Rolling into week two of the 2011 US Open, there have been some pretty big upsets. However, probably none bigger than the unforeseen fourth round exit of Mardy Fish.
What I predicted to be a close match and Fish as the victor, turned out to be a close match just a different victor. Tsonga took it to Fish in a 5 set thriller, in 3 hours 45 minutes Jo-Wilfried ended the hopes of the American’s summer run, 6-4, 6-7(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. I thought for sure Mardy would weather the storm from the Frenchman, especially since Fish has been praised for his fitness and durability for long battles.
Now there are three American’s left in the field, the usual Andy Roddick, big man John Isner, and a revived Donlad Young. I’m hopeful that any one of the 3 will break through their 4th round matches (which have been rescheduled due to rainy weather) and make a run in the quarterfinals. The only problem is…the opponents.
Roddick will be facing Spaniard David Ferrer – you know, the short and fast #5 player in the world. The last time these two have clashed was this year at a Davis cup meeting in Austin, TX. Ferrer beat Roddick in straight sets, however; the last time they met in a non-Davis cup meeting was back in 2009 in Indian Wells, CA; Roddick took that match 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. This match has “tight” written all over it. David is known for his quickness and giving it 100% all the time, Roddick on the side has taken some time off this year and has dropped out of the top 20 so I imagine he’s got a chip on his shoulder. I expect to be some heavy hitting, but I’m giving a slight edge to Ferrer (only slight) to enter the quarterfinals.
John Isner is matched up against Frenchman Gilles Simon, this would be their first meeting. Simon took out 2009 US Open Champion, Juan Martin Del Potro, which is no easy task by any stretch of the imagination. I can absolutely see Isner getting a lot of free points with his big serve, however; if Simon is on the ball and can return serves, that’s where Isner will get outplayed. Simon is a better mover than John and that’s obviously going to be the biggest component to winning this tennis match. It’s hard to call this match since they’ve never met on a competitive level, so I’ll give a win to John Isner, if he serves big and stays the course he could very well take this match.
The last American man standing is the highly hyped Donal Young. John McEnroe can finally say “I told you guys he is the next American great tennis player.”. I’m pretty sure that all the hype that Young got when he was a junior got into his head, not allowing him to really break through on the scene. This is his chance to play his own game and make a serious run into the quarterfinals. Young will face the other Andy, Andy Murray; this is going to be an intense match I’m sure. Young has already beaten Murray, in March of this year Young took out Murray at Indian Wells, CA. Murray, however; has the experience of playing big matches at the US Open will favor the Scot. Andy Murray has been a finalist at the US Open once before, where he lost to Roger Federer. The biggest factor of this particular tennis match is the crowd, I’m almost certain that most of the fans are going to back Donald Young which could easily get into Murray’s head. This match will either be a complete walk-over or an extremely tight, physical, and mental match.
Those are the American’s left at the 2011 US Open, so we’ll have to see how they all play. The Roddick/Ferrer match could potentially be the match that either energizes Roddick to carry on or forces him to consider calling it quits all together.