US Open--Men's Quarterfinals and Doubles

(Getty Images)
The men's Quarter-Finals are now set for the US Open and the match-ups are intriguing.  Two Americans look good.  The three favorites showed cracks.  Two newcomers show promise.  One former junior champion downgraded to qualifier shows heart.  It's one of the best quarter-finals in recent memory.

The first quarterfinal pits the tours hottest player with 23 match wins (including 4 tournaments) in a row, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro faces the hothead Scot, Andy Murray (he's the one who resembles a scruffy Miniature Schnauzer--cute, but watch your fingers) , who's had his own impressive bicep-bearing year, rising to #6 in the world and could easily end up possibly as high as 4th.  It's a great match-up and it may be a question of who keeps it together, stays aggressive, and makes fewer mistakes.  It's hard to go against the streak, but having seen both last week, I'd give the edge to Murray who seemed to step it up when things got tight.  He's also said this is his favorite tournament, perhaps because he doesn't feel the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd and his big gay following (he was the tennis star most gay Brits said they wanted to sleep with). 

The second quarterfinal takes place under the lights.  American wild man Mardy Fish seems to have his head screwed on right (that has not always been the case) and his body in healthy shape (that's also not been the case).  Fish plays current world number one Rafael Nadal, the world's most improved player this year.  Nadal has had an amazing year, routing Federer in the French on clay, winning arguably the greatest match of all time at Wimbledon against Federer, and most recently rolling through Beijing to Olympic Gold.  His determination, grit, and remarkable skill may carry him through the US Open.  But he also looked tired against Sam Querrey and, finally, beatable.  And Fish is playing better than Querrey. He looked superb against both Blake and Monfils.  If Mardy is up for the occasion, this could be an amazing spectacle.  Fish made the finals in Indian Wells this year, upsetting several top players there.  Nadal has never made it past the quarters in New York.  It's hard not to pick an upset here.  It's harder to pick against Nadal who knows winning 3 majors and the Olympics in the same year is something that will never be forgotten.  And I suspect Rafa knows that the pounding his body goes through means his career will be shorter.

Thursday's quarter-finals are a contrast.  Reigning US Open champion Roger Federer plays the qualifier from Luxembourg Gilles Muller.  Muller is a former junior champion who cracked under pressure. This US Open he's roared from way down twice to put himself in the quarters.  Federer looked eminently beatable against Russian Igor Andreev, but at least the desire was evident.  Federer showed fight and raw emotion which he'll need to carry him back to the top.  Federer's had two problems this year. His mononucleosis has weakened him and probably still affects his stamina.  Additionally, he's also kept on trying to win by doing the exact same things he's always done.  But more and more players are less scared of Federer and think that they have a chance.  Federer must change his game, in this case his peaceful demeanor, to raise the bar. It was nice to see that on Wednesday.  I can't imagine Roger not making his 18th consecutive major. 

The Thursday night match features a younger and hurt Novak Djokovic against the Olympic-free rested Andy Roddick.  Djokovic outlasted adorable and often gay-rumored Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the fourth round (who later recovered to make the men's doubles semi-finals) but seemed more upset that Tommy got a bigger round of applause than he did.  But then Djokovic was also willing to do cruelly accurate and totally hysterical impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova on national tv at last year's US Open.  Novak is fed by the crowd.  Roddick hasn't been fed by much recently.  But he may be playing as well lately as he has in a long time.  And I expect Andy's body to hold up.  We'll see if Novak's does. I also wonder if Novak will act out, stall, and if he does, will he be allowed to do that.  In the end, I think Andy's serve, home crowd, and fitness to carry him through. 

On the outer courts, the doubles competition is wrapping up.  The men's doubles' semi-finals are set.  The Bryan Brothers escaped in a 16-14 first set tiebreak to face Tommy Robredo and Argentine Sergio Roitman. In theory, this should not be close.  But this year's results at the Open haven't been anywhere true to form.  I'd still bet on the Americans.  The other semi is a real surprise.  The seventh seeded team of Lukas Dlouhy  (Czech) and Leander Peas (Indian and former mixed doubles partner of Martina) will be favored over the unseeded Argentinian team of Juan Monaco and Maximo Gonzalez.  Max drew Federer in the first round of singles (I saw that match at Ashe stadium)  and was completely overmatched.  At 5'9" and 154 pounds and ranked 92 in the world in doubles , he's clearly done better than anyone expected here.  He's also as cute as can be. Peas and Dlouhy should win though Gonzalez and Monaco have already beaten two seeds to make the semis.  The finals will be played on Friday on CBS before the women's singles semi-finals.

The women's doubles is not as far along, as the women's finals is relegated to Sunday afternoon, 3 hours before the men's final.  Fan support will be slight. One semi-final match is set (out Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur, former world #1s, play Katerina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama) and it should be excellent doubles.  The other side of the draw play quarter-final matches on Wednesday and #1 seeds Cara Black and the new American-citizen Liezl Huber play the Chinese team of Zi Yan and Zie Chang, seeded #8.  The other quarter sees an unseeded American team (Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears) take on the fifth seeded Spanish team of Virginia Ruano Pascal and Anabel Medina Garrigues.  I suspect Liezl and Cara uphold their seatings but I'm rooting for Raymond and Stosur.

The mixed doubles final is set. Thursday will see women's doubles partner Cara Black and Liezl Huber face off against one another.  Cara Black plays with men's doubles semi-finalist Leander Paes of India. Huber plays mixed with Andy Murray's younger brother, the less scruffy and cleaner cut Jamie Murray.  Jamie looked like the wink link in his men's doubles loss last week with Max, "The Beast", Mirnyi, but has clearly rebounded in the mixed.  Black and Paes should win though mixed is often about how good the woman player is. 

On a final scheduling note, I think it's time the US Open added a day and made for a sane ending to the tournament.  Given that this is the most brutal surface to the body, asking the women and men to play semi-finals one day and finals the next day is just not fair.  It's worse for the men who have an even shorter turn around time (the 2nd men's match has less than 24 hours for their second best of five set match). 

I'd propose the following change:

Friday afternoon  women's and mixed doubles final.  If ESPN2 wouldn't cover it (who take over coverage from USA next year), the Tennis Channel would.

Friday evening: Women's semis.

Saturday afteroon: Men's singles semis.

Sunday afternoon: Men's doubles final, Women's singles final. Have the men's final at 2 and the women's final at 4:30. 

Monday evening:  Men's final. 

Everyone would get more rest. Doubles would get spotlighted.  TV coverage would be better than ever. The US Open is already very crowded for fans.  Another day would only help.