By
FOLKERT HESSE
The tennis fans in the Big Apple are treated to a really tasty Big Burger of tennis this Sunday. With a lot of big stars in action and some very interesting match-ups this will be the first high light of this year’s Open. And because it is Sunday the stars will start at 11 a.m. already.
The first match on Center Court will be Ana Ivanovic against defending champion Kim Clijsters. Both have been very convincing in their first rounds and did not drop a set yet), which is not a big surprise for Kim Clijsters. But Ana Ivanovic has struggled for more than a year now and to see her back in form is good news for her fans. But unfortunately you never know how long it will last with her. But she has not much to lose against the 2 seed from Belgium, who is the tournament favorite to many, after Serena Williams had to cancel the Open due to injury. So Kim is the favorite in this one, but you never know what you get from Ivanovic and she might come up with a great match. And the guys will always have something to cheer when she plays anyways.
The next match on Arthur Ashe Stadium is Venus Williams against Shahar Peer. Venus is the last big hope for the US fans on the women’s side, and with her sister missing the tournament, she will be eager to bring another trophy to the Williams household. The No. 3 seed is the favorite in this match, but Shahar Peer is a great competitor and will not leave the stadium without showing the 20,000 a big fight. If Venus will be able to handle the pressure and will be able to thrive on the cheers of the New York fans, who always loved the Williams sisters, she will make it through to the quarters.
Where she will meet the winner of the Schiavone – Pavlyuchenkova “fight’. This match will be a great fight, which you can always expect when French Open Champion Schiavone hits the courts. But now she will meet another screaming and scratching player from Russia, who was a former No. 1 in the Juniors and has tons of potential. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, has a good hard court game and it will be very interesting to see how she will handle the backhand slice of Francesca, who will try to slow down the game and force her to miss her shots. This match will be on Luis Armstrong Stadium at 11 a.m. and might not get as much attention as it should, because the Clijsters – Ivanovic match will be taken place at Arthur Ashe at the same time.
The last women’s match today will be the night session at Arthur Ashe between Sam Stosur and Elena Dementieva. To me Stosur is one of the 3 big favorites for the title this year. With her kick serve she will give Dementieva a lot of trouble to get into the rallys on this surface. And if Sam Stosur is able to dictate with her forehand, I don’t see many chances for the Russian on her own serve either. But if Sam Stosur’s game would be predictable and if she would be mentally stronger, she would have won a few slams already. So, let’s see what we will get in this match. For sure two of the best athletes in women’s tennis.
On the men’s side there are even better matches coming up today and every one of them will be as unpredictable as the swirling winds on the courts yesterday. Even Rafa Nadal, who is one of 7 Spaniards among the 16 men in action today, is not the clear favorite in his match against Frenchman Gilles Simon. Simon beat him on a hard court once already and if he is still fresh enough after his 5 set win over Kohlschreiber, this could be a very exciting match on center Court. Simon has the game and the talent to take Nadal’s shots on the rise and play with the power that Rafa gives him. This could be a tough one for Nadal and even though Simon was struggling lately, and dropped out of the top 10, he will use the confidence from the first rounds to show the crowd a big fight.
The night session on center court will feature big American John Isner, who will take on Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Isner who is coming off a foot injury played very strong so far and is one of 3 men standing from a country that has been a strong tennis nation once. The other US players still in contention for the title, are Fish and Querrey, who are playing Djokovic and Almagro. From those three Isner probably has the best chances to advance to the next round, even though Youzhny is a fierce competitor and will try to fight Isner’s big serve and the NY crowd until the last ball is played.
But the biggest match-up on the men’s side will be between David Nalbandian and Fernando Verdasco. Former No.3 in the world, David Nalbandian, just made a great comeback from his Hip surgery and played a remarkable hard court season so far. Along with Mardy Fish, Andy Murray and Roger Federer, he showed the best form during the big hard court events before the US-Open. I see him as the favorite in this match, but No. 8 seed, Verdasco will fight like a Spanish bull to stay in the top 10 and reach a spot for this year’s ATP-Tour finals at the end of the year. This match could easily go 5 sets, but for sure it will bring us high quality tennis.
Another high quality match will be Andy Murray against Stan Wawrinka. Even though Wawrinka did not get the great results he looked for during the hard court season, he showed much better fitness and form in his matches. I expect a close one here, since both players breezed through their first two rounds without losing a set. This one could also go all the way to a 5 setter, but you still have to name Murray the favorite in this match-up. His double-handed backhand is still better than Wawrinka’s, who has one of the best single-handed backhands in the game.
The rest of the matches do not feature the big names in tennis, but are all interesting and wide open. The aggressive Llodra, who defeated Thomas Berdych will take on solid and experienced baseliner Tommy Robredo. Sam Querrey, who won 4 tournaments this year already, will play big hitting Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and Feliciano Lopez will battle it out with Sergiy Stakhovsky in an all out offence match. The last match will hold another two Spanish players in the run for a spot to play the winner of the Nalbandian – Verdasco match. Here David Ferrer will play Daniel Gimeno-Traver and the internal affairs are always very interesting to see.
So, there is plenty of high quality action today and if the weather holds up, the New Yorkers and many fans on TV will be treated to a great day of tennis.
F. HESSE
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