US Open Tennis 2010 Live Streaming Match Preview
US Open Tennis 2010 Live Streaming Match Preview
We have completed the first week of the U.S. Open, and we have one of our first really big upsets - Stan "the Man" Wawrinka came out on fire and demolished the ball against Andy Murray, smacking his serves and blasting his forehand in addition to his backhand. It's exactly the gameplan that has troubled Andy Murray in the past, as big-hitters like Berdych, Gonzalez, and Verdasco have blown him off the court. And it paid dividends - Wawrinka staged the biggest upset of the tournament, a fine tribute to his new coach Peter Lundgren.
Sam Querrey also pulled off what is on paper a pretty good upset, as he demolished the Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in straight sets. While everyone thought that he had earned a spot against Andy Murray, Wawrinka had other thoughts. It will make for a surprising couple of matches, as all of the top four seeds in that quarter of the draw have now fallen.
Today also had a few players who had put up amazing efforts finally breaking down, as Sergiy Stakhovsky and Michael Llodra retired with injury in the middle of their matches. It's always disappointing when it happens, but it's almost inevitable at this stage of the tournament. Some players just run out of gas getting this far.
It doesn't seem like the Spaniards are in any danger of running out of gas, though, as there are six Spanish men in the last 16, 4 of whom are all in one quarter of the draw. Lopez takes on Nadal while Ferrer gets Verdasco in the Spanish quarter, which guarantees at least one Spanish man in the semifinals. Verdasco, by the way, had a big win over the hot Argentine Nalbandian today, in pretty dominant fashion. It may have been that Nalby was a victim of overhype more than anything else - this was his first Grand Slam in almost two years, and people really considered him a dark horse? Under the circumstances, I'd say he had a fine showing.
Starting tomorrow, all of the men's and women's singles matches will be taking place on either Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong courts. We're into the second week now, which means that the stakes are much higher for each and every match. It's also interesting because Tennis Channel has the night matches while CBS gets them during the day, which means you get some slightly less interesting matches schedules at night.
For example, night session ticket holders for Arthur Ashe get Zvonareva and Petkovic. Full disclosure - I was in the stadium last year when Zvonareva completely melted down against Flavia Pennetta, so maybe the Russian doesn't have the best memories of that court and that session. But hopefully she has a little bit more mental fortitude in reserve this year - or perhaps she won't need it, as her unseeded German opponent may not be quite as much of a challenge.
And after that, the Tennis channel subscribers get to watch Roger Federer demolish poor Jurgen Melzer, who despite having the best year of his career at 29 has none of the weapons that one would need to get a win over Roger. It will be a beatdown, I have every confidence in the world.
The day matches are much more exciting (which is why you'll be seeing them on CBS). It starts with Svetlana Kuznetsova against Cibulkova, one of the few unseeded players left in the draw. But after that, Mardy Fish gets Novak Djokovic. I can assure you that Mardy and his camp are hoping for a surprising heat wave to come along, because those are the conditions that Novak finds toughest. Fish has yet to win against Djoker in four tries, but he's had a couple of really tight matches. It would still be a huge upset for Mardy to pull this off, but it's not outside the realm of the possible.
And then, the best match of the tournament thus far - the one that everyone was looking forward to as soon as the draw came out. Maria Sharapova gets top seed Caroline Wozniacki, in a match that will likely determine the finalist from this side of the draw. Wozniacki has looked absolutely brilliant through her first three matches, dropping just three games. But she hasn't really been facing opponents of the same caliber as Sharapova. This will be the real test about whether she's a real contender for this title. And Sharapova wants to remind everyone that she's one of the few former champions in this field. This will be a cracker of a match.
The matches on Armstrong are also good, though they probably don't have quite the same star power - it starts with Monfils against Gasquet in an all-French meeting, which will feature a lot of shot-making. They're 2-2 against each other up to this point. Then Wickmayer gets Kanepi go at it (tough to say that there's going to be a lot of interest in that one, honestly) and then Robin Soderling gets Albert Montanes. It's probably the biggest mis-match tomorrow. I don't give Montanes much of a chance.
