AMERICANS MOVING ON!!!

 After beating Nadal, anything is possible for Blake.

James Blake pulled off the upset of the Open so far by beating Rafael Nadal in four sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.  Blake used a huge serve, great groundstrokes and exceptional speed to completely overwhelm Rafa.

If you don't know the James Blake story of the past couple years it's pretty incredible.  He broke his neck which nearly left him paralyzed.  Then his father died.  Less than a year ago, he couldn't play a point out, let alone a match.  He'd hit three balls and get dizzy.  Now look at him.  In the fourth round of the US Open after beating the hottest player on the planet.  He faces Spaniard Tommy Robredo for a place in the quarterfinals.

Robredo upended Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean in four tough sets.  This quarterfinal of the draw has Andre Agassi if you remember.  With Nadal out of the tournament this quarter is wide open.  Agassi, the No. 7 seed, is the highest player left in this region.

Agassi also won in four sets (3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6) over a tough opponent, Tomas Berdych.  Andre openly admitted he was tight at the beginning of the match and his timing was well off.  Berdych had something to do with that.  By completely crushing every ball, he doesn't give his opponent a chance to getting into a rhythm.  By mid-second set though, Andre was seeing the ball better and returned Berdych's 140 mph serve with ease. 

 Would you like some whine with that cheese Richard?

Young French star, Richard Gasquet, needed five sets to take out Ivan Ljubicic, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, to secure a place in the Round of 16.  I seem to be the only person who is not a fan of Gasquet.  Maybe it's just that he is French.  Fearing a loss of the first set, he threw his racquet.  After losing the set, he tossed his racquet yet again.  (Good article about racquet throwing on ESPN's Page 2 here).  He has unbelievable talent, but he's just a baby.  He needs to grow up.  Gasquet will next face American Robby Ginepri.  Ginepri fought off Tommy Haas in five sets.  After nearly three hours and twenty minutes, Ginepri won 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.  Four Americans left on the Men's side:  Blake, Ginepri, Agassi and Taylor Dent

On the women's side, another American No. 2 seed, Lindsay Davenport, walked over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues in Arthur Ashe Stadium 6-3, 6-2.  Davenport will next face France's Nathalie Dechy, the 15th seed, who advanced by virtue of a three-set win over Tatiana Golovin in the third round.

 Another win for the 29-year-old Californian.

A rundown of other matches from Saturday:  Eight seed Guillermo Coria also moved ahead with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 victory over Robin Soderling.  Justine Henin-Hardenne, the 2003 champ, had to struggle to overcome South Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho 6-0, 7-6 (4).  Elena Dementieva, who reached the final here last year, overcame a tearful Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (5). But former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina fell to countrywoman Elena Likhovtseva 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). France's Natalie Dechy also advanced, as did No. 11 Patty Schnyder and Mary Pierce.

Day 7 Preview (Schedule of Play)

Sunday brings the much anticipated matchup between Serena and Venus.  Let's hope these two go after each point like they do when they aren't playing each other.  It doesn't happen often but when they do fight to the finish it's fun to watch.  No. 1 seed Maria Sharapova plays Sania Mirza of India and No. 4 seed Kim Clijsters plays Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi. 

The Men's side is full of third round matchups worth watching.  Top of the list is No. 3 seed, Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who plays American Taylor Dent.  Is this finally the year Dent makes a dent (no pun intended) in the Open?  No. 11 seed David Nalbandian plays Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.  Italian Davide Sanguinetti plays Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.  No. 17 seed David Ferrer of Spain takes on Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, the 15th seed.  Arnaud Clement, fresh off a five set win over Andy Murray, faces tough German Nicolas Kiefer.  The night match on Sunday features No. 1 Roger Federer vs Olivier Rochus. 

One thing I mentioned in my Open preview article is starting to annoy me.  If you are watching the tournament, you'll notice fans screaming whenever they feel like it.  During a serve, right in the middle of a forehand or coming to the net for a volley.  I completely understand this is New York and it's unpredictable, but it's going a bit far.  If you watch closely it never happens to an American.  Tomas Berdych got annoyed during a serve while being screamed at.  Same with Tommy Haas.  Same with Rafael Nadal.  It needs to stop.  Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox.  Goodnight and enjoy the matches Sunday.