win their first round, but both have yet to drop a set since then. Soderling has a 2-1 record over Montanes, including the last 2 meetings. They’ve only met in Slams, twice at the French, once at the US Open. Montanes won a set the last two times the two met, so he knows he can hang in some with Soderling. Soderling has looked solid so far, so he’d be expected to win.
Federer will take on the winner of Melzer and Ferrero. He’d be favored in either matchup. Federer played Melzer for the first time at Wimbledon in a straight set win over Melzer. Federer has a 9-3 lead over Ferrero and hasn’t lost to Ferrero since 2003. They’ve also not played since 2007. Even so, Federer would be strongly favored against either veteran.
