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.
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