US Open: Day 3

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

First, in doubles, Montanes/Robredo smashed Cermak/Polasek the fifteenth seeds 4 and love in 58 minutes. 12-seeded Fleming and Marray beat Argies Shwank/Berlocq in three sets 6-4 in the fourth whilst Davydenko/Elgin beat Matosevic/Zemlja 1-6, 6-3,6-2. Thirteenth seeds Mirnyi/Tecau beat South American duo Cuevas/Zeballos 6-2, 7-5.


BLOCKBUSTER BUST-UP: Karlovic d. Blake, CRO/USA
...one of Todd's readers made a point about there being not much of a fanfare when Chang finally hung up his rackets, but there being a big one for Blake. I think it might be because we are in a new media age and also possibly because Blake plays more exciting tennis, even if his career wasn't half as good. Anyway, everyone likes Blake pretty much as he is an all-round good guy and he beat just about everyone at one point or another. Despite going two sets to none up, he lost in five in a true US Open epic five-set fashion 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. Blake had 3 breaks of serve to 3 and won three more points, too. He had 6 doubles and 9 aces but his opponent had 38 aces and 8 doubles. Blake was 49-28 with regards to winners and his opponent was 75-68. Despite going five sets it was a relatively short match -3 hours, 28 minutes- time-wise because it was two big servers going for it. It was a high quality affair and it was a great way to say farewell to what has been a fantastic career. We will all miss Blake and that gorgeous game. He played tennis pretty much with one hand and he weaved magic and power with that forehand. If he and Gasquet could get together and coach a child how to play tennis, that child would be the new Henin or Federer.
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ROSOL MOMENT: Evgeny Donskoy, RUS
....Recent titlist Melzer didn't get a single set at this year's Open in the singles. He hit more doubles (2-1), less aces than his opponent (4-5), more errors (2-1), and less winners (4-5), not to mention the fact his opponent won 20 more points than he did in their 2 and a half hour duel. Donskoy broke four times (once more than Melzer) in his 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 victory. He was far too consistent on his service and off the ground for his opponent. He played a solid match and ousted a potentially dangerous player from the tournament. The Russian plays Gojowczyk, the German qualifier, next.
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ISNER-MAHUT WANNABE'S: Paire/Bogomolov, FRA/RUS
...In four hours and one minute, Bogomolov won through to the next round. He beat the 24th seeded Paire 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6. The score in that breaker was 7-5. Paire was 29-11 with regards to aces but his opponent was 2-6. Paire was 86-68 and his opponent 39-41 in the winners-to-UE ratio. Almost every second shot was a winner off the French racket and he clocked 128 as his fastest serve. The Frenchman is one of the most exciting young talents out there and I think he will win a slam one day. Bogomolov has Smyczek up next and the winner will not play a seed, so there will be an unseeded fourth round opponent for Djokovic. In fact, he won't play a seed till the quarters now.
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BLINK AND YOU MISS IT: Ram/Fognini, USA/ITA
...It was over in 87 minutes. The sixteenth seed Fognini had been outclassed. Defeated 1, 1 and 2, his opponent hit 8 aces to 3 and had only one double, 6 less than the Italian. He was 25-31 on the winners ratio and his opponent was 25-18. He won just 55 points in the match whilst his opponent won 90. Numbers can and do say a lot, but the gist of it is that Fognini completely imploded. He plays Granollers and then the winner of the Bogomolov match mentioned earlier.
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ELVIS AWARD: Marcel Granollers, ESP
...Another match from the Djokovic section, I'm afraid. Granollers took the first set 6-1 against Zopp but then crumbled as the Estonian took the next two 6-3, 6-1. However, the Spaniard rallied and won the next two 6-3, 6-4. Despite a low amount of winners -just 18 between them- it was still a competitive match. They both had decent if not overwhelming serve stats, too. The match lasted just short of three hours and the section has opened right up, which gives the Spaniard a golden opportunity to make a rare fourth round appearance at a slam level. He faces Ram as mentioned before.
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HOME GROWN HERO: James Blake, USA




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