Rafael Nadal had just come off his sixth straight loss to Novak Djokovic, a grueling four-setter that was among the longest matches at the US Open. Rallies often exceeded 20 shots. By the time the fourth set rolled along, Nadal was spent. So, it was amazing, given all that, that Nadal would decide to play
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
Let's start with the first fourth-round match of the day. Janko Tipsarevic played Juan Carlos Ferrero. The two have met twice but not in four years. Ferrero won both encounters but both times they met, the match was close. It was expected that this would be a long match too. And boy was it! The
Roger Federer hadn't looked all that solid in the two Masters 1000 events leading to the US Open. Even so, I felt that he had time to fix things up for the US Open. He's always targeted the Slams and played cleaner tennis in the Slams. His opponent in the third round was Marin Cilic.
It's pretty impressive when a guy who is as injured as Juan Carlos Ferrero can come back and play this well. Ferrero will be off for months, come back, and win a tournament, before fading away. Fortunately for him, he's playing well. Gael Monfils was his creative self, diving all over to get miracle shots
Today, seeds played quite well, with only one seed, Viktor Troicki, losing. Troicki lost to Alejandro Falla, the player that nearly knocked out Federer. Speaking of Federer, he beat Falla's Colombian compatriot, Santiago Giraldo. Federer lost his serve 3 times, which was a bit sloppy on his part, but at least he broke 7 times
Few expected Djokovic to lose to Ryan Harrison. Djokovic possesses the better backhand. He's steadier. He can handle Harrison's power. But, you never know. Sometimes you come out and aren't ready to play from point one. Harrison came out more eager, challenged a first serve by Djokovic early, and got a break through a combination
Djokovic had played somewhat shaky tennis in his first two rounds, beating Davydenko when Davydenko had 2 breaks, then a third before giving up the first set then disappearing in the second. Against Cilic, Djokovic again struggled a bit with trying to take control of the match, but did good enough to win. But it
If you were to take a bet as to who would make it deeper, Roger Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka, surely you would have said Roger Federer. Of course, Roger Federer had to play Tsonga, a former top tenner, where Wawrinka played Kevin Anderson who is hoping to be in the top ten. Roger Federer was
The Rogers Cup is the sixth Masters 1000 event of the year. Four of the events are held in North America with 3 in the United States. The events start a few weeks after the Australian Open with Indian Wells, then Miami. Both are week and a half events. Then, off to Europe. Monte Carlo,
