Open Observations

[Grarliner]

I picked WozDen for the title, and I see no reason to go back on it now. Can't WAIT to see her play Sharapova. I think she's gonna do it.

Is Sveta under the radar? She should beat Cibulkova and then ...

Oh, I totally forgot she played WozDen last year in the fourth round. 2-6 7-6 7-6 to Caroline.

Surely Wickmayer can't make another semifinal, can she?

Vera has an excellent chance to make the semis and maybe, just maybe, play spoiler to upper quarter survivor.

I hate to say it, but Venus could not really have an easier semifinal path if she did the draw herself. 5-0 against Peer, never lost a set, never even been close to losing a set. 7-0 against Schiavone, losing just three sets. I only fancy the chances of 19-year-old A-Pav, who has two wins in four tries against Venus.

Stosur is 1-4 against Dementieva. I like them both.

Roger rolled Melzer at Wimbledon. Same deal?

It really looks like the Fed-Soderling QF will come off, once again. That might just be a great match.

I'm hopeful Fish ends Djokovic's run. Please, US Open, schedule a day match.

But it probably won't happen. Fish is 0-4 versus Novak.

The Murray section is interesting ... Isner-Youzhny, Robredo-Llodra, Querrey-Almagro. It's hard to have a real strong favorite in those matches.

I favor Nadal for the final, in spite of Murray's hardcourt success against him.

[lexpretend]

Sharapova would have to play really badly to lose to WozDen. Which is possible, but so is the scenario of Maria just going Kvitova on her. It'll probably be like the Justine match in IW, where everyone foresees a beatdown but ends up being an annoying and poor-quality three-setter. Sweta's being very overlooked as a potential finalist. Bepa is still favourite for the SF, but in the bits and pieces I've seen of her, she definitely looks edgy, and she was really lucky that Dulgheru started missing when she did last night. I fear that she's really, really close to a meltdown, but she's not playing as well as she can either.

Venus has definitely lucked out with regards to match-ups. I have such a hard time imagining A-Pav as ever amounting to anything good...another, like Cirstea, where I just don't get the hype. But the only player with even a half-chance at beating St. Kim in her half is...Demented.

Queer Eye over Almagro should be straightforward on hard courts, no?

Fish/Nole will surely be a night match...I thought Fish would come through at the start of the tournament (which, ugh), as Djokovic has just looked mediocre for so long now, but going five sets with Hajek and Clement is not the best harbinger for him. Obviously I really, really want Fish to lose.

Wussquet vs. Monfils should be amazing and stupid

Q. Do you think there's a lot of differences between your's and Richard's game?

GAËL MONFILS: Yeah, a lot. I think Richard is more talented than me in couple ways. Like he can adapt more about the conditions. Then I think I'm stronger than him physically, and maybe a bit mentally, also. Sometime he is like too defensive, like me. So actually it will be a good match, and we will see who's going to put like more pressure on the opponent.

Ain't no "maybe" about that.

[leelee]

I predicted that Sweta makes the final. I stand by that, even though she's had her usual periods of UE suck. Sweta is playing much smarter now, and is in good shape... for her. Maria isn't hitting that well yet, although I still think she beats WozDen.

Venus is the wildcard. She's looked rusty at times, but she's had a shit draw thus far. If she rounds into form, it's hard seeing her lose here.

Fish/Nole is tomorrow, thus it will be a day match on CBS.

[DBBN]

Great job, Spanish men. 9 out of 32.

[lexpretend]

I think Venus gets to the SF - Fran's playing incredibly well, but the match-up just favours Venus too much - but I don't know if she even gets a set off KFC. Remember Miami.

[leelee]

For whatever reason, I've never taken Kim seriously since her comeback. She's never returned to the form she showed 2002-05, even when she won last year. She's not as athletic, and her disgusting FH still goes horribly off at times.

[Grarliner]

Wozniacki played GREAT today. Man, I thought it would happen, but when it did, it was so nice to be right!

Besides, I didn't need to hear Maria's shrieking anymore for a good few months.

I was so with the "Woz ... whatever" crowd just a few short weeks ago, but she's made me a believer. She's Hingis 2.0. Good backhand, serviceable forehand, decent serve, rarely misses. Possibly more athletic than Martina was. I knew she'd beat Sharapova just by putting a lot of balls in play and she did just that. 16 winners to 10 unforced errors. Stats like that will win the tournament for her.

Now the hardest point in her career to date. The door to the final has been flung open. A loss to Cibulkova or Vera or Kanepi is unthinkable. It would be a disaster. But she WILL meet a good player in the title match. My opinion? If I were her, I'd be sweating Venus a bit but not really anybody else. Venus has a 4-0 record against her (but the matches were eons ago) and she can really do damage with her serve in a way that Sharapova just couldn't manage today. On the other hand, Venus is more likely to play terribly than excellently, so I wouldn't be TOO worried about her.

If a rematch of last year's final comes off, I see Kim making more errors and Caroline making her hit more balls. I think it'll go the other way.

Regardless, I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'm more excited for a women's Slam than I have been in a while.

For the men, what about Andy Murray? That is a terrible loss. I think Stan the Man deserves one semifinal in his GS career, though. Let's see that!