The History of Men's Tennis (Open Era)

A favorite for the title in eyes of Mats Wilander and Goran Ivanisevic, Andy Murray faced one of his whipping-boys Feliciano Lopez on Louis Armstrong stadium. It was tough to predict that the Scot would get this victory with a negative amount of total points won (153-161). It’s not only that Murray possessed a 7-0 record against Lopez, but all those matches had won quite convincingly, including a beat-down last year at the US Open, in the third round as well (6-1 6-4 6-2). This time Lopez played his best tennis, Murray had a worse day, and three tie-break sets were required. In the first two, Lopez was two points away, he had very good chance especially in the second one as he led *5:3 and missed a forehand from a good position. Before the last tie-break, Murray withstood a break point at 5-all after a spectacular rally consisted of more than 20 flat shots with different spins and rotations. Well, Murray is one of the best tie-break players, and he always wins a tie-break leading 2-sets-to-1. In the 4th set he didn’t bother too much on Lopez’ service games, from time to time indicating a fatigue which in his case usually is a deceptive demeanor. Murray’s next opponent impresses with a consistency of serving aces in New York – Milos Raonic, regardless of a number of service games, delivers the same amount of aces, 30 in opening rounds, one ace fewer against James Blake during a 6-3 6-0 7-6 win on Grandstand. Blake lost this match as brutally as he won in the previous round against Granollers. Raonic had a short lapse of concentration leading 4:2* in the 3rd set, but once they entered the tie-break his dominance wasn’t questionable – no rallies, 4 aces and Raonic took it 7/3.
Andy Roddick secured himself one more opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of the Arthur Ashe stadium overcoming Fabio Fognini in four sets in exactly three hours. The American was surprisingly out-aced (15-10) by the nonchalant Italian, but the serve didn’t let him down at the crucial stages of the sets he won. In the fourth round he takes on Juan Martin del Potro, presumably in the last match of career. Del Potro needed 3 hours 20 minutes to prevail a difficult three-setter (6-3 7-5 7-6) with a countryman – Leonardo Mayer. Del Potro saved a set point at 4:5 in the 2nd set on return, and two set points on serve in the tie-break, which he won 11/9 (on sixth match point). David Ferrer fought off five set points in a first set tie-break against Lleyton Hewitt, and it was a solid base to notch a 7-6(9) 4-6 6-3 6-0 victory. Ferrer won an amazing point at 9-all in the tie-break running from side to side, and finishing the helpless Hewitt off with a backhand passing-shot from the ad-court. I looked at Ferrer’s long tie-breaks, he has won the last nine of them when the score went  at least to 7:7. It’s tremendous stats considering Ferrer’s serve, which isn’t a weapon producing free points, so helpful in long breakers. Hewitt was one out of four “wild card” players to participate in the third round – the Open era record at the US Open, three others “wild card” victims of the last 32 are Americans: Blake, 19-year-old Jack Sock [243] & three years older Steve Johnson [245]. Both young Americans were ousted on Grandstand, but left good impression. Sock played three tie-breaks against Nicolas Almagro before fell apart in the 4th set, Johnson led 4:0 in the 1st set tie-break with Richard Gasquet, eventually losing 6-7(4) 2-6 3-6. Defeats of “wild card” Americans were calculated in minds of the local fans, but loss of John Isner must have been disappointed. Isner entered his match against Philipp Kohlschreiber with a 3-0 record, but all those matches were concluded in “the best of three” format. When it’s “the best of five”, the German is a different type of animal. Actually it’s some kind of mystery for me that he doesn’t choke in deciding 5th sets despite it happens to him in deciding 3rd sets quite often. Isner had four game points in the opening game of the 5th set, but was broken (three times in the match on just three opportunities for the opponent!) and Kohlschreiber never looked back, albeit Isner had his chance to break back  in two return games. At 2:26 a.m. local time (tied the latest finish in US Open history – Wilander d. Mikael Pernfors in 1993), Isner made a characteristic forehand error as a cause of tiredness and Kohlschreiber won 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 in 3 hours 20 minutes – the only five-setter of the third round. Isner was eliminated this year in each major after a 5-set encounter.
Two best players in the world, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic destroy subsequent opponents with smiling faces. Their road to the fourth round was a piece of cake, neither of them found himself at 5-all at least in one of those nine sets which are already behind them. Djokovic said on his preparation to the Open: “My goal was, in these seven, eight days I had off after the Cincinnati final, to really try to recover, charge my batteries, work on some things in my game, and come out strong from the start. That’s what I’ve done. I feel great on the court. I’m really trying to keep that up.”

Longest match: 3 hours, 53 minutes. Andy Murray d. Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4)
Most aces: 29 – Milos Raonic, defeated James Blake in three sets

5-set barometer: 14-5 Philipp Kohlschreiber; 4-9 John Isner

On 30 August, Andy Roddick [22] appeared on his birthday press-conference (turned 30) and stunned journalists with words: “I’ll make this short and sweet. I’ve decided that this is going to be my last tournament.” He later explained his surprising decision: “It’s been a process. Certain parts throughout the year, I’ve thought about it, just with the way my body feels, with the way that I’m able to feel like I’m able to compete now, I don’t know that it’s good enough. I don’t know that I’ve ever been someone who’s interested in existing on tour. I have a lot of interests and a lot of other things that excite me.” On the following day, the 2003 champion played one of his best matches in the last few years beating Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-4 6-0. Roddick served 13 aces, not committing a double fault, had very good efficiency at the net (22 of 33) and never faced a break point. Two other American veterans advanced to the third round as well: Mardy Fish [25] outplayed Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first two sets on Arthur Ashe stadium, James Blake [114] enjoyed probably his best match since 2008 as he demolished Marcel Granollers 6-1 6-4 6-2 on Louis Armstrong stadium in the night session. The 32-year-old American overpowered his opponent with outstanding all-court game, the Spaniard never got to ‘deuce’ on Blake’s serve. Actually it’s the tournament of veterans so far, Lleyton Hewitt [125] in a battle of five-set specialists outlasted Gilles Muller in four and a half hours. “It’s great,” Hewitt said on 5th set, “That’s why you still play the game. It all happens pretty quick when you’re actually out there playing. Sometimes you wish you had a few more seconds to just sort of soak it up and enjoy the moment a little bit more.” Hewitt avoided a two-sets-to-love deficit railing from 3:5 in the 2nd set. Other 30-year-olds, but being still at the top of the game, Roger Federer and David Ferrer secured their places in the last 32 not losing a set in their two matches, however the Spaniard was forced to play a 3rd set tie-break in both his matches, including the longest one this year in New York – 14/12 against Igor Sijsling. Philipp Kohrschreiber still holds his amazing record of winning five-setters when a 5th set goes to 5-all at least. Against Benoit Paire, Kohlschreiber led 4:1 in the decider but blew two mini-match points and was on verge of being eliminated as the Frenchman served at 6:5 (30-all). The German somehow prevailed 6-7 6-3 3-6 6-2 7-6 in 3 hours 38 minutes though. Also tight 5th sets won other experienced players in these circumstances, both after squandering a two sets cushion: Feliciano Lopez, who saved a mini-match point at 2:4 against Pablo Andujar (6-4 6-1 6-7 3-6 7-5), and Marin Cilic – the winner over Daniel Brands (6-3 6-2 5-7 4-6 7-5) – the Croat was three points away from defeat at *4:5 in the 5th set. Tough conditions (33 degrees, low humidity) brought first big upset on Thursday – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was terribly erratic and Martin Klizan [52] took an advantage of it winning 6-4 1-6 6-1 6-3. It’s arguably the biggest achievement in career of the 23-year-old left-handed Klizan, who is coached by a former Top 10 player, fellow Slovak Karol Kucera.  Tsonga’s earliest elimination in a Grand Slam tournament since Australian Open 2007.

Longest match: 4 hours, 35 minutes. Lleyton Hewitt d. Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4
Most aces: 35 – Gilles Muller lost to Lleyton Hewitt in five sets

5-set barometer:

31-18 Lleyton Hewitt, 19-13 Stanislas Wawrinka, 16-8 Feliciano Lopez, 14-6 Marin Cilic, 13-5 Philipp Kohlschreiber, 13-10 Nikolay Davydenko, 11-9 Mardy Fish, 11-8 Nicolas Almagro, 8-3 Gilles Muller, 8-8 Philipp Petzschner, 1-2 Benoit Paire, 1-3 Daniel Brands, 1-4 Steve Darcis,  1-5 Pablo Andujar

It’s the first US Open since 2003 without Rafael Nadal! The 2010 champion has been struggling with a knee injury since Wimbledon. Among distinctive names also withdrew: Gael Monfils, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Juan Ignacio Chela (all guys inactive in recent weeks) and David Nalbandian, who pulled out when the draw was made (Florent Serra replaced him as a lucky loser). Nadal’s compatriots, Fernando Verdasco and Nicolas Almagro come back in action (they skipped all warm-up tournaments on hardcourts before the Open).

Milos Raonic [16] notched an important win in his bid for the Top 10 position. The Canadian beat Santiago Giraldo three times to ‘4’ at the last Wimbledon, and tended to take another routine victory over the Colombian. In the 2nd set he held all his service games comfortably until 4:5 when leading 30/15 missed five straight serves! Giraldo risked return on set point and the ball touched the baseline – Raonic lost his service self-confidence then. He was broken in the 3rd set as well as at the beginning of the 4th… 1:3 (30-all) and second serve – Raonic delivered an ace (30 in total), and the things turned in his favor. Giraldo in my opinion is the least reliable player in tight situations among regular ATP players. Serving to stay in the match at 4:5 in the 5th set he made a winner to get to 30-all which was followed up with two pathetic forehand errors just after Raonic’s soft returns. The Canadian prevailed 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 – his first five-set win at major.
Guilermo Garcia-Lopez [68] was close to make the most amazing comeback of the season as he faced Juan Monaco in Stuttgart last July. GGL came back from a 0:5 deficit in the final set then, but lost 5-7 anyway. What he hadn’t been able to produce in the “best of three” match, he managed to make in the “best of five” encounter. Their first round match at the US Open had three different phases underlined by different lights above the Grandstand. First, under a sunny sky Monaco was doing on court everything perfectly, and after winning two sets easily, led 4:1* in the 3rd. More or less at the time floodlights were activated. GGL found his rhythm, and leveled up at two sets apiece being two points away to lose in four sets. He led with a break twice in the 5th set when some physical problems pestered him. It was a time of the sunset. Monaco came back from 3:5 (deuce) to hold two mini-match points at 5-all – GGL fought it off with good first serves, one of the points was replayed after unfortunate outcome for the Argentine (his good ball was called ‘out’). In the final tie-break, the slightly hobbling Garcia-Lopez went for his shots, he simply did something Monaco has big problems with, namely took the risk when the pressure was higher and it paid dividends.
Generally speaking the first three days were marked by stunning comebacks from two-sets-to-love. Beside Garcia-Lopez also Alexandr Dolgopolov, Philipp Petzschner, Paul Henri Mathieu, Marin Cilic, Janko Tipsarevic, Ernests Gulbis, Fabio Fognini and Gilles Muller survived 5-set battles losing the first two sets. Dolgopolov was already 0:4 down in the 3rd set against Jesse Levine when woke up winning 18 out the next 21 games! Mathieu saved two match points at *5:6 in the 4th set against Igor Andreev [100]. It’s amazing how Andreev from a strong mentally player turned into an extreme choker (it happened in 2006 when he suffered left knee injury). Gulbis was *1:3 in the 3rd set against an in-form Tommy Haas, saved a mini-match point at 4:4 in the 4th with a backhand dropshot. The decisive moment of that match (3-6 4-6 6-4 7-5 6-3) came at 3:3 (0/15) on Gulbis’ serve. Haas won an entertaining rally, perhaps the best rally of the match with a passing-shot on the run. Unfortunately it cost him cramp in the right leg, and slightly limping he couldn’t win a game to the end. “Mindset is that you don’t care anymore,” said Gulbis [145], who struck 70 winners. “You’re two sets down, you’re a break down. You simply don’t care. Then magic happens suddenly. You win a break back, you win a set and you’re back in the match.” Yet the most incredible from 2-sets-to-0 deficit victory scored Gilles Muller [53], who was close to lose each of his three sets won against Mikhail Youzhny. Muller saved a mini-match point at 5-all in the 3rd set, trailed 3:5 in both tie-breaks and saved on serve a match point at 5:6 in the first tie-break and another one at 5:6 in games in the deciding set!! It’s barely the fourth case in the Open era that a player wins a match at the US Open winning three consecutive sets in a five-setter with ‘seven’ ahead of each set, Muller has won 2 of them! # The first round didn’t disappoint local fans – the best Americans won their matches with a relative easy, two completely unknown Yankees notched first wins at the main level: 18-year-old Dennis Novikov [1098] & four years older left-handed Bradley Klahn [489]. The latter, using powerful top-spin on his forehand, upset a declining Jurgen Melzer in almost 4-hour duel.

Longest match: 4 hours, 31 minutes. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez d. Juan Monaco 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(6), 7-6(3)
Most aces: 32 – Ivo Karlovic, lost to Jimmy Wang in four sets

5-set barometer:

20-19 Tommy Haas, 17-11 Mikhail Youzhny, 15-7 Janko Tipsarevic, 15-15 Jurgen Melzer, 13-6 Marin Cilic, 11-6 Marcos Baghdatis, 9-6 Gilles Simon, 9-10 Paul-Henri Mathieu, 8-7 Philipp Petzschner, 8-2 Gilles Muller, 7-5 Fabio Fognini, 7-3 Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-3 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-10 Igor Andreev, 4-7 Juan Monaco, 3-5 Ernests Gulbis, 3-6 Nicolas Mahut, 2-1 Milos Raonic, 2-4 Teymuraz Gabashvili, Michael Russell & Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 1-4 Bobby Reynolds, 1-4 Jesse Levine, 1-6 Santiago Giraldo, 1-0 Tim Smyczek, Rogerio Dutra Silva & Bradley Klahn, 1-1 Guillaume Rufin, 0-2 Marinko Matosevic

# 5-setters at the US Open with 3 straight tight sets won by one player:

1979: John Lloyd d. Paul McNamee 5-7, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 7-6
1983: Johan Kriek d. Roscoe Tanner 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(2)
2008: Gilles Muller d. Nicolas Almagro 6-7(3), 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 7-5
2012: Gilles Muller d. Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6), 7-6(6)

It was the highest point in Ivan Lendl‘s career. The 26-year-old Czechoslovak had won in 1986: ‘Masters’ (January ’86), so-called “fifth Grand Slam” at Boca Raton and Roland Garros. With a slow decline of his arch-American rivals (John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors) he confirmed his powerful supremacy over the whole tennis world, losing just one set in the fortnight. The tournament indicated not only a decline of two great American players but also the entire generation of Yankees overall – for the first time in the Open era just one of them advanced to the US Open quarterfinals (Tim Wilkison), and for the first time in the era, neither of them appeared in semifinals. Read more…

(1)Roger Federer d. (2)Novak Djokovic   6-0, 7-6(7)           [1:20 h]

The 20-minute first set was a d’joke. Djokovic hadn’t lost a service games in twelve consecutive sets before the final, and all of a sudden displayed a service performance of a nervous junior, who got a privilege to face arguably the greatest player of all-time on a big arena. In the 1st game Djokovic committed a double fault and made two unforced forehand errors, in the 3rd game two double faults and an unforced backhand error, in his third service game he played a bit better but still too weak to win demanded four points. Federer in his service games was brilliant: serves, forehands and volleys worked perfectly, he wasn’t even forced to checking out his relatively weaker stroke – the backhand. The Serb was calm though, and erased his memories of the pathetic set. The full packed house witnessed a mutually good second set. No break points after twelve games, Federer began the tie-break with a 3:0 lead. Djokovic managed to get two points on Federer’s serve and led 4:3, afterwards 5:4. Federer’s first match point Djokovic fought off with a penetrating forehand, Federer leveled up at 7-all with a smash. Two cross-court forehand winners and the final was over. There’s one weakness in Djokovic’s stable mentality – despite a great tie-break ratio (131/76) he has negative record in tie-breaks which reach at least 7-all (12/18). I assume there’s no logical explanation of this fact. Federer’s comeback to the highest level this year is mesmerizing. He has quite comfortable position to regain the No. 1 in the end of the season after two-year break given Nadal’s current withdrawal and the indoor season which always lifts the Swiss maestro. I expect the upcoming US Open should be vital. All indicates that Federer and Djokovic would meet there in the final again, and a winner of this match will very likely finish 2012 as the best player in the world. In Cincinnati, Federer captured 76th title, including 21 ‘Masters 1000’ (ties Nadal) and record-breaking 5 titles at the Western & Southern Open # – it’s one of very few biggest tournaments the Serbian player hasn’t won yet. “I’m obviously very happy. If I remember correctly, this was the first win here I had also after I had twins, right? So it’s great coming back here,” said Federer. “I’ve been able to win five. It’s obviously incredible because I remember the first few here I struggled. Now looking back it’s just unbelievable. Plus this was probably the best week ever here in Cincinnati for me never dropping my serve and all that stuff and beating Novak in the final. This was very sweet. No doubt about it.” Stats of the final

Doubles final:
(4)R.Lindstedt/H.Tecau d. (6)M.Bhupathi/R.Bopanna 6-4, 6-4

# Most successful players in Cincinnati:

5 titles – Roger Federer (2005, 07, 09-10, 12)
4 – Mats Wilander (1983-88)
3 – Pete Sampras (1992-99) & Andre Agassi (1995-2004)

Clay, hard indoors, grass, hard outdoors – in this order Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro have played their last four matches – outcome of this competition 2:2 (Djokovic leads 5-2 overall). Del Potro could afford to play backhand slices against Troicki and pushing backhands against Chardy, however, to be a competitor against Djokovic, the Argentine needs to hit backhands even harder than against most of very good players as he did it in their bronze medal match two weeks ago. His left wrist was bothering him, competed with the Serb clearly beneath the required level, and after 87 minutes Djokovic advanced to the final by a 6-3 6-2 margin. Del Potro: “I had I think six break points in the match and I didn’t take any one. Against Novak or the top players, if you don’t take your opportunities, you will lose for sure. I think he played much better than me today basically in the important moments or the break points. He was too good for me.”
Stanislas Wawrinka is able to take part in decent matches against the “big boys” in contrary to many players with a Top 20 potential. The problem with Wawrinka is that he suffers a lack of amazingness at crucial moments. He can play very good tennis through long sequences of a match, winning many points which are technically complex, but when the pressure is bigger in latter stages of sets he just can’t elevate himself to an inspired tennis. Today he’d saved five set points against Roger Federer before the 1st set tie-break which gave him some psychological edge. At 2-all in the tie-break he had a good chance to win a spectacular point (after Federer’s overhead) but failed, in my opinion he had a time to play offensive forehand, perhaps an instant winner; instead he chose a backhand slice option, and these nuances separate him from winning important sets against guys like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic… 7-6(4) 6-3 in the end for Federer – his 11th win in 12 meetings with the younger compatriot.

Quarterfinals

Despite different clothing brands (Nike, Lacoste), Juan Martin del Potro and Jeremy Chardy looked almost the same on the court during the first quarterfinal: two tall slim guys in white socks, black shirts and yellow T-shirts, but the difference in their tennis-class was huge. Del Potro’s troubles with left wrist seemed to have gone away, he came back to his standard double-handed usage on the backhand but didn’t try to hit winners from this side. His forehand is strong enough to get many points on Chardy’s weak slicing backhand. The Argentine created break point opportunities almost in every service game of the Frenchman (17 in total) and won 6-1 6-3 in 76 minutes. It’s painful to watch as some of the Top 20 guys are hopeless against the “big boys”. It had been Gasquet’s case on Sunday versus Novak Djokovic, and the scenario was repeated in Djokovic’s match against Marin Cilic. The Croat is able to play solidly from the baseline when he dictates the pace, when he is forced to running in different directions, he becomes an error-machine, and he hasn’t a plan “B”. Djokovic knows it very well and didn’t even try to display his full potential, he restricted himself to moving Cilic around the court with the good placement, obtaining a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory in 81 minutes – Djokovic has now won 14 sets (two tie-breaks) in a row against Cilic. Stanislas Wawrinka [26] appeared as a frustrated man until the the tie-break of the 2nd set facing Milos Raonic. The Canadian allowed his opponent in his first 10 service games to get just one ‘deuce’ and a routine two-set victory was nearly sealed by him. He led *4:2 in the tie-break approaching the net with a slice as Wawrinka made his best perpendicular backhand of the day which clipped the sideline. This shot turned the tables, the Swiss won the tie-break having lost  seven previous, and converted his only break point of the match in the 3rd game of the decider, holding the next four service games and winning 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4. Wawrinka is through to the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2009 (Monte Carlo). Extremely tough task ahead of him because in the semifinal he meets Roger Federer, who defeated Mardy Fish 6-3 7-6(4) in the last quarterfinal, not facing a break point. “This week I’m playing great tennis,” said Wawrinka. “I had a tough last two months. It was not easy, especially after the French Open. I played a great French Open, but then I lost [in the] first round at Wimbledon, Gstaad [and the] Olympics.”

Third round

Mardy Fish [20] is enjoying his best tournament of the season, after quick trashing of Feliciano Lopez and Carlos Berlocq, Fish has notched third easy win in a row,  dismantling 6-3 6-3 more dangerous opponent – Radek Stepanek, to whom Fish had lost all four previous meetings. The American displayed comprehensive tennis in the first match on Centre Court, served 7 aces and saved only two break points (in succession) while leading 3:2 in the 2nd set – fended them off at the net. “That was the monkey jumping off my back,” said Fish. “He’s been a very tough opponent for me over the years. Not only has he beaten me, he’s beaten me pretty soundly most of the time.” At the same time on Court No. 3 there was an interesting duel between Juan Martin del Potro and Viktor Troicki [32]. Del Potro played with injured left wrist, and it forced him to adjust a new tactics – normally he plays 1 out of 5 backhands with a slice, this time the proportion was reverse. In their five previous matches Del Potro had established such an overwhelming superiority over the Serbian player (last three sets: 6-0 6-0 6-1),  that even playing barely 60-70 % of his normal tennis on Thursday he was able to get a convincing 7-6 2-6 6-1 win. In the 1st set consisted of six breaks of serve, Troicki led *5:3 (30-all). The defending champion Andy Murray held 66 consecutive games on serve between the 1st set against Baghdatis at the Olympics and the 1st set against Jeremy Chardy in Cincinnati (in the meantime the Brit saved break points in 12 games). It’s interesting that usually after such a long streak of service holds, a player loses his serve a few times within a match. It was Murray’s case as well – he was broken by Chardy 4 times in 5 service attempts! The Frenchman lost his serve twice, but notched a very important 6-4 6-4 victory. Actually he experiences the best two weeks of his tennis life. Last week in Toronto made a third round, now at least has advanced to quarterfinals, as a lucky loser # (was two points away from beating Fognini in the qualifying round, took the main draw spot after Isner’s withdrawal). “Sometimes a few games can change matches,” explained Murray. “I had break points in the first set [two at 3:2]. If I had maybe gone up there, maybe I would have started to play better. But when I went behind, he started serving better and he was going for his shots.” Chardy [38], who began the year as No. 103, thanks to his sensational run in Cincinnati will be seeded at the US Open. In the last two weeks he defeated: Tsonga (post-Olympic fatigue), Roddick (back spasm) and Murray (sore left knee) – each of them in straight setters. It’s impressive, isn’t it? Who will be remember in years to come that neither of them was fully fit? Milos Raonic fired 20 aces beating Tomas Berdych 6-4 2-6 6-2 in the last third round match to set up a quarterfinal clash with Stanislas Wawrinka (came to Cincinnati with four consecutive defeats). Raonic also last week entered the last 8 in ‘Masters 1000’ but the difference between these two achievements is significant, in Canada he ousted just one opponent, and a weaker one (Troicki) than three guys he has beaten this week.

# ‘Lucky losers’ to reach ‘Masters 1000’ quarterfinals:

Franco Davin – Hamburg 1990
Alex O’Brien – Cincinnati 1994
Todd Martin – Stuttgart 1997
Franco Squillari – Rome 1999
Sjeng Schalken – Stuttgart 2000
Ivan Ljubicic – Miami 2001
Alberto Martin – Hamburg 2001 & Rome 2005
Thomas Johansson – Toronto 2004 *
Julien Benneteau – Cincinnati 2009
Jeremy Chardy – Cincinnati 2012

* ‘ToJo’ as the only one advanced to semifinals

Here is a stronger field than in Toronto. Federer, Ferrer, Roddick (two-time champion) and other renowned players (Hewitt, Blake, Davydenko, Wawrinka, F.Lopez) back in action. Unfortunately Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew. After a loss to Chardy in Toronto, Tsonga had a weird accident – according to his manager, Tsonga during a walk somehow hurt his knee hitting a fire hydrant and required eight stitches, he should play at the US Open though; also John Isner and Gilles Simon pulled out (back problems) already after the draw had been made. In the last five years the tournament has been won by two players: Federer (thrice) and Murray (twice). Djokovic is the main favorite to grab two Masters titles of the North American summer swing. I can’t imagine that this year would win other player than one out of these three guys.
There’s International Left-Handers Day on August 13. On that day two left-handed Americans met on Grandstand and Jesse Levine [88] outlasted Donald Young 6-4 7-6. For Young [80] it’s 17th defeat in a row which closes him significantly to the infamous record of his compatriot Vincent Spadea. Veterans, Tommy Haas [23] and David Nalbandian [39] played the most entertaining first round matches in Toronto last week as well as this week in Cincinnati. Their meeting at the Western & Southern Open had an astonishing process. Haas got a break point to lead 4:0 in the opening set. Nalbandian since *2:5 saved set points in three different games (six in total) and managed to win 16 straight points since 5:6! He led *2:0 (30/0) in the 2nd set when the longest game of the match occurred – six deuces and Haas broke back after a double fault. It’s pretty amazing that 9 out of 12 games during the 2nd set were concluded after ‘deuce’ games! Nalbandian had a match point at 6:5 when Haas delivered a service winner pointing in Nalbandian’s body. A break in the 8th game of the 3rd set was decisive – Haas finished the match in exactly the same fashion as the previous set – with an ace down the middle – the match lasted 3 hours 22 minutes! The German improves his H2H against the Argentinian to 5-0, but drops to 0-3 against fellow Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, to whom he lost on the following day 5-7 2-6. Also Sam Querrey and Jurgen Melzer played against each other in back-to-back ‘Masters 1000’ events lately # I thought Brian Baker [78] would transform his very good shape from clay and grass-courts onto hardcourts where he grew up, however, he had lost four straight matches on this surface before Cincinnati, where he made a first-round upset eliminating Philipp Kohlschreiber in two tie-breaks. The German was close to win both sets leading 6:5: set point in the 1st set on serve, 30/15 in the 2nd set on return. Baker played a poor match in the second round though, which awarded Bernard Tomic with first advancement to the last 16 of a big American tournament. The other most promising player born in the 90’s, Milos Raonic [19] has notched two valuable wins in his first tournament as a Top 20 player. First he outplayed last week’s finalist Richard Gasquet saving a double set point in the 1st set (7-6 6-3), then battled past Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 6-3 6-4. The Cypriot had a mini-match point at 4:3 in the 3rd set only to be a witness of a booming second serve from Raonic – it was an ace, one out of 22 Raonic hit in that encounter. He saved a break point also in the last game of the match. “I was hoping to play a little bit better last week,” said Raonic, referring to his dubious performance at the Rogers Cup. “Coming here I’m playing better. I still have a long ways to go, but I feel like I’m on the right track.” I have noticed Raonic attacks the net more often recently, he tries to implement a serve-and-volley action on the ad-court with a kick-serve. It’s a good sign that he and his coach Galo Blanco try to figure out a way to improve the game-style – it’s necessary to enter the Top 10.

# First round matches within a week between the same pairs of players:

Toronto: Haas d. Nalbandian 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-3 | Querrey d. Melzer 6-2, 6-3
Cincinnati: Haas d. Nalbandian 6-7(0), 7-6(4), 6-3 | Querrey d. Melzer 4-6, 6-2, 6-4