TENNIS US OPEN – For the first four days at the US Open, the men’s draw has had no real shake up. All the usual suspects have played to form and made it through to the next round. There was nothing dramatic beyond Andy Murray’s first day “cramping” and the various retirements in the men’s draw. From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP
For the first four days at the US Open, the men’s draw has had no real shake up. All the usual suspects have played to form and made it through to the next round. There was nothing dramatic beyond Andy Murray’s first day “cramping” and the various retirements in the men’s draw. However, on Day 5, things got rather interesting with several upsets and other surprising results.
Well one knew that things were going to get interesting when David Ferrer (4) moved into the 3rd round without having to play a single ball. The ever enigmatic Bernard Tomic defaulted from his match claiming issues with his right hip and lingering effect of the flu.
The other more notable stars of the ATP had to go to work though and most of them had a relatively easy day. Roger Federer (2) moved past Sam Groth of Australia. Federer dealt with the 145+mph serves/bombs from Groth with much dexterity and secured the crucial break in each set for a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory. Groth had this to say after the match, “I was trying not to get caught up in the whole Roger act out there. You walk out, you get a few cheers. He walks out and the crowd goes ballistic … [H]e’s got an aura because of how good his tennis is. Yes, there’s an aura because of what he’s done, but his tennis speaks for itself … I knew I was playing Roger Federer. I was pretty nervous probably all day … I am not happy I lost to Roger. Not saying I could have won, but I enjoyed my experience out there, and I want to be there more often.” Also winning in straight sets was Grigor Dimitrov (7) who knocked out Dudi Sela 6-1 6-2 6-2. Dimitrov is quietly moving through the draw not drawing a lot of attention to himself but playing some great tennis while on court. The fans are definitely eager to see a possible Dimitrov v Federer quarterfinal match here if both players progress to that stage.
Richard Gasquet (12) and his countryman Gael Monfils (20), a huge crowd favourite, got through in 3 sets. Gasquet beat Paolo Lorenzi 7-6 6-3 6-3 and Monfils took out Alejandro Gonzalez 7-5 6-3 6-2. Marin Cilic (14) beat Illya Marchenko 7-6 6-2 6-4. Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut played extremely well against American Tim Smyczek 6-3 6-2 6-1. Smyczek had absolutely no idea on how to effectively deal with the Spaniard’s game despite the crowd’s loudly cheering him on.
There were several players who needed 4 sets in order to get through to the next round. Kevin Anderson (18) rallied after dropping the opening set to Jerzy Janowicz to take the match 6-7 6-2 6-1 6-3. Both Feliciano Lopez (19) and Gilles Simon (26) each won the opening set in their respective mathes but then dropped the 2nd set. They then took the following two sets; Lopez over Tatsuma Ito 6-4 3-6 6-4 7-6 and Simon over Federico Delbonis 6-4 3-6 7-5 6-1.
There were a couple of upsets of seeded players though by no means were they epic losses to the main plot of the US Open. France’s Adrian Mannarino totally dismantled the game of Italy’s Fabio Fognini in straight sets, 6-3 6-4 6-1. Fognini appeared as though he was not quite prepared for the match nor the intensity from Mannarino. Either way, he was dismissed in just under two hours. The Italian made a staggering 64 unforced errors in the match compared to 25 from the Frenchman. Another blowout win was from David Goffin who has been having an incredible summer particularly on the Challenger Curcuit (minor league of professional tennis). His good fortunes continued here as he knocked out Jaoa Sousa (32) 6-4 6-2 6-0. Mannarino and Goffin will also be joined in the 3rd by another surprised entrant, that of Teymuraz Gabashvili who took out his compatriot Alexander Kudryavtsev 6-1 6-4 7-6.
The biggest upset of the day has to be the dismissal of Ernests Gulbis (11) by rising start Dominic Thiem who incidentally is a friend of Gulbis. Gulbis won the opening two sets in routine fashion though he later claimed that it was far from the case, “[S]erve was good the first two sets. I call it low quality because, you know, when I broke him I didn’t play good … [H]e gave it to me.” Nonetheless, Gulbis was leading 6-4 6-3, a two sets to love lead. However, from the 3rd set on, Gulbis began to move gingerly, which he said was due to cramps which at the time in the match he thought was possibly a pulled hamstring. Thiem came back from this huge deficit to take the match 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Gulbis had 78 total unforced errors in the match compared to Thiem with 41.
There were two other 5-setters on the day with surprising results. First up, Tomas Berdych (5) took on Martin Klizan. As always, Berdych’s commitment and concentration were in question in the big matches. He allowed Klizan back into the match after being up 2-1 sets. Klizan won the 4th set but Berdych broke early in the decisive set for a 3-1 lead. He maintained this break advantage to close out the match 6-3 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-3. “The conditions were tough again. You go from day till early evening. You start with the sun, then you end up with the lights. It was quite windy, as well. Really, I mean, he play good, so I’m happy to have that on my belt, to win another five-setter, and just go forward,” Berdych said after the match. Marcel Granollers took out Ivo Karlovic (25) 7-6 6-7 7-6 3-6 6-4. This match started in daylight and ended with the lights which at one point went total blackout.
So the 3rd round matchups for the bottom half of the men’s are as followed: Federer (2) v Granollers; Bautista-Agut (17) v Mannarino; Gasquet (12) v Monfils (20); Goffin v Dimitrov (7); Ferrer (4) v Simon (26); Anderson (18) v Cilic (14); Thiem v Lopez (19) and Gabashvili v Berdych (6).
