US Open Draws are Out; Federer, Henin Win
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If you haven’t seen the US Open draws yet check ‘em out here.
At first glance the men’s draw looks to be all Roger Federer’s. On a second glance, it’s still Roger’s!
Sir Roger will likely not drop a single set on his way to a 10th straight Slam semifinal, a feat only accomplished by Ivan Lendl. Fed’s road is quite cozy – or the exact opposite of what he got at Wimbledon. Jim Wang, Tim H, etc., though Juan Carlos Ferrero could play him tough in the 16s, and in the quarters Tomas Berdych, James Blake or Dmitry Tursunov could snag a set, maybe. But that’s it. ADHEREL
Up for him in the semi’s is anyone’s guess, but I’ll go with David Nalbandian who seems to only show for Slams these days. Good for him. He knows where the points are. Anyway, his section isn’t much tougher assuming he’s playing well. (David is well known for making hard work of the easiest foes). En route to the quarters, David will be tested by Marat Safin (perhaps?), Olivier Rochus and then maybe, should be, but I doubt it, Tommy Haas. Nalbandian’s likely opponent in quarters in my mind has to be the winner of a Andy Murray-Fernando Gonzalez third round sizzler. I’ll take Murray only because he won the junior title a few years back and then threw up here last year. Anyone who throws up has to be favored the following year. In the end, I like David over Murray. Tough luck Andy.
As for the bottom half, the other Andy, Andy Roddick, got an easy draw up to the 16s where he could meet Marcos Baghdatis in a rematch of the fourth rounder back at the Australian Open. The big story in that section is of course Andre Agassi who is making his last US Open appearance. Unseeded this year, Agassi will play tour vet Andrei Pavel in what will be a very tough opener as the Romanian has the goods and has beaten the eight-time Slam winner. Should Agassi win he would likely face Bagdhatis who will not be awed by the situation of sending Andre packing. Once the dust clears I’ll take Roddick over Baghdatis just because it’s in the U.S.
In that second quarter, Hewitt’s a bit banged up so I like Novak Djokovic to come out to the 16s to face Ivan Ljubicic with the Croat winning to set up the Roddick meeting.
In the last quarter, Nadal has a tricky road that begins with an early test against former finalist Mark Philippoussis. If Flip was a 100% and at full strength, that would be a great upset pick and a good match-up for the Aussie. But anything less and Nadal should triumph, albeit in a struggle as he’s just doesn’t seem to be in form these days – plus, when was the last time this cat won a title in the U.S.? Answer: Never. Moving on…From there I’ll go with Jarkko Nieminen in the fourth round to play Nadal and then in the quarters Tommy Robredo, who will beat Rafa (or more likely whoever is in Rafa’s spot!) Sorry, Rafa, I’m just not feeling ya this year…
Okay, let’s see my QF line-up:
Federer d. Tursunov
Nalbandian d. Murray
Ljubicic d. Roddick
Robredo d. Nadal
Then SFs:
Federer d. Nalbandian
Ljubicic d. Robredo
Final:
Federer d. Ljubicic 61 76 75
And there ya have it. RogFed holding aloft yet another trophy. What a shock.
So you want first round upset picks? Okay. How about:
Scoville Jenkins beating Jonas Bjorkman (Love that one even though JB returns quite well)
Juan Monaco over James Blake (Blake will now feel the heat like he never has before)
Julien Benneteau over Robby Ginepri (hardly an upset)
The qualifier to beat Fernando Gonzalez (Ya never known with Gonzo)
Stan Wawrinka over Juan Chela (Stan the Man is a good darkhorse pick to the get to Week 2)
Albert Montanes over Lleyton Hewitt (not much of an upset)
Match I most want to see: Novak Djokovic vs. Donald Young. Ha. Get some popcorn ready for that whooping. Will The Donald finally win a set?
As for the women, I’ll got out on a limb and take a Mauresmo over Sharapova in the top half semi, then Henin over Kuzy in the bottom with Justine winning it all. Yippie.
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