Soooooo now I get onto the men's tournament at the 2014 US Open so might as well get cracking as there is alot to cover with the first six days, so let's get to it...
OK so day 1 began with Stan Wawrinka out on court who took on the big Czeck player, Jiri Vesely in a tricky opening match which saw Stan largely in control of the match but he did suffere one or two dips on serve. But in the end Stan confidently saw out the match in the 3rd set tiebreaker which saw the Swiss no.2 close it out in 6-2, 7-6, 7-6. Then we had Novak Djokovic, the reigning Wimbledon champion, who after a poor hard court swing in Toronto and Cincinnati, recovered superbly and recorded an effortless straight set win over the Argentine, Diego Schartzman in 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. This really was a strong start from Nole and just what he needed after such a poor showing during the North America Masters hard court series. Milos Raonic also recorded his first win of the tournament with a comfortable win over the Japaense player, Taro Daniel in 6-3, 6-2, 7-6. And lastly we had Andy Murray face a dangerous first round opponent, Robin Haase, who took Andy to five sets three years ago as the British No.1 had to recover from a two sets to love deficit. This match however had a different feel to it as at the start Andy came out strong and broke a rather bewildered looking Haase to take the first set. In the 2nd however it went by serve with Haase looking more threatening than before but Andy bested him in the tiebreak to take a two set lead. In the 3rd set however that's where the drama started as Andy started to struggle badly with cramps, which affected his legs and his arm while serving, which let Haase take the set with ease. And in the 4th set it was more of the same as Andy had to resort to standing up at sit downs to prevent his muscles from cramping further, and he went 5-3 down, but he somehow managed to dig deep and battle back to level 5-5 and went on to defy the odds as he broke Haase, despite being barely able to run he closed out a dramatic match in four sets 6-3, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5. Well they say that Andy usually has a dramatic match in the first week of a slam and this certainly was one as he looked dead and buried in the 3rd and 4th sets and his cramping raised some seriously troubling physical issues, despite his fitness and preparation being near perfect leading into the match. But in the end it was down to Andy's sheer will and determination that he came through this one in four sets which was nothing short of a miracle, but his continued presence in the tournament remained in doubt as the questions where raised over the cramps he suffered and what was behind them. However the day after Andy said that he felt physically fine and it was maybe down to a lack of proper fluid intake, but the main thing is he was still in the tournament.
Right now onto day 2 which began with the giant American, John Isner take on a young American player, Marcus Giron, who gave the big fella some tricky moments but in the end Isner's big serve was more than enough to get him out of trouble as he closed out a fairly efficient 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 win. Next we had Roger Federer who got off his campaign to a confident start as he faced the Aussie, Marinko Matosevic, who presented little threat to the Swiss maestro apart from in the 3rd set where it went to a tiebreak, but Fed closed it out in style to win the match in 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. This sees Roger get off to a strong start and sees him poised to do very well at the US Open, which is also helped by the fact he has quite a favourable draw, which won't get complicated until a possible quarter final showdown with Grigro Dimitrov. Sam Querrey, the US No.2, got his US Open under way with a tough battle as he had to fight off the Argentine player, Maximo Gonzalez in five sets with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory. David Ferrer also had to overcome a 3rd set blip before he closed his match against Damir Dzumhur in four sets 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. And lastly Gael Monfils, the talented and flashy Frenchman, got off to a fine start as he beat American wildcard, Jared Donaldson in 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
On day 3 we had Tomas Berdych kick things off on Arthur Ashe in a highly anticipated match with Lleyton Hewitt, the former 2001 champion, however in the end Berdy proved to be too good for the Aussie and dispatched him in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Stan Wawrinka, the reigning Australian open champion, however had to dig much deeper in his 2nd round match against Thomaz Bellucci, the big hitting Brazilian, as it took him four tough sets to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. Marin Cilic had an easier time as he took on an injured Marcos Baghdatis who was forced to retire in the 2nd set trailing a set and a break down, 6-3, 3-1 ret. Grigor Dimitrov also got off to a strong start against Ryan Harrison who he beat in straight sets 6-2, 7-6, 6-2. Feliciano Lopez however had to fight hard against the Croatian, Ivan Dodig who also eventually retired in the 5th set of their match to secure Lopez's second round place, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 1-1 ret. And lastly Ernest Gulbis got off to a flying start by beating Kenny De Schepper of France in 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Moving onto day 4 which began with Novak Djokovic who continued his serene progress as he blew his opponent, Paul Henri-Mathieu, off the court and dropped only four games in the match to reach the 3rd round in 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Before the tournament I saw Nole as the favourite to win the tournament and he is very much still the fav in my eyes to win it as he really does know how to bring his best to the slams. After this there was John Isner who again made good progress here against the German player, Jan-Lennard Struff with another straight set win in 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. Milos Raonic who has fast risen into the top 10 this year and proved to be very consistent in reaching the latter stages of the slams, had a tough fight however on his hands and needed four sets to overcome the German, Peter Gojowczyk with a four set 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 scrap. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the other hand, who triumphed in Toronto earlier this month, made good progress as he beat Aleksandr Nedovyesova in straight sets in 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Kei Nishikori who has shown promising form so far after coming back from injury, got through to the 3rd round after his opponent, Pablo Andujar retired after two sets 6-4, 6-1. And last of all Andy Murray allayed fears of his fitness after suffering severe cramps during his first round match, he showed no ill effects in his 2nd round as he put in a good solid peformance to beat Matthias Bachinger of Germany in 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in an entertaining night match on Arthur Ashe stadium.
So now to day 5 which started with Tomas Berdych who had a real fight on his hands as took on the dangerous Slovak player, Martin Klizan and he needed five sets to get past him to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Roger Federer however had no such trouble as he took on the big serving Aussie, Sam Groth, who has recorded the fastest ever serve in the men's game at 163mph! But despite Groth's big serve it wasn't enough to make an impact on the Roger's variety of shots who went on to break Groth in each set to land himself a place in the 3rd round with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win. Grigor Dimitrov also continued his excellent form as he dismantled the Israeli player, Dudi Sela by dropping just five games to win 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. David Ferrer also had the easiest time of everyone on day 5 as he got a walkover into the 3rd round as Bernard Tomic withdrew with injury. And last of all Gael Monfils put in another flashy and entertaining performance to take out the Colombian player, Alejandro Gonzalez with a straight sets win 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
And at last we get onto day 6 which started with Novak Djokovic, who continued his supremely confident form as he faced the big yank Sam Querrey, who in the past has given him a little trouble. But here Nole was on top form right from the get go and windy conditions on court did no favours to Querrey at all time who struggled on serve and couldn't cope with Novak's superior movement and defence, which saw him speed to a straight set victory in 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Well so far Novak really has looked to be in ominous form at Flushing meadows and Querrey it has to be said was his first test but he passed it with flying colours and is shows that Nole really is the man to beat in New York. After that we had Tommy Robredo who on the other hand to battle past the talented new kid on the block, the Aussie Nick Kyrgios in four sets from a set down in 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3. Milos Raonic also had a tricky time of it as he played Victor Estrella Burgois of the Dominican republic as he needed three tiebreak sets to beat him in 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the other hand continued his fine form as he beat the Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta with little trouble and did not get broken once as he won in 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. John Isner on the other hand was forced to face his nemesis, Philipp Kohlscreiber of Germany for the 3rd successive year at the US Open at the same stage which turned out to be a real battle. But in the end it was not to be third time lucky for Isner who fell to defeat against Kohlschreiber in four tough sets as the German won 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 to reach the 4th round and earn his place against Djokovic.
And last but not least we had Andy Murray face off another talented and dangerous newcomer, the Russian player, Andrey Kuznetsov. Andy however made a strong start as he came out firing on all cylinders, serving well and returning brilliantly he broke the young Russian twice to take the opener. The 2nd set was tougher however as Andy surrendered his early break to let Kuznetsov back in but he managed to break again to go 6-5 and serve for the set to take the two set lead. In the 3rd set however is where Andy started to suffer lapses on serve which cost him a break, but he broke back to go 4-4 and he nearly could have ended the match a couple of break points against Kuzy's serve, which were snuffed out, and Andy went on to double fault in his next service game to hand the set to the Russian. In the 4th set however, Andy wasted little time and got off to a flyer and broke Kuzy's twice, only to surrender one of the breaks, but he wrestled it back and in the end confidently served out to reach the 4th round at the US Open and his 15th consecutive 2nd week at the grand slams with a tricky four set win in 6-1, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. For the first two sets Andy really did show top form and played some great tennis which showed some form that could easily see him win the tournament. However the problem for Andy is trying to maintain that consistency on serve which he will seriously need if he is to win this title and again we saw some lapses from him in that 3rd set which may well be cause for some concern in his next match.
And Andy's next match will be against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated Andy earlier this month in Toronto, where Tsonga went on to triumph and take the title there. So this is a very dangerous match for Andy and it will be a real test of his mettle although he has already been tested in the tournament so far and its not like he's had a straight easy run like he had at Wimbledon going into the second week, which might help him. However the highest ranked opponent Andy has played so far has been Robin Haase ranked around No.70 in the world, and Tsonga is ranked No.10 so it will be a big step up. And in my eyes I think Tsonga goes into this one as the favourite given his form so far in the tournament, which could potentially see him take down Andy in maybe three or even four sets as Andy really has struggled to produce his best against the top 10 players this year and he will seriously need that to win this one. So I really can't make a clear prediction on this one as it will simply boil down to who plays the better tennis on the day, and if Andy allows Tsonga to dictate he doesn't stand a chance, so he will need to play aggressive and return well to keep himself in the match. So the way I see it is if Tsonga dictates the match it will be over in three straight sets, but if Andy digs real deep he can maybe win this one in four or maybe five sets, so it will be a real tough test of his character. But what is certain is that this is a very important match for Andy because if he can beat Tsonga it will be his first top 10 win since winning Wimbledon last year and if he does win and goes on to lose against Djokovic in the quarter finals, he will at least have defended his points from last year which means he can hopefully stay in the top 10. But if Andy carries on playing like he has so far this year in the slams he is sure to be come up second best, so in this match he will seriously need to step up his game and his belief to get past Tsonga's might. But he could yet still do it and if he can it could well be a turning point for him after so many tough losses. And for me this is a far more important match than facing Djokovic in the quarter finals as this match is an opportunity to show that he can beat a top 10 player and that in itself is a more important hurdle to overcome, as trying to beat the world no.1 is a whole other ball game and Andy can only do that if he finds his best form again. So its a tough one to predict, if Tsonga wins we are looking at three or four sets but if Andy wins it will be four or five sets. Time will tell and I wish Andy the best of luck for this one.
Right so that's it for now I will be back soon with more results.
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