Preview of This Weeks Tournaments. (Sept 28-Oct 4.)

The women are playing the Toray Pan Pacific Open 2009, a hardcourt tournament in Tokyo, Japan. This is a WTA Premier event, which is the equivalent to a mens "Masters Series" event.

Top 4 seeds and their world ranking:

1. Dinara Safina (#1)
2. Venus Williams (#3)
3. Elena Dementieva (#4)
4. Caroline Wozniacki (#5)

Other notables in the tournament: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Flavia Pennetta. A couple notable players not making the trip to Japan are Serena Williams and U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters.

**** Quick note. This will be ::pirate voice:: Aiiiiiiiiiiiiii Sugiyama's final tournament. She is retiring. (maybe she'll come back in a couple of years, its the IN thing right now.)

PREDICTION: Elena Dementieva over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.


The men have a couple tournaments this week. Two hardcourt tournaments. One in Bangkok, Thailand, and the other in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I'll start with the one in Bangkok first.

Top 4 seeds and world ranking:
1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (#7)
2. Gilles Simon (#10)
3. Sam Querrey (#25)
4. Viktor Troicki (#32)

Other notables in the PTT Thailand Open: Jurgen Melzer, Fabrice Santoro, John Isner, Philipp Petzschner, Marat Safin, and Thai player Kittipong Wachiramanowong. (probably the coolest name ever.)

PREDICTION: Tsonga over Querrey in the final.

Now moving on to the Proton Malaysian Open.

Top 4 seeds and world ranking:
1. Nikolay Davydenko (#8)
2. Fernando Verdasco (#9)
3. Robin Soderling (#11)
4. Fernando Gonzalez (#12)

This tournament is pretty stacked with competition for being a smaller tour event. Other notables are: Gael Monfils, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis, Richard Gasquet.

PREDICTION: Robin Soderling over Fernando Verdasco in the final.

Kimiko Date Krumm and Shahar Peer return to winners circle once again..

Kimiko Date Krumm has put herself into the talk in what is now becoming the year of the comeback in women's tennis. Date Krumm who was retired for 12 years, and surprisingly decided to play tennis again on the WTA tour last year. Her comeback is at a peak now, winning this weeks tournament in Seoul, South Korea. Date-Krumm upset Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain to claim the championship. My pick to win the tournament Alisa Kleybanova only made it to the 2nd round. She was a victim to Date-Krumm's unexpected hot streak.

Shahar Peer made it 2 tournament victories in a row, by defeating Akgul Amanmuradova in the Tashkent Open in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Peer now has won the last 2 weeks, and seems to be hitting the same form she showed a couple years ago when she was a top 15 player. The weak fields she had to face in both tournaments didn't hurt in her taking both crowns. Still it is very difficult to win on the WTA tournament, and winning 2 in a row is a great accomplishment. I had predicted a Shvedova over Peer in the final. I was a little off. Shvedova reached the semifinals but fell to Amanmuradova. Peer did make the final, so i wasn't that far off.

On the mens side there was 2 tournaments. A clay court tournament in Bucharest, Romania and a indoor carpet tournament in Metz, France.

The clay tournament in Bucharest saw 2 clay court specialists work their way to the finals. Argentine, Juan Monaco and Spaniard Albert Montanes squared off for the championship. Montanes was able to claim victory after a tough, gritty, hard-fought match. My prediction to win the tournment Nicolas Almagro fell in the 2nd round.

It took Gael Monfils 3 sets to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber and claim the tournament championship in Metz, France. Along with Monfils victory the tournament featured the comeback of Richard Gasquet off suspension of cocaine use. (allegedly) Gasquet made a nice run to the semifinals, where he lost to Monfils. My pick to win Paul-Henri Mathieu made it to the semifinals as well, but lost to Kohlschreiber.

THE WILLIAMS' KILLER IS BACK!!

Former world number 1 Justine Henin made it official, by announcing she will be returning to the WTA tour by the 2010 Australian Open, Which starts in the middle of January.

This is great news. To me she is still the number one player. When she left last year right before the French Open she was without a doubt the best women's tennis player on the planet. Thats right, NOT SERENA WILLIAMS. As a matter of fact Henin made a name of basically kicking the piss out of the William's sisters on a regular basis. The only player to kick her off the top of the mountain and the #1 ranking was herself by announcing her shocking retirement, and being the first ever tennis player to quit while being ranked #1.

When she returns from her year and a half sabatical she will be 27. In the women's game 27 is almost a dinosaur. Most women's players are at their peak at between 18-23 or maybe 24. 25 is normally the age where they start to slip, but not always. Serena is still elite and she is over 25. Henin doesn't have a power game. She is more of a technical player who relies on her speed and movement, to go along with her accurate ground strokes and superb volleying skills. I'm not sure how the layoff will affect her. She may have needed the rest to heal her body, or she may have lost a step. The one thing for sure is she will have a little tournament rust. But that may not take too long to work through. Fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters is proof of that.

The WTA needed Justine Henin back. Since she left it was a bit chaotic as to who would be #1. Ana Ivanovic with her first major win at last year's French (Roland Garros) she was #1 for a while. I believe Sharapova was for a week or so as well before her injury. I'm not positive. Jankovic then was #1 for a while and had a bit of controversy because she was #1, but had never won a Grand Slam title. Now up to today Serena bitches and moans about how she has won so many Grand Slams over the past year and a half and Safina still has the top ranking. The pressure of being number one without a slam may actually be affecting Safina's confidence and mental fortitude. Trying to live up to everyone else's expectations let alone the pressures put on herself. I'm getting off track here. I'll have to give Dinara a seperate blog and give my thoughts on that another time.....basically my whole point is maybe Henin's return will clear up some of the ranking nonsense and there will be more stability in the rankings.

If anything, the return of Henin and Clijsters. Also Maria Sharapova getting better after her shoulder injury. The whole women's tour will be much more interesting next year.

Preview of This Weeks Tournaments. (Sept. 21-27)

This week there are 2 tournaments a piece for the men and women. The 2 women's tournaments are being played in Seoul, South Korea and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. While the men will be playing in Bucharest, Romania and Metz, France.

The women's hardcourt tournament in Seoul features Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia as its #1 seed. The rest of the field features notables: Sorana Cirstea, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Francesca Schiavone, Alisa Kleybanova, and the great Vera Dushevina. A pretty decent lineup for a small tournament. The winner will walk home with $37,000.

My Pick: I like Alisa Kleybanova the #5 seed to make it through the draw and earn the victory.

The other women's tournament is also being played on hardcourt, and it is being held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This tournament also features a $37,000 prize to its winner. The field for this tournament is substantially weaker than the other womens tournament in Seoul. The number 1 seed is Yaroslava Shvedova, who put herself on the map by beating Ana Ivanovic at this years U.S. Open. Shvedova although is only #55 in the world. Shahar Peer who is coming off a tournament victory last week is in the Tashkent field and is the #2 seed. Other notables in this tournament are: Lenka Wienerova, Ekaterina Bychkova, Akgul Amanmuradova, and Sabine Sharipova of Uzbekistan. (Not to be confused with any relation to Maria Sharapova). Evgeniya Rodina a player who I saw in Midland is also in the field. (She'll get smashed).

My Pick: Shvedova over Peer in the final.


Now moving to the men. The men's tournament in Bucharest is being played on Clay with a prize of 71, 700 pounds to the winner (no clue what that is in American dollars). Victor Hanescu is the #1 seed in his home tournament. Other key notables are: Nicolas Almagro, Juan Monaco, Igor Andreev, Albert Montanes, and Oscar Hernandez. By the looks of the field its mostly filled with clay court specialists.

My Pick: Nicolas Almagro

Metz, France is the start of the European carpet season. Gael "Monchichi" Monfils is in the field and is the #1 seed. Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany is the #2 seed. Some other players appearing at this tournament are: Janko Tipsarevic, Ivan Ljubicic, Richard Gasquet, Fabrice Santoro, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Marc Gicquel. Making for what will be an interesting week.

My Pick: Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Davis Cup and Women's tournament results.

The Davis Cup semifinals are not complete. Like I predicted, Spain crushed Israel, and the Czech Republic beat Croatia.

Here are the match by match results of Spain and Israel.

Match 1: David Ferrer (ESP) defeated Harel Levy (ISR) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
Match 2: Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) defeated Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-4, 6-2, 6-0
Match 3: Feliciano Lopez/Tommy Robredo (ESP) defeated Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR)
7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
*** Spain clinches after doubles victory.
Match 4: David Ferrer (ESP) defeated Andy Ram (ISR) 6-3, 6-1
Match 5: Harel Levy (ISR) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5, 6-2

The Spaniards clinched and were up 3-0 going into the last day. David Ferrer was chosen to play his 2nd singles match of the week, which was kind of a surprise. Normally if already clinched the doubles team will play out the 2 remaining singles matches. I think David was given the nod on singles, because it will probably be his last match for the Davis Cup team for this year. With Rafa and Verdasco probably being healthy for the finals the rumors are that Ferrer will be the odd man out and left off the team. I guess this was a "last hurrah" of sorts. In typical fashion Feliciano Lopez goes out and gets his ass kicked in the final match. It didn't mean anything, but for a guy who has been playing like garbage it may be a nice confidence booster to get a singles win. Looks like his downward spiral continues.

The match by match results for Czech Republic and Croatia.

Match 1: Radek Stepanek (CZE) defeated Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 16-14
Match 2: Tomas Berdych (CZE) defeated Marin Cilic (CRO) 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3
Match 3: Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek (CZE) defeated Marin Cilic/Lovro Zovko (CRO)
6-1, 6-3, 6-4
****** Czech Republic clinches after doubles victory.
Match 4: Jan Hajek (CZE) defeated Roko Karanusic (CRO) 7-6, 6-4
Match 5: Lovro Zovko (CRO) defeated Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 6-3, 6-4

Match 1 featuring Radek Stepanek and Ivo Karlovic went a grueling 5 hours and 59 minutes. "Dr." Ivo had a record total of 78 aces, and still lost the match. That match was the highlight of the the whole weekend.

Spain and Czech Republic will meet in the Davis Cup finals scheduled for December 4-6 in Spain.


There were 2 women's tournaments this week. One in Quebec City, Canada and the other in Guangzhou, China. Neither tournament featured a tremendous field, but both had some solid players playing.

The tournament in Guangzhou, China featured a final between once top 20 player Shahar Peer of Israel and Alberta Briant of Italy, who is ranked #85 in the world. Peer who was in the top 20 a year and a half ago has been fighting injury troubles, which in return have hampered her game and made her sink to #64. Her comeback has been hard and a struggle with a lot of not so impressive results, but she finally shook off the rust to take the tournament championship 6-3, 6-4.

The Quebec City tournament seemed to have the better field of the two, with #13 Nadia Petrova participating. Petrova though didn't last long losing in the 3rd round to Melinda Czink of Hungary. Czink with her upset victory over Petrova rode that wave of confidence all the way to the championship beating Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. It was kind of neat to see Czink get a victory. Melinda Czink I got to see play live in a small ITF tournament in Midland, Michigan this past February. The match I saw her play wasn't even a singles match. It was in doubles. A semifinal match where her and her partner won. So its a good story to see her come from what baseball fans would call the Triple A minor leagues to winning a tournament on the WTA tour. Congratulations Melinda, it looks like you will be a little too good to be in Midland next February.


Next week the men return to action with 2 tournaments. A hardcourt tournament in Metz, France and a clay tournament in Bucharest, Romania.

The women play 2 hardcourt tournaments. One in Seoul, South Korea and another in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Just a quick guess, but i don't think you will see the tournament in Uzbekistan feature too many of the "top" players. I just don't see Uzbekistan as a desired destination. I could be wrong, but by the looks of my picks, ITS RARE. :)

This Weeks Tournaments.

There are no tournaments this week for the men due to this week being Davis Cup week. The semifinals of the Davis Cup are Friday through Sunday (September 18-20).

The first semifinal matchup is Croatia vs. Czech Republic with the matches being played on Croatian soil.
Team Croatia features singles players Marin Cilic, who is coming off a good U.S. Open run and the hard serving "Dr." Ivo Karlovic. The doubles team of Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko round out the team.
The Czech Republic will feature Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych in singles, and a doubles team of Jan Hernych and Lukas Dlouhy. Dlouhy comes into the Davis Cup matchup on a high after winning the men's doubles at the U.S. Open with his partner Leander Paes.

My Prediction: These matches I believe will be played on clay. On clay Karlovic's serve is much more negated. Look for Cilic to prove huge trouble for the Czech's, but I think both Berdych and Stepanek will beat Karlovic on clay. Also the Czech doubles team seems to be the better of the two. The Czech's should move on to the finals.

In the other semifinal, defending Davis Cup champions Spain welcome the surpise Israeli team who previously upset Russia to make it this far. The Spanish team is loaded with Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, and Feliciano Lopez on the team. I'm sure Rafa will be playing singles, and Lopez will be on the doubles team, but I am not sure whether Robredo or Ferrer will be the 2nd singles player or will be matched up with Lopez on the doubles team. Normally Fernando Verdasco is Lopez's doubles partner, but he has been suffering from a stomach strain and will not compete.

***** EDIT: Rafael Nadal has been scratched and replaced by Juan Carlos Ferrero. This will make no difference in my prediction. It will still be a beatdown.

Israel has the team of Dudi Sela, Harel Levy, Jonathan Erlich, and Andy Ram. I know Sela will be playing singles and Andy Ram is a doubles specialist, but I do not know who Erlich and Levy are. I have never seen them play so I do not know what they do best, or how they will be used.

My Prediction: PAIN and lots of it for the Israeli's. This will get ugly. The only possible victory I see for the Israeli's on the road in Spain may be the doubles match, and that may be a stretch. The Spaniards on clay and at home will destroy Israel 4-1 and move onto the finals against the Czech Republic.

The women do have tournaments this week. 2 smaller hardcourt tournaments, one being in Quebec City, Canada and the other is taking place in Guangzhou, China.

The top two seeds in Quebec City feature #13 ranked Nadia Petrova, and Canada's own Aleksandra Wozniak who is ranked #39. A few names of note in the tournament are American's Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Vania King.

The tournament in Guangzhou features #21 ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, and China's own Shuai Peng as their top 2 seeds. Other notables are one of my personal favorites Lenka Weinerova. Shahar Peer is also in the field.

The New Rankings Are Out.

Lets start off with my own personal power rankings for the 2009 season up through the conclusion of the U.S. Open. These rankings aren't based on career success, its strictly based on the 2009 season. With criteria where Grand Slam Events are worth more points than Masters Series Events, and Masters Series Events are worth more than regular tour stops.

My Men's Top 10:
1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Novak Djokovic
4. Andy Murray
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Andy Roddick
7. Fernando Verdasco
8. Tommy Robredo (I was a little surprised to see him this high myself)
9. Fernando Gonzalez
10. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

My Women's Top 10:
1. Dinara Safina
2. Serena Williams
2. Caroline Wozniacki
4. Elena Dementieva
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova
7. Venus Williams
8. Jelena Jankovic
8. Flavia Pennetta
10. Vera Zvonareva

Here are the OFFICIAL ATP Rankings:
1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Andy Murray
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Andy Roddick
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Nikolay Davydenko
9. Fernando Verdasco
10. Gilles Simon

OFFICIAL WTA Rankings:
1. Dinara Safina
2. Serena Williams
3. Venus Williams
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova
5. Elena Dementieva
6. Caroline Wozniacki
7. Vera Zvonareva
8. Jelena Jankovic
9. Victoria Azarenka
10. Flavia Pennetta

On the men's side there wasn't a lot of moving or shaking in the rankings. The two biggest of note involved 2 Americans. John Isner with his U.S. Open run moved up 16 spots to be now ranked #39 in the world. While the injured Mardy Fish took a tumble of 27 spots to fall to #53. Personal favorite David Ferrer held steady at #19 in the world.

The women's side offered a little more intrigue and surprises. Kim Clijsters with her U.S. Open Championship went from not even being in the computer to rising to the Top 20 and now being the #19 rank woman in the world. New American darling Melanie Oudin, who made a nice run to the quarterfinals moved up from #70 to #46. The "Flying" Bondarenko sister named Kateryna is now ranked ahead of her sister Alona for the first time. Kateryna is #34 and Alona is #36. One player who fell pretty hard due to a poor performance was Switzerland's Patty Schnyder. Coming into the Open Schnyder was ranked #20 but with a second round defeat came a tumble all the way to #45. Oh, and I almost forgot "cinderella" semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer who climbed 28 spots with her improbable run to now be ranked #22. Things are looking up for Belgian women's tennis. It would only get better if Justine Henin decides to return.

Day 15 of the U.S. Open

In an amazing upset Juan Martin Del Potro is the 2009 men's U.S. Open champion defeating Roger Federer in 5 amazing sets.

In the pre-match interview Del Potro admitted to being nervous, and by the way he started out his play showed it. Del Po came out of the gate hesitant and making a lot of errors. These errors led to his serve being broken early in the first set. At the same time Roger Federer wasn't playing his "A" game either, but he really didn't need to. He did just enough to take control of the first set and win it fairly easily 6-3.

Roger's serve wasn't on at all. He had 6 double faults by the middle of the second set, but Del Po wasn't taking advantage of Fed's struggles. He was having bigger struggles of his own, and his out-of-sort play continued and Federer had an early break in the 2nd set to take a 2-0 early lead and it looked like Roger was going to cruise over the young, nervous, Argentine. After falling to a 2-0 deficit early in the 2nd Del Po seemed to settle and calm down a bit. He began holding serve easily, and also give Federer a battle when he was serving. But Roger did just enough and Del Po made a few easy mental errors to help Federer hold serve. Late in the 2nd set Del Po, with the help of some blistering forehands finally broke Federer's serve for the first time. It looked like a brand new Del Po. The nerves were gone, and he was coming alive. He fist pumped his way to a 2nd set tiebreaker in which he won. 2nd set to Del Po 7-6.

The nerves were gone, and Del Po seemed to find his range with his forehand. His footwork was also noticeably better as well. The momentum was now in Del Po's favor. Both players although continued to hold their own serves, but now it is Federer who is looking a little worn, and hitting lazy forehands into the net. At 3-3 in the set Del Potro breaks Federer's serve to take a 4-3 lead, but like a gay cowboy Federer "broke back" to make it 4-4. Breaking back is what Roger needed. It changed the tide and Federer ended up taking the 3rd set 6-4 and having a 2 sets to 1 lead.

The 4th set was a back and forth battle. Both players not wanting to give an inch. Del Potro continued his great play with his lethal forehand leading the way. Roger had no answer for it. He tried to continue to hit to the backhand, but that wasn't working either. Del Potro was able to get out to a 4-2 lead and up a break, but in typical Roger Federer style he came back to even the match. It just seemed like no matter what Del Po did Roger somehow had an answer. No matter how great he played, Roger was going to just strike back and pull out the victory. Its the aura her gives off. Its like no matter how bad he is playing, or how good his opponent is playing he'll end up finding a way to win. The 4th set ended up going to a tiebreaker. Now this is the time where Del Po will just wither and the great Roger Federer will stake his claim to becoming the U.S. Open champion for the 6th straight year. Seemed like everyone in the crowd could feel it, but one person. That one person is a 6'6" Argentine who was showing courage and heart that most 20 year olds could ever imagine. Most guys, even with 20 times more experience would be shitting their pants at this point. Del Potro just continued to fight and pound ground strokes. Hitting his shots and somehow taking the tiebreaker and set 7-6.

Now you think, "This is when Federer will take over." And it would make total sense to think that. Del Potro's biggest flaw is his lack of fitness. He has been working on it, and has improved his stamina greatly, but it still comes up in matches where he just gasses out and cannot play at the top level he is accustomed to. Roger will probably just run him ragged, and wear him down and take it in the 5th set.... Well the opposite happened. It was Del Potro who would take control and just dominate the final set. Feeding off the crowd, who suddenly were cheering and chanting for Del Potro, and loving how the Argentine was staying in the fight, fist pumping, motioning to the crowd to get louder. It seemed to give him the extra energy he needed to just punish the great Roger Federer and win the final set 6-2 and win his first ever Grand Slam event.

When the final point fell out of bounds, the huge Argentine fell to his back and he layed there balling his eyes out. Here is a guy a little over a year ago was off the radar. He wasn't ranked high enough to be in the olympics, but now he is a the U.S. Open champion. And he earned it by beating the greatest player of all time and a 5 time defending champion. Making an almost impossible feat possible. Roger was pure class in defeat. Shaking hands with Del Potro and giving him a friendly hug. During the awards ceremony he was gracious and smiling, giving all credit to how well Del Po had played. But Roger also made sure to let everyone know how well he played as well. Oh Roger. Del Potro with tears in his eyes thanked the crowd, his family, his coach, and all the people who have supported him. It was great to see a young face in men's tennis making his way to the top. Now there is another guy to take notice of. No longer is it just Federer and Nadal. Andy Murray has made a charge, Novak Djokovic has won a major and can beat anyone on any givin day. Andy Roddick has improved his game and can contend, but now there is a young 20 year old named Juan Martin Del Potro who is still learning the game. Still improving his craft. To be this good, and still improving and growing into his body, its just plain scary. Roger and Rafa are looking over their shoulder at another contender for their top spot.

In a previous blog I have said that Juan Martin Del Potro would win a major championship more sooner than later, but I never imagined it would be this soon.

Thank you to Federer and Del Potro for putting on a tremendous drama filled match. And congratulations to Juan Martin Del Potro for winning his first career Grand Slam title.

Day 14 of the U.S. Open

Serena Williams was dealt her punishment. A $10,500 dollar fine, with the possibilities of future punishments as harsh as suspension from future grand slam events. We all know that, that won't happen. People come out to see her play, and money talks. A slap on the wrist and the WTA will hope it all goes away. Maybe she'll just blow out both knees and her rotator cuff in her serving shoulder and karma will win in the end. Enough about that.

The first match of the day saw the giant "bumble bee" Juan Martin Del Potro school everyone's favorite Rafael Nadal. Nadal had no answers for Del Potro. Del Potro had the fire power, and Rafa just wasn't healthy. The stomach muscle strain seemed to be a problem, and it led to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 pounding. Even healthy I don't think Rafa would of won this match. Del Po is a beast on the hardcourt, plus he was wearing his sweet black and yellow bumble bee wardrobe. Don't piss him off, he'll swarm you. And thats what he did.

Roger Federer advances to Mondays men's final with a straight set win over Novak Djokovic. The match was as close a straight set victory could be. Just seemed that "the Rog" won all the big points and won just enough games to squeak out each set. Score was 7-6, 7-5, 7-5. Djokovic played well, but Federer is just playing out of his mind right now. Seems as if he can do no wrong. Must be them handjobs and rub downs hes getting from Gavin Rossdale.

In the women's final featuring NO Williams sister (THANK GOD) Kim Clijsters sealed her improbable comeback with a straight set win over Caroline Wozniacki. Its just amazing that a woman can quit tennis, have a kid, and come back and win a huge tournament like this. The cards seemed to fall for her. She went through and beat both Williams' sisters, which is grounds for naming a national holiday in her honor, along with becoming my new favorite women's player. But she also was unranked and needed a gift wildcard just to be in the event. Congratulations to Wozniacki as well. She is growing leaps and bounds and should be the next young "big thing" passing over the overrated Ana Ivanovic. The match itself was close, but whenever there was a big point it seemed that Wozniacki tensed up with some nerves and Clijsters just did enough to pull them out. It was kind of similar to the Federer-Djokovic match in that regard. I guess now we just have to see how far Clijsters will take this comeback. By the looks of this year as a whole Wozniacki at only 19 years old continues to improve and there is no telling how far she can go. By the time she calls it quits she'll be a multiple Grand Slam champion and a top 5 player, if not #1. Just happy to see two humble, and classy women fight it out for the championship and not some arrogant she-male.

Quick predicion on tomorrows men's final: I'm rooting for Del Potro to win, but its not going to happen. Hes too green, and does not have the experience to beat Roger Federer in Ashe Stadium. Federer is playing great tennis and seems to have found his "unbeatable" aura once again. The same aura he had just a few years ago where he would just crush people. With his confidence soaring, and Del Potro's lack of experience being in the big time, as well as Roger just being better at the moment, it won't be pretty for the Argentine. I see an anticlimatic final with Federer winning in four sets and winning his 6th straight U.S. Open title.

One more note. The coolest doubles dude Leander Paes won the mens doubles championship with his partner. I can't think of the dudes name. Lukas Dlouhy or something. It doesn't matter. Its all about Leander.

Day 13 of the U.S. Open

Serena Williams is an arrogant, classless piece of shit that should be flushed, once and for all. Kim Clijsters who was dishing out a ass whippin has 2 match points, one due to a foot fault that looked like it could of slid onto the line and was a correct call. Well according the the pro-Serena CBS announcers it was a travesty that this little Asian woman who was doing her job, correctly made a call. Serena blows up and 3 times makes sure to rush over and yell and intimidate this small woman. All the while CBS is showing a replay from the shittiest angle possible proclaiming it wasn't a foot fault. Dick Enberg's old ass in his depends trying to sound out players names. Mary Carillo with her dyke man suits and the "Hey, look at me I'm Johnny Mac" are pissing and moaning about the call. Serena blows up yells at this poor woman. Walks away, then proceeds to walk over and scream in her face again, then go set up to serve again just to have her one more time point and scream at her. Finally the chair umpire and tournament director had seen enough and decided to tell Serena to "fuck off". Leaving Venus and the Ann Coulter look alike shocked and appalled. I'm sure Richard Williams is already preparing his "The WTA is racist speech." Fuckface probably has Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on speed dial. So Serena, hope you blow out both achilles' bitch. Time to flush these Williams' like the turds they are. That may be harsh to Venus, but oh well.

Anyways lost in the attention whore antics of Serena is how well Kim Clijsters was tooling her. She was quicker on the court, and was taking control of most of the points. She deserved to win and was probably on her way to winning, but now it will be overlooked by the childish antics and classless sportsmanship of a spoiled, arrogant, asshole.

Caroline Wozniacki moves into the finals matchup with Clijsters with a straigh set win over the darkhorse Yanina Wickmayer. Both sets had the same 6-3 score.

Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez finished their quarterfinal matchup. But Gonzalez decided to not show up for the match. He was physically there on the court, but didn't do a whole hell of a lot. The 2nd set tiebreaker was finished and Fernando didn't even score a point. In the 3rd set he was blasted away 6-0. It was all over in a matter of about a half hour. What a shame. The guy has huge talent, but his lack of mental fortitude keeps him from reaching the upper-echelon of players. He probably threw down a few pesos on Nadal and called it good. Him and Davydenko are partying as I type this.

Tomorrow the weather looks good as far as getting in all the scheduled matches. The 2 mens semifinals and womens finals are on tap for Sunday.

Quick predictions.
Del Potro to beat Nadal. Del Po has had a few days off and the gas tank is full. He'll outplay Nadal to advance to his first Grand Slam Final

Federer will beat Djokovic in a fairly easy match. I think Novak will win a set, but thats about it. Mirka will be happy with the result.

The women's final will be tough. I find it hard to believe that a woman will come back from a 2 year retirement and in only her third tournament and about a month being back win a grand slam event. The story seems too good to be true. So odds are it probably is. Look for Wozniacki's consistency to outlast and end Clijster's improbable, but impressive run. Plus anyone who can outlast the "curse of Verdasco's weiner" probably has super powers and is unstoppable.

Enjoy the matches, and GO LIONS.
Fire Dantoinio

Day 12 of the U.S. Open

Alll matches were rained out and have been rescheduled for Saturday.

Day 11 of the U.S. Open

Thursday saw the weather become a factor in the matches. The afternoon match got off without a hitch, but the night match had to be postponed late in the 2nd set.

In the afternoon Juan Martin Del Potro endured an early onslaught by Croatian Marin Cilic. Cilic won the first set and was up an early break and 3-1 lead in the 2nd. Then things seemed to fall apart. Del Po won the next 5 games to steal the 2nd set, and it was all done after that. Cilic seemed to fold and Del Potro cruised to an easy 4 set victory. This will be Del Potro's 2nd Grand Slam semifinal this year.

It is unknown who Del Potro will face in the semi's. Fernando Gonzalez and Rafael Nadal were having a close back and forth battle, with Nadal winning the first set 7-6. The 2nd set featured much of the same, but with a rain delay that lasted over an hour. The players were able to get back on court, and it once again went to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker it began to rain once again, and the match was postponed until Friday.

Friday looks bleak as far as the rains holding off. It seems that rain will affect almost the entire weekend. There could be more tennis come next Monday.

In other Thursday matches, the Williams sisters beat Kleybanova-Makarova to reach the womens doubles finals, and the team of Leander Paes and Cara Black lost the mixed doubles final to a couple jobbers. Carly Gullickson and some dude whose name I can't remember.

Picks for Friday.

I think Rafa will hold off Gonzalez and win.

Serena Williams will have a little too much for Kim Clijsters. Clijsters in only her 3rd tournament back from retirement will show some rust and lose in a close match.

Caroline Wozniacki will have little trouble with Yanina Wickmayer and move on to her first Grand Slam final.

Day 10 of the U.S. Open

Wednesday, a pretty shitty day for me, turned into a pretty shitty one for "Cinderella" Melanie Oudin. Oudin was beatin in sound fashion by Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Oudin was both overcome by the moment of playing under the lights and pressure that has been put on her by American tennis fans. Not to mention that Wozniacki is a pretty good player, and is much more experienced and talented than the young American. Oudin can walk away with new knowledge, experience, and great memories. Wozniacki moves on to the semifinals and will face Belgian unknown Yanina Wickmayer, who beat "Flying" Bondarenko sister Kateryna. Wickmayer from what I hear has a pretty intense "scream-grunt". I'll have to check that out.

On the men's side of things Novak Djokovic struggled early with Fernando Verdasco, but eventually wore down the Spaniard to win in 4 sets. Verdasco was hampered with a stomach muscle strain (too many thrusts on the Wozniacki will do that to you.) and it showed in many of his strokes. He lost speed on his serves, and his forehand. To go with the stomach strain, Verdasco also had troubles with one of his calfs. So by the 3rd and 4th sets the "Djoker" was playing and teeing off on a gimp. Djokovic moves on to the Semi's.

Djokovic will face Roger Federer in Saturday's semifinal after he dispatched the "antisocial" Swede Robin Soderling. Federer came out blazing and won the first set 6-0, and it looked like it was going to be a short night for Soderling. Soderling in the 2nd set started to become more comfortable and play better, but a break of serve led to him losing the second set 6-3. Down 2 sets to love it looked bleak. To my surprise Soderling started to play better after smashing the piss out of his racket, because it made a double fault. Damn racket. The new racket although seemed to work. He ended up winning the 3rd set 7-6 in a tiebreaker where he fell behind and came back to take from Federer. The 4th set was close and nobody lost serve. Soderling had a set point in the tiebreaker, but hit a forehand into the net. Federer took advantage and eventually pulled out the tough 4th set and match. What looked like a stomping turned into a pretty entertaining match.

Hopefully Thursday will be another great day of tennis and a better day for myself as well.

Picks for Friday:

Juan Martin Del Potro plays Marin Cilic. I'm sure Del Po is glad to know hes facing Cilic rather than his nemesis Andy Murray. Del Po's only weakness is his fitness, which has gotten better, but still isn't "elite". I don't think this will be a factory. Del Po has been playing short matches and eliminating whoever is in front of him in short time. I don't think Cilic will be any different. Cilic's win over Murray in my mind was a fluke. Cilic hasn't been playing that well, and I don't think his luck will continue. Look for Del Po to win in 4.

Fernando Gonzalez and Rafa Nadal will play in the night match. This is a rematch from last year's olympic games final in Beijing. In that match Rafa pretty much dominated, and I don't really see how things will be any different. Nadal seems to be playing better, and his stomach injury seems to not be much of a problem. (no Wozniacki thrusts for him) Rafa will run the "cheating Chilean" all over the court and wear him down like he did Gael "monchichi" Monfils. Looks like it will be a short easy night for Rafa.

Day 9 of the U.S. Open

Tuesday saw the fall of men's favorite Andy Murray. Murray was the pick by a lot of people to dethrone king Roger Federer of his U.S. Open crown. Croatian Marin Cilic picked Murray apart, and never let the Scot get in a rhythm. Murray said later that he was, "a little tired". This was kind of odd since Murray is probably one of the fittest players on tour. Maybe its too much tennis during the summer, or it was a useful excuse. Either way Andy Murray has to re-group. Another major lost. Cilic kept Murray off balance and took advantage of points by being more aggressive. It was a tactic that proved to be valuable, for Murray had no answer for Cilic's new style of play.

In the next round Cilic will play another giant Juan Martin Del Potro. Both players are over 6'6" and should be an interesting match to see these two giraffe's meet up. Del Potro earned his way into the quarterfinals by beating down Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets.

The "Cheating Chilean" Fernando Gonzalez pulled the minor upset of defeating Jo-Willie Tsonga. Tsonga had been steamrolling people, and it seemed like it was going to happen again to Gonzalez. Tsonga won the first set and seemed to be well on his way to another victory. Then Gonzalez started making his shots, and closed the gap. It was too much for the Muhammad Ali look-a-like and Fernando moves on to face Rafa Nadal next.

Rafa Nadal outlasted Gael Monfils during the night match. Monfils won the first set in a tiebreaker, but after that it was all Rafa. Monfils was visibly tired and holding his knees and gasping for breaths after some of the rallys. Rallys that were some of the best I've seen in a long time. 30-35 shot rallys with both players running left-to-right and forward and back. Great shotmaking, but it was Monfils lack of conditioning or fitness that did him in. Rafa looked good, and it seemed his stomach problem wasn't much of a hinderance.

On the women's side there was only 2 matches. In the first match of the day Kim Clijsters back from retirement and having a baby totally dominated Na Li. Li playing on Arthur Ashe court for the first time seemed lost, and scared out on center stage. Her game was way off and Clijsters remained consistent in a easy beatdown.

The night match featured Serena Williams and Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta who was on the best streak of her life couldn't match the power of Serena. Serena had a serve clock 130 m.p.h. and the smaller Pennetta couldn't handle it. Most of the games were close and Pennetta had her opportunities to break, but just couldn't come through when it mattered. Serena wins in 2 very close sets, and will face Clijsters in the semifinals.

Real quick my picks for Day 10 (Wednesday):

Federer to stomp Soderling in straight sets. Possibly 4 if Soderling gets lucky
Djokovic to squeak by Fernando Verdasco in what will be the match of the day. Djokovic is playing great tennis, and I believe has just a little bit more than Fernando.

On the women's side look for Flying Bondarenko sister Kateryna to continue her improbable run and move into the semifinals. Also tonight will be the end of everyone's little darling Melanie Oudin, who meets up with a player that has the exact same game as her in Caroline Wozniacki, but is better and more consistent. This will be a match where whoever makes the least amount of mistakes wins, and that will be Wozniacki.

Day 8 at the U.S. Open

I want to take a minute to toot my own horn. If you read the "Day 7" blog and my predictions you will see I pretty much called every match exactly to how many sets. Yes, I'm that damn good.

So heres a recap:

Roger Federer thrashed Tommy Robredo in easy straight sets. Robin Soderling was up 2 sets to 1 when Nikolay Davydenko retired due to a bad leg, which he had heavily taped before the match. So now Federer will face Soderling, with the winner getting to the semifinals.

Novak Djokovic as I predicted smoked Radek "enemy mine" Stepanek in straight sets. The highlight of this match was after the match when the "Djoker" was being interviewed he made a sly comment to John McEnroe in the booth about coming down and hitting some balls, and Johnny Mac obliged. McEnroe came down in khakis and dress shirt with sneakers on and hit a few balls with Novak. It was a pretty cool moment......Djokovic will now face Fernando Verdasco who beat John Isner in thats right 4 sets. Who said it was going to go 4? Thats right, ME!! Anyways this is the first time EVER that no American male will be in the quarterfinals. And I say GOOD!!

On the womens side "Flying" Bondarenko sister Kateryna got revenge in the worst way over Gisela Dulko by "double bageling" her and downright embarrassing the Argentine. Kateryna will now face Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in the round of 8 for the crown of "biggest jobber to reach the semis" A great honor and career highlight for either of these ladies.

17 year old Melanie Oudin's improbable streak continues. She dispatched another Russian Natalie Petrova in a tough 3 set victory. Oudin has made a habit out of losing the first set easily, just to come back and snatch victory from another Russian. ::beavis laugh:: I said snatch. Melanie will now face Caroline Wozniacki who continues to defy the "curse of Verdasco's weiner" by defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in what is probably the match of the day. The score line said 2-6, 7-6, 7-6. How shitty for "Kuz" to lose both sets by tiebreaks. Pretty lame.

Lets get to my picks for Tuesday.

Na Li vs. Kim Clijsters: Kim Clijsters continues on out of retirement by rolling over the top Chinese women's player.

Flavia Pennetta vs. Serena Williams: I'm rooting for Pennetta, but my head tells me that Serena will unfortunately win this match. Pennetta has been playing a ton of tennis this summer, and no one would blame her if she starts showing some fatigue. Look for Serena to win this in straight sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Fernando Gonzalez: This will be the match of the day. Well atleast on paper it looks like an even matchup. Gonzalez is always steady, but seems to flame out at about this point in tournaments. He does well against lower competition, but when he plays the big boys he just folds. Tsonga seems to have that problem as well, but Tsonga beat Federer in his only loss of the hardcourt season, and has been playing on top of his game the past week in New York. I like Tsonga to win in 4 sets. Look for the "cheating Chilean" to possibly pull an injury excuse and retire at some point in the match.

Gael Monfils vs. Rafa Nadal: Rafa has been dealing with a nagging stomach injury. Monfils is so inconsistent and seems to flake out of matches with imaginary injuries. It allcomes down to how bad is Rafa's stomach strain. I'm thinking it will be good for one more round and he will be on his game for a big night match. Rafa to win in 4 sets.

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero: On paper Del Potro should steamroll over Ferrero. Ferrero has good fitness and that is the one thing that is Del Po's kryptonite. Del Po's skills should be enough to pull out a tough straigh setter. Maybe a tiebreak or 2 in a couple sets.

Andy Murray vs Marin Cilic: Cilic hasn't been playing that great, and Murray seems to be getting on top of his form. This will be an easy victory for Murray.

Day 7 of the U.S. Open

FINALLY!!! One of the Williams' sisters has been eliminated. "The Gimp" Venus with her bandaged leg, which I'm sure will be used as a casual excuse for her play, even though she hasn't played worth a piss since she jobbed and let Serena win Wimbledon. Kim Clijsters continues her comeback from retirement and did us all a favor knocking out Venus....Na Li will face Clijsters in the quarterfinals after beating Francesca Schiavone on Sunday.

Serena continued her dominance (ugh) by smashing Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0.... Serena will play Italian Flavia Pennetta who is on a dominating hot streak of her own. Sunday night Pennetta beat Vera Zvonareva who was in full meltdown mode in the second half of the match. Zvonareva who looked like a mummy by all tape and bandages around both of her knees raced out and beat Pennetta 6-3 in the first set. The 2nd set was close and ended up going to a tiebreaker. Flavia was able to outlast Zvonareva and even the match with a close 7-6 set. After the tiebreaker is when it got good. Zvonareva began throwing a temper tantrum, throwing "F Bombs" at the chair umpire. Ripping at her bandages, crying, putting a towel over her head, hitting herself in the hand,knees, and head with her racket. It reallly was a thing of beauty. Reminded me of my sister at a young age. Hell at an older on as well. So that pretty much sealed the deal. Zvonareva totally went to the shitter and Pennetta dispatched her from the tournament with a 6-0 3rd set. Hopefully Pennetta can put Serena on tilt in the next round.

Mens side went as planned for the most part. Tsonga beat up on fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau...."Cheating Chilean" Fernando Gonzalez overwhelmed Tomas Berdych....Gail Monchichi Monfils put Jose Acasuso into submission who quit at the beginning of the 3rd set.....Rafa Nadal who showed signs of a stomach muscle problem got passed Nicolas Almagro, but a round of 16 matchup with Monfils will give him much more trouble.....Del Potro, Cilic, and Murray all won their matches with ease.....#9 seed Gilles Simon had to retire in his match with Juan Carlos Ferrero because of a knee injury. Simon was the only lower seed to lose on Sunday.

Monday will feature some excellent mens matchups and some not so great, but yet intriguing womens matchups.

Starting with the women: Petra Kvitova faces off with Yanina Wickmayer. I don't know diddly squat about either of these players. I do know that both will be making an improbably dream come true for them to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. I'm picking Wickmayer to continue her cinderella run with a 3 set victory.

"Flying" Bondarenko sister named Kateryna plays Argentine Gisela Dulko. Gisela Dulko is looking to take the scalp of another Bondarenko sister. She beat Kateryna's sister Alona in the 2nd round. Well its not going to happen. Kateryna gets revenge for the family and scrapes past the clay court specialist.

In a interesting matchup the 17 year old American Melanie Oudin plays Nadia Petrova. Oudin who is on an amazing streak of beating down Russians Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, and will take out Nadia Petrova who is the worst of the 3. Oudin continues her storybook run with a comfortable victory over the up-and-down Petrova.

In what could be the best matchup on either the mens or womens side Caroline Wozniacki plays Svetlana Kuznetsova under the lights at Arthur Ashe stadium. Wozniacki has just been red-hot this summer (just ask Fernando Verdasco) and has been dispatching her opponents with ease now faces her stiffest challenge (thats not named Fernando Verdasco) Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova the French Open champion and former U.S. Open Champion is quietly working her way through the draw with little fan-fare. (thanks ESPN) Its about time both of these women get center stage in a great matchup. I would like to see Kuznetsova continue on, but I think Wozniacki who is on top of her game will come out with a victory. Either way, whoever wins this match can pretty much punch their ticket to the final. I called it here first.

Lets look at some of the mens matchups for Monday:

Roger Federer vs. Tommy Robredo. Federer should win fairly easily. Robredo is a clay courter who doesn't like the fast pace of the hard stuff. Should be too easy for "The Rog"

Robin Soderling vs. Nikolay Davydenko. This is an interesting matchup between 2 different styles. Davydenko is the small quick guy who doesn't make too many mistakes and just keeps returning anything you throw at him. Soderling has what Davydenko doesn't, and thats power. Soderlings forehand blew Rafa Nadal off the court in Paris. Its that nasty. Soderling although isn't much of a mover, he runs like his legs are in cement boots. So if Davydenko can get him going back and forth and keeping Soderling on the run he has a great chance to move on. Although I think Soderling has too much power on both his serve and ground strokes. I like Soderling to win in a tough 4 possibly 5 set match.

Novak Djokovic vs. Radek Stepanek: Stepanek is kind of a weirdo. He plays great about 35-40 percent of the time and the rest of his matches are a disaster. Well today will be a disaster. Djokovic has too much of a total game and will neutralize anything Radek throws at him. Djoker will move on in straight sets.

Fernando Verdasco vs. John Isner: Isner just played a greuling 5 setter against Roddick the other night. Verdasco also played a greuling 5 setter against Tommy Haas. The difference is Fernando is used to playing long tough matches back in Spain where playing on the clay is tough no matter how many sets. Isner blew his wad. Hes done. He's not used to playing deep into Grand Slam play, let alone 5 set matches. His lack of fitness and inexperience will show. Verdasco will win in 4 sets. Isner will win one (probably the 2nd set) in a tiebreaker and thats it.

8 pretty solid matches on Monday. Enjoy.

Day 6 of the U.S. Open.

The recap for Saturday will be short and sweet...

Big news of the day had to be Andy Roddick losing to fellow American John Isner in a classic 5 set match. Its good to see douchebag Roddick gone. Isner will face Fernando Verdasco in the Round of 16. Verdasco won a hard fought 5 setter over Tommy Haas..... Soderling beat Sam Querrey in 4 and faces Davydenko next who beat Marco CHODEinelli......James Blake who is a chump finally lost. Tommy Robredo beat him easily in straight sets and earned a prize of getting his ass smoked by Roger Federer next......Djokovic and Stepanek both also won and will face eachother in the next round.

Dinara Safina who has been winning with smoke and mirrors over her opponents finally fell to Petra Kvitova. I have no idea who the hell Petra Kvitova is, but she will face Yanina Wickmayer in the next round for a berth to the quarterfinals. Basically this whole top of the bracket is fucked. There are no seeds left and in the other matchup will be Gisela Dulko and "Flying" Bondarenko sister named Kateryna. So either Bondarenko, Dulko, Wickmayer, or Kvitova will be in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Pretty Crazy.

Melanie Oudin continued her cinderella run by defeating the overrated and over-hyped Maria Sharapova. Oudin will now match up against another Russian Nadia Petrova, who is inconsistent and can meltdown at any moment or play great tennis. I think Oudin has a great chance of moving on to face the winner of Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who both won on Saturday. The odds on favorite to get through the top half draw will be the winner of Wozniacki and Kuznetsova.

A lot more matches are scheduled for Sunday featuring Rafa Nadal, Williams sisters, Del Po and an interesting matchup between Zvonareva and Pennetta.

Day 5 of the U.S. Open

Day 5 saw the elimination of David Ferrer in a 5 set marathon of a match, but the match of the day had to be between Ivan Navarro and "Pudge" Rodriguez look-a-like Taylor Dent in which Dent was lucky enough to pull out a 5-set win, with the 5th set featuring a 7-6 epic tiebreaker. The celebration will be short lived. "Teen Wolf" is awaiting in the next round for "Pudge" Dent.

Following the trend of top seeds being eliminated Victoria Azarenka fell to Italian Francesca Schiavone.... Flavia Pennetta continued her excellent run by crushing Aleksandra Wozniak.... Na Li moves on.....Vera Zvonareva is looking like she is back from her constantly nagging injuries. Maybe I won't pick against her anymore, or maybe I'm bringing her good luck by doubting her. She has Pennetta in the next round in what should be an interesting match.....Venus and Serena both advance. They get too much attention as it is, so thats all I will say. They won......Kim Clijsters continues her comeback by beating fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens and will now play the "gimp" Venus in the round of 16. GO KIM!!......Hantuchova won on Friday and will play Serena next. GO DANIELA!!

On the men's side no major upsets once again. The only seeds to lose was Viktor Troicki and David Ferrer. :( Nadal beat Nick Qweefer, or i mean Kiefer, Del Potro took out Melzer, and all the rest of the favorites prevailed.

Day 4 of the U.S. Open

Thursday was a day where 2 of the favorites on the women's side crashed and burned and were sent home packing. Elena Dementieva started the day off losing to upstart 17 year old American Melanie Oudin. Following #4 Dementieva's exit of Flushing Meadows, Jelena Jankovic the 5th seed was ousted by Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in a match Borat would of described as "very nice." After Serena Williams I believed Dementieva and/or Jankovic had the best shot of dethroning Serena of her crown and one of them winning their first major of their career. Now they must look to Australia in January and once again try to climb the mountain to reach that ever elusive goal.

Sabine Lisicki and Alona Bondarenko were two more seeds to lose today....Dinara Safina struggled again and barely got through to the 3rd round. Looking at the bracket her end of the draw just got a lot more easier and if she can somehow play into form, we may be seeing another Dinara meltdown again in about a week. The other woman in the top half of the draw is Svetlana Kuznetsova who continues to play well. It looks like "Kuzy" is now the favorite to be in the final if she can get by Caroline Wozniacki who is quietly destroying whoever is put in front of her.

As the women's seed drop like flies being shot down by Ricky and Billy, the mens top players keep winning with ease. With this predictability and lack of upsets come a lot more intriguing matchups in the 2nd week. Andy Roddick moved on with a night time thumping of Marc Gicquel.....James Blake beat midget Rochus Brother, Olivier......Tommy Haas, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Sam Querrery, Fernando Verdasco, Radek Stepanek, and Robin Soderling are all seeds who won easily......Kohlschreiber and Tommy Robredo also continued the seeds dominating in the mens half........John Isner set himself up for a 3rd round matchup with Andy Roddick by beating Marsel Ilhan of "gobble gobble" Turkey........Jobber Jesse Witten continued his amazing streak, by beating Maximo Gonzalez and getting to the 3rd round of a Grand Slam which is unchartered water for a guy who can barely get into the 3rd round of qualifying for challenger events. Which makes his story all the more amazing.

So Thursday showed some powerhouse favorites on the womens side falling and being eliminated and on the mens side everything is going as planned. The favorites are winning, and winning handily. We'll have to see if this trend continues into Friday and the rest of the weekend.

Quick upset pick for Friday: Elena Vesnina the #31 seed will beat #7 Vera Zvonareva. I know i keep picking on Zvonareva, but she hasn't been playing well and has been hampered by injuries. She's due to fall soon. Also it wouldn't shock me if the hot Flavia Pennetta cools off after her "double bagel" win on Wednesday to be surprised by solid Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak......Take this one to the bank, Julien Benneteau will beat the #30 Viktor Troicki. I have no idea how Troicki is seeded. Everytime I ever see him he gets totally blown off the court by whoever he plays. Take Benneteau to send him packing.....and unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if Jose Acasuso plays David Ferrer tough and ends up beating the tough Spaniard.

Maybe there will be surprises on the mens side for Friday. I don't really see it happening, but I didn't see the events of Thursday happening either. Crazier things have happened.

Day 3 of the U.S. Open

I'm trying to shorten these up, so lets get right to the news and happenings of the day.

#15 seed Sam Stosur and #17 seed Amelie Mauresmo both lost today. Mauresmo losing to a game opponent in Aleksandra Wozniak, and Stosur losing to young American Vania King. Odds are you will see both Stosur and Mauresmo along with Martina Navratilova drowning their sorrows at a local pub with a rainbow on the door. I wonder if Martina's chopper seats three?

The women's side offered up a few more upsets today. Kim Clijsters outlasted #14 Marion Bartoli. A match which I made one of my upset picks of today. My other upset pick was Anna Chakvetadze over Vera Zvonareva. I was wrong on that one, but Chakvetadze gave her a good match. Zvonareva won a tough 3 set match..... #20 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues fell victim to Kristen Flipkens of Belgium, but probably the biggest shocker was #12 Aggie Radwanska losing to Russian Maria Kirilenko. Kirilenko was at one time a top 15-20 player, but really had not done much of not the past year and a half surprised Radwanska who in all reality was playing pretty average tennis the past 6 months. Maybe Kirilenko is starting to put her game back together again and is ready to make another run. Or has Radwanska fallen victim to the curse of Verdasco? Wait and see I guess.

Both Venus and Serena overpowered lesser opponents in easy victories.....Victoria Azarenka made short work of Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova..... and the hot Flavia Pennetta "double bageled" Sania Mirza. On a side note there has been lots of attention to how gorgeous or pretty Sania Mirza is. I just don't see it. That is all.

The men's side of things was much more quiet. Rafa Nadal smoked, or should i say "snorted" Dick Gasquet in straight sets..... "The Rog" beat Simon Greul in straight sets in a night session match. Greul the Steve Nash lookalike gave Federer a tough hard fought match. He didn't just roll over and let the moment beat him......Lleyton Hewitt put a whoopin on his "loogie nemesis" Juan Ignacio Cha Cha Chela. After the beatdown they had a nice handshake. Looks like the hatchets were buried.......Seeded players Juan Martin Del Potro, David Ferrer, Gael Mon chi chi Monfils, and Gilles Simon all won their first round matchups with little trouble.....Today saw both Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro close out their Grand Slam careers in disappointing losses. Jurgen Melzer took out Safin in a match that I had predicted yesterday, and Juan Carlos Ferrero beat the magician Santoro. Both players will be missed. Safin for his volatile attitude, and Santoro for his odd and crazy style of play. Hopefully both have a change of heart and give it another go in 2010....... There was no real surprises in the men's side today. Everything pretty much went as predicted.

Looking forward to tomorrow (Thursday) there isn't very many intriguing matchups. On Ashe Dementieva-Oudin start it out. Dementieva should crush the youngster. Jankovic plays some girl from Kazakhstan. When you play someone from Kazakhstan its like getting a bye. James Blake plays one of the midget Rochus brothers named Olivier. Knowing Blake he could pull a choke job, but I don't see it happening. In the night session Maria Sharapova plays jabroni American Christina McHale. Someone tell me how Sharapova gets these primetime night matches. It doesn't make sense. Rounding out the night session is Andy Roddick and Marc Gicquel. One thing I will predict is Roddick will be a sweaty pig by about the first changeover. The crafty Frenchman won't put up much of a fight. Roddick in straight sets.

Lets see if there might be any upset specials for day 4. I can see Gisela Dulko giving "Flying" Bondarenko sister Alona a tough match. Also American Jesse Witten may surprise Maximo Gonzalez and move into the 3rd round. I'm not real confident in either pick, but just a couple things to look for..... My one upset pick I do like is #15 Radek Stepanek losing to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. Stepanek plays like he doesn't really care if he wins or loses a lot of the time and Mayer has been playing well since his upset of James Blake at the French. Look for him to keep his hot streak going and take out the Czech who bones Nicole Vaidisova. (yeah, i don't get that one either. She could do so much better, just ask Gimeldouche.)

No real "BIG" matches tomorrow. No matchups that make you all excited. But these are normally the days when weird things happen. And hopefully one of them weird things is Roddick getting his ass kicked on center stage in primetime.

Day 2 of the U.S. Open

The Second day of the U.S. Open had a bit more drama and a few more unlikely upsets than the previous day. Looks as if things are starting to "heat" up.

Ana Ivanovic who has been a wreck pretty much all year long sunk to a new low losing in the first round to the "Flying" Bondarenko sister named Kateryna. The sad thing is, Kateryna isn't even the best Bondarenko sister. Looks like the curse of "Verdasco's weiner" continues to live on and affect Ana in the worst of ways.

Dinara Safina escaped being the first womens #1 seed to loser in her opening match. Safina was down 3-0 in the final set and mounted an ugly error filled comeback to beat some chick with a Eastern European name and nationality of Australia. The final score of the 3rd set was 6-4. She barely avoided being the first #1 to lose in the first round of a grand slam since 2001 when Martina Hingis lost at Wimbledon. Should be interesting to see how Dinara reacts in her next match, because the way she played today she isn't ready to move on much further.

In a few more happenings on the womens side: Kuznetsova and Wozniacki both advance with easy wins today......American Melanie Oudin looked impressive in her first round match, but the reality of having to face Elena Dementieva in the 2nd round will sink in and ruin her high......Petra Kvitova upset #27 seed Alisa Kleybanova and her belly pouch.....The good, bad, great, terrible rollercoaster ride continues and ended up stopping horribly for inconsistent Virginie Razzano who lost to Yanina Wickmayer in an upset.......I ended up going 1-1 on my upset picks for the day. Shahar Peer came through and beat Agnes Szavay, but Lucie Safarova was unable to make it 2 for 2. She almost came through, but the #17 seed Patty Schnyder proved to be too tough winning 7-6 in the 3rd set...... And finally I know everyone was wondering. Maria Sharapova showed off her new USO dress. It was a bland navy blue dress with a few silverish stripes. Nothing special, just like her game. Although she was good enough to beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

The mens side of the bracket didn't really have too many shocking results, but did have some surprises.

Jo-Willie Tsonga started the day off by crushing some American dude named Chase Buchanan. You have to love all these wild card entrants who can't even get into an ATP event getting a free pass to get their asses kicked. I'm sure the guys who just fall short in qualifying are just loving seeing these results. Jesse Witten who was a "free passer" did pop up out of nowhere to beat #29 seed Igor Andreev quite easily in straight sets. He was an exception to the rule.

Feliciano Lopez's pathetic year continued by losing to American Taylor Dent. Feliciano Lopez is probably now better known as being Fernando Verdasco's doubles partner, and I cannot help but think "Is he a victim to Verdasco's weiner, just like Ivanovic"? I guess only he would know.....Speaking of Verdasco he won in straight sets and moves on to the 2nd round.

Lets move to a couple upsets that surprised me just a little bit. #19 Stanislas Wawrinka who had been struggling during the summer hardcourt season raced out to a 2 set to none lead just to fall apart and lose to to Ecuadorian journeyman/jobber Nicolas Lapentti in 5 sets......Also, #27 seed Dr. Ivo Karlovic lost in straight sets to Ivan Navarro of Spain.

A couple Serb men were in action today as well. "Whack-job" Janko Tipsarevic lost to Florent Serra in straight sets all by tie breaker, which I thought was kinda of odd.....Fellow Serb Novak Djokovic smoked Ivan Ljubicic on Arthur Ashe court. Ljubicic seemed out of sorts from the beginning, and it showed. His game was a disaster and it turned into a glorified practice session for Novak who could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted easily. Ljubicic the one time #3 in the world just laid down and took the thrashing.

Andy Murray closed the night with a straight set win over underacheiving youngster Ernests Gulbis. Murray won fairly easily, but showed some weakness in his game and had moments of looking somewhat beatable. Its just the first round and odds are he'll play himself into the tournament and turn it on when facing tougher competition. Just a slight moment of complacency and nothing to worry about.

Looking forward to some of tomorrows matches. One that sticks out to me is Rafael Nadal welcoming back Richard Gasquet from his supposed "coke suspension". This will be his first match back since being suspended for kissing a girl on coke and accidentally getting it into his system. Yeah, i don't believe this bullshit either. Karma is a bitch Richard. Have fun tomorrow..... Both Venus and Serena will be in action tomorrow against a couple turds they should pound. .... Roger Federer is scheduled to play in the first night match against Simon Greul tomorrow......Del Po plays fellow Argentine Juan Monaco, and the return of the great David Ferrer to action is the highlight of tomorrow. lol

Heres some upset specials to look for tomorrow: Jurgen Melzer to beat Marat Safin and end his grand slam career, Kim Clijsters will beat the #14 seed Marion Bartoli, and Anna Chakvetadze will beat #7 Vera Zvonareva.

Rafa, Rog, Del Po, Williams Sisters, and David Ferrer all in action tomorrow. Should make for a fun and interesting day.

Day 1 of The U.S. Open

Day 1 at the U.S. Open on the women's side pretty much went as planned. There was no "huge" upsets. The big surprise was how razor thin close Venus Williams was to being given the boot out of the tournament by a relative unknown, but one of my favorite names Vera Dushevina. Venus was 2 points away from being eliminated in straight sets, and being sent home for the first time in the 1st round of the U.S. Open. But on a bad knee she fought hard, and with the combination of Dushevina's nerves kicking it, Venus was able to come back and win the 2nd set and take control of the 3rd and not look back and luckily advance. In her post match interview she talked about how she is going to need "prayer, ice, and do whatever she can do", to make it better so she can play. Its a little dramatic if you ask me. These types of injuries are more and more common in tennis at this moment. Plus she seemed to look better and better as the match went on. So i'm not really buying it. She may be hurt, but its not as bad as she wants everyone to believe it is. Keep playing to the crown Venus I'm sure it will help in some future matches, and if that knee still is bothering you, you can always amputate.

Serena in her match today cruised to an easy win over fellow American Alexa Glatch....Kim Clijsters rolled to an easy win in her return to Grand Slam action, after having a baby and retiring..... WTA tour "geezer" Jill Craybas won and advances to a 2nd round matchup with Elena Vesnina...... Flavia Pennetta continues her hot summer and will be in the 2nd round...... Only 2 seeds lost in the first day on the women's side. Tennis mom Sybille Bammer the 28 seed lost to the Spanish woman with 4 names Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, and the 25th seed Kaia Kanepi also lost, but to an unknown named Kai-Chen Chang of Chinese Taipei or for those that recognize them as Taiwan..... Day 1 on the womens side was quite quiet even for a day with both Williams' sisters playing. Kind of shocking really.

The men on day one were just as boring as the women unfortunately. Roger Federer in an attempt to win his 6th straight U.S. Open beat up on an 18 year old American by the name of Devin Britton. (yeah, I've never heard of him either) Britton although didn't look all that bad and could be the next Mardy Fish or Robert Kendrick. Hopefully he continues to work on his game and doesn't become the next Justin Gimelstob..... Andy Roddick put the "POW" to Bjorn Phau in straight sets in a match that didn't end until almost 1 in the morning. Roddick will face veteran Frenchman Marc Gicquel in round 2......James Blake who has been bothered by a broken toe, because he got pissed he lost a previous match and kicked a wall won on Monday, defeating unknown Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. Blake will face one of the midget Rochus brothers Olivier in the 2nd round..... Soderling, Davydenko, Hewitt, Kohlschreiber, Stepanek, and Haas were the other seeds advancing.......2 seeds became upset victims. 26 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu lost to Russian Mikhail Youzhny, which in my opinion isn't much of an upset. Both players are pretty even..... American John Isner who has been playing well this summer in the U.S. Open series events upset 28 seed Victor Hanescu of Romania. And this as well isn't that huge of an upset. Isner playing in front of a home crowd and on somewhat on a roll outlasted the seeded Romanian.

I can't really complain about the TV coverage on the first day. ESPN did a solid job and stayed on the air from 1p.m until the completion of the Roddick-Phau match which ended at about 10 minutes to 1. Seeing Mike and Mike on the grounds makes me gag a little bit, and wondering why in the hell Hannah Storm is a studio analyst is confusing, for how she struggles to say many of the foreign players names. Oh well, its atleast tennis and I don't have to see Colin Cowherds face for a couple weeks. Thank you ESPN.

Anyways looking forward to tomorrow: Kuznetsova, Safina, Djokovic will all play their day matches at Arthur Ashe stadium court. The night matches will feature the overrated Maria Sharapova and a interesting match between up-and-comer Ernests Gulbis and the favorite of many to win this tournament Andy Murray. Gulbis has struggled for most of this season, but has the hard hitting tools to make it a competitive match.

Upset pick for Day 2: The 19th seeded woman Patty Schnyder of Switzerland will lose to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, also look for Shahar Peer of Isreal to take out the 32nd seed Agnes Szavay. I do not see any real upsets on the men's side for Day 2.

Day One was a solid day of tennis without any real shocking moments. Maybe day 2 will be a day where a favorite will lose. We'll have to wait and see.