Day 5 Review
Prediction: Venus over Serena.
On Friday, Serena and Venus were both victorious to set up a big fourth round matchup. After Venus defeated Daniela Hantuchova (6-3, 6-3) and Serena swept aside Francesa Schiavona (6-3, 6-4), the two will play Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match more than likely will face the No. 4 seed, Kim Clijsters.
Top seed Maria Sharapova was on the court for over an hour for the first time at the Open when Julia Schruff pushed the world No. 1. Sharapova overpowered Schruff 6-2, 6-4, but earned acclaim for fighting toe-to-toe with the 6-foot-2 inch Russian.
In a battle of two qualifiers, Arnaud Clement took out 18-year-old Scot Andy Murray in four sets. In a match which lasted over four hours, Clement finally put away Murray 6-2, 7-6, 2-6, 6-7, 6-0. The match mirrored almost exactly what happened to Murray at Wimbledon two months ago. Murray seemed to have David Nalbandian on the ropes but faded in the fifth set. Being just 18, Murray has not played many five set matches and clearly looked tired double faulting four times in the fifth set.
I know he lost, but he's a Scot. You go boy.
"You're going to see a lot from this guy in the future," John McEnroe said of Murray on the USA Network's telecast of the match. As mentioned earlier in the week, the Brit's are looking for somebody to step up with Tim Henman lacking. I personally can't wait to see more of the teen from Dunblane, Scotland. Clement now faces Nicolas Kiefer who overcame a two-set to love deficit to beat Radek Stepanek.
Personally, Clijsters scares me...
Kim Clijsters, the No. 4 seed from Belgium, took out her old doubles partner, Ai Sugiyama, 6-1, 6-4. Clijsters has had a great summer and just keeps overpowering each opponent with punishing groundstrokes and non-stop hustle.
Hewitt doesn't make friends on the court with his personality.
Clijsters' ex, Lleyton Hewitt, fought off a tough Argentinian, Jose Acasuso, 7-6, 7-, 6-2. Hewitt now faces American Taylor Dent. Dent has a big game, but Hewitt will fight to the end making Dent win every point. You won't find a tougher player on tour than Hewitt and Dent will find that out in the next round. Dent played very well in beating Spain's Nicolas Almagro in four sets.
Want to read something funny? Hewitt's wife, Bec Cartwright, a soap star in Australia, wrote a wonderful (sarcasm) poem to Lleyton at their wedding. Need a good laugh? Click here.
Roger Federer fought off Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 7-5, 7-6. Santoro had the crowd roaring with some fantastic between the legs and behind the back shots. Federer now plays Olivier Rochus of Belarus, then wouldn't play a seed until quarterfinals.
Follow the US Open here.
Day 6 Preview (Schedule of Play)
Oh, Saturday is going to be a fun day at the Open. On the Men's side Andre Agassi faces Tomas Berdych, James Blake plays Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet plays Ivan Ljubicic, Sebastian Grosjean plays Tommy Robredo, Guillermo Coria faces Robin Soderling and under the lights Saturday night is Tommy Haas versus Robby Ginepri.
If you are a fan of women's tennis, Saturday is the day for you. No. 2 seed Lindsay Davenport plays No. 32 seed Anabel Maria Garriques, Justine Henin-Hardenne plays Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho, Shinobu Asagoe plays Patty Schnyder and Jelena Jankovic plays Mary Pearce. Two Russians face each other when No. 6 seed Elena Dementieva plays No. 29 Anna Chakvetadze. The French have two of the top players in the draw facing off when No. 15 seed Nathalie Dechy takes on No. 23 seed Tatiana Golovin. Yet another Frenchwoman, No. 3 seed, Amelie Mauresmo takes on Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Some predictions: Coria over Soderling, Agassi over Berdych, Ljubicic fights over 18-year-old Frenchman Gasquet, Robredo over Grosjean, Rafael Nadal over James Blake and Robby Ginepri will take out Tommy Haas in four sets. Not really going out on a limb in any of those matches, but I don't see any upsets so I won't pick any.
No comments:
Post a Comment