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.