US Open: The Tenth Day

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

We are starting to get a larger variety of event now, which is fun. But it also means that the more mainstream events like doubles and singles briefly take a back seat. Nadal/Djokovic and Serena/Azarenka finals are looming and while they will be high quality matches, it is also rather boring. I would love a Pennetta/Li final and a Gasquet/Wawrinka, final but something is telling me it won't happen. I would love to see the champions photo of Wawrinka and Pennetta, but I have a feeling it will be a picture starring Djokorenka or Nadena rather than Pennrinka or Linaquet. Anyway, I shall remove my head from dreamland, where Rod Laver is currently playing doubles with Tsonga and Soderling never got mono.

Quickly, the semifinals of the Mixed took place. Spears and Gonzalez of the Americas beat Garrigues/Soares, the fifth seeds from Spain and Brazil. They eased past the fifth seeds 6-3, 6-1. Mladenovic has had an excellent year. She and Nestor lost in the final of the French Mixed to Hradecka/Cermak 6-1, 4-6 10-6. They won Wimbledon when seeded eighth and beat top seeded Soares/Raymond in the final 5-7, 6-2, 8-6. The French and Canadian actually beat the tenth seeds, third seeds, second seeds and top seeds to win that title. Anyway, they lost here in an incredibly tight match to seventh seeds Hlavackova/Mirnyi 7-5, 6-7[4] , 12-10.

In the Men's Champion Doubles, Chang and Martin of the USA beat Cash and Washington of Australia and the USA. They won in 83 minutes, 7-6 [4], 6-4. Both teams hit five aces during the match.

The boys doubles continued without any of the top three seeds. More upsets were just around the corner, however. The eighth seeds Kokkinakis/Quinzi came through 3-6, 6-0, 10-6 against American Corintelli and Swede Ymer. Fourth seeds Nishioka and Panta of Japan and Peru crashed out 10-2 in the final set super breaker to Frenchman Halys and Portuguese Silva. Seventh seeded Geens/Rubin also crashed out in straight sets, as did the fifth seeds Chung and Lee of Korea. The sixth seeds edged through 5-7, 6-4, 10-8. The highest seeds left now are the sixth seeded team of Rublev, the Russian, and the German Zverev, who is the highest seed in the singles.

Kokkinakis defeated eleventh seed Jarry of Chile without difficulty, 6-3, 6-2. The second seed also had few issues in his 3 and 4 victory over the American Rubin. Eight seeded Japanese man Nishioka wasn't troubled, either, as he cruised through, 6-3, 6-2. Performance of the day goes to fourth seeded Coric, who beat China's Zheng 6-0, 6-0. The Chinese had no winners and won just eighteen points. It is almost reminiscent of the '88 French Open final between Graf and Natasha Zvereva. You can watch the whole match in 32 minutes if you want. I haven't had the heart to watch it yet. Fourteenth seed Safiullin retired at the business end of the second set, which is bizarre because retirements rarely happen in the juniors. Also through is fifteenth seed Panta of Peru.

Now, some match reviwws. There are only three today, but there was a massacre, an upset and a doubles match, plus a coming of age.


Doubles: DODIG/MELO d. HUEY/INGLOT CRO,BRA/PHI,GBR
...The Wimbledon finalists and tenth seeds advanced to the semifinals with a 63-minute 7-5, 6-3 win over 16th seeds Huey and Inglot. They broke three times from three opportunities whilst their opponents broke once from two opportunities. The tenth seeds had strong stats of 7-3 and 25 eight whilst their opponents had good stats of 7-6 and 23-13 overall. The Brit/Philippines combination won 45 points, twenty fewer than their opposition. They will have another chance to make their first slam semi in three months time, give or take a few weeks. For the tenth seeds, however, the journey continues, but next they face a stern test in the shape of the in-form second seeds Peya and Soares. Win that and they could set up a possible final against the Bryans.
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Singles: NADAL d. ROBREDO ESP/ESP
...Few men have ever beaten Fedal at a slam. Robredo ran out of everything, reall,y against Nadal or maybe the lefty was far too strong. Anyway, the second seed needed just 100 minutes to dismiss Robredo 6-0, 6-2, 6-2. Nadal finished with stats of 2-0 and 28-15, which are not bad, but his opponent was 3-4 and 10-21, which are not great. Robredo had no break points but Nadal had ten and he converted seven times. Nadal won 82 points to his opponent's 43. He did a Graf/Zvereva, except this one was thankfully not quite that brutal. Robredo is looking at cracking the top fifteen after this and he deserves it. He beat Fed and has had a solid US Open, but Nadal was a step too far. Who does Nadal face? A child prodigy who has finally come of age... at 27, a man just weeks younger than himself.
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Singles: GASQUET d. FERRER FRA/ESP
...When Gasquet appeared age nine on a French tennis magazine, everyone just thought he would win slams and be a world beater for many years. The result? Two semifinals seven years apart. Gasquet has never shone on the biggest stages, with the fates and bad luck ganging up on him consistently. In fourth rounds, he has landed Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and Ferrer to mention but a few. Often he is simply not good enough, but sometimes he is good enoguh but loses anyway, like against Wawrinka. He went 6-3, 6-1 up in 70 minutes. That second set was the perfect set of tennis. He played fluidly, smoothly and utterly dominated Ferrer in that set. He thought about points, hit clever serves and played like a world number one. Then, in true Gasquet style, he crumbled. For no reason at all and lost the next two sets 6-4, 6-2. I was watching it and I was shocked. Gasquet was literally going away for no reason whatsoever. He was literally evaporating into the atmosphere. But then, out of nowhere, he came back and played fabulous tennis once more. In the final three sets, Ferru played one dodgy service game and it was enough for Gasquet to win through 6-3 in the fifth. You could see what it meant to him. He finished with stats of 6-3 and 52-49, which are not bad. His opponent ended up with 5-3 and 40-45 overall. Ferru won 137 points, just five less than Gasquet. Gasquet was six from 17 on break opportunities whilst Ferru was four from fifteen. It was an amazing match and next Gasquet gets Nadal, who the Frenchman says he hasn't beaten since they were thirteen. I think Nadal is going to be quick going through to the final, unfortunately, but we will see.
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Bonus Material: GRAF d. ZVEREVA GER/USSR
...because this is short, I have bonus material. I referenced the Graf/Zvereva 'match' several times. It was the 1988 final, and here is part one of the 'match'. Umm, enjoy?

Credit goes to the User Saschamen76, and stats from Tennis Warehouse.

Graf d. Zvereva 6-0, 6-0.



Graf won 49 points overall, Zvereva 13.

Graf made 14 of 28 first serves (50%), Zvereva 27 of 34 (79%).

Graf won 13 of 14 points on first serve (93%) and 11 of 14 on second (79%).

Zvereva won 7 of 27 on first serve (26%) and 2 of 7 on second (29%).

Graf made 3 aces, 1 df.

Zvereva made no aces or doubles.

Graf drew 7 return errors, of which two were service winners.

Zvereva drew 4 return errors.



Graf made 14 clean winners apart from serves: 9 FH, 2 BH, 3 overheads. Of these, she hit four passes (3 FH) and 1 return winner.

Zvereva made 2 clean winners apart from serve, both BH passes.

At 1-love in the second set, NBC had Graf at 14 winners.

They had Zvereva at only one winner, a BH pass. She had drawn three return errors but had not hit any aces or other winners.

There was an average of 5.2 points per game.



Overall, Graf had twenty-four winnners.

Credit goes to user Krosero.

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