Getting You Up To Speed: US OPEN 2011 - Djokovic, Nadal, Federer & Murray
The year's final Grand Slam, situated in the hectic Flushing Meadows grounds, has seen the “big four” male players – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray – sail through the draw smoothly, while upsets and withdrawals have littered the women's field.
Due to heavy rainfall in New York city yesterday, all scheduled matches were cancelled so today the fourth concludes up and the quarter-finals begin. The year's final Grand Slam, situated in the hectic Flushing Meadows grounds, has seen the big four male players Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray sail through the draw smoothly, while upsets and withdrawals have littered the women's field. Djokovic has been impressive playing in his first slam as the World No. 1. This season, the Djoker has proved extra pressure that comes from heightened expectations is no problem, winning his first 43 matches of 2011 and compiling an impressive record of 61 wins and just one loss. Djokovic whizzed through his four matches without losing a set, his only challenge coming from the unorthodox Ukrainian Alexander Doglopolov who stretched him in a 31 point first set tie-break before going down 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. Djokovic next plays good friend and fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the quarters, a player famous for stating "women's tennis makes me sick". Federer lurks in Djokovic's half of the draw, the only man to chalk up a 'W' against him all year. But in order to reach his semi-final slot, Federer will have to take down a new nemesis, the flashy Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga defeated Federer the two times they have played this summer, including a bruising five-set victory on Federer's beloved Wimbledon centre court from two sets to love down. Both men are in good form, with Federer whipping Argentine veteran Juan Monaco 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 on Monday night and Tsonga downing the 8th seeded American dream Mardy Fish in five tough sets, 6-4, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. This match will test whether Federer, at 30 years of age, can he find some new and inspired play, or if he will let another younger foe pass him by. If things go with the seedings as they usually do in the men's game these days the other semi-final will be between no. 2 seed Nadal and no. 4 Murray. Murray has a good chance against Nadal, as the Spanish superstar has suffered post-match cramping and seems to be in a funk over his inability to beat Djokovic. Nadal has lost to Djokovic the five times they have played this year including back-to-back Masters tournaments finals in Madrid and Rome, played on clay-courts, the surface on which Rafa has always dominated. The consistency of the ATP's big four men allows interesting rivalries to develop. This is precisely the problem in the women's game at the moment, and upsets and withdrawals have continued in the first week of the US Open. None of no. 3 seed Maria Sharapova, no. 4 seed Victoria Azaranka, no. 5 seed and Roland Garros champ Li Na or no. 6 seed and reigning queen of Wimbledon's courts Petra Kvitova reached the quarter-finals. This unpredictability is exciting at times, but it often results in unexciting finals between mismatched opponents. Now that Serena Williams is back, the WTA tour has the only rivalry it needs Serena versus the rest. Serena begun her quest for a fourth US Open in sintilating form, knocking out Azarenka to the tune of 6-1, 7-6. After the match, Azarenka described playing an in-form Serena as "painful". Azarenka is one of the world's best hardcourt players, and given Kim Clijsters' injury abscene this fornight, she was possibly the only player who can go toe-to-toe with Serena from the baseline. Serena went on to dismantle former world no. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4, in the fourth round and next plays Russian youngster Ana Pavlyuchenkova who took out Francesca Schiavone 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. During Serena's 11 months away from the game due to injuries and illness, no other player made a genuine claim for her crown. World no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki is technically the best player in the world but she has faced criticism for underperforming at Grand Slams and acheiving top spot by playing week in, week out. The Golden Retriever, as she is nicknamed due to her ability to run down every ball, showed a lot of heart in a 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 fourth round win over Svetland Kutnetsova. Wozniacki came back from a set and 1-4 down against the former US Open champ and moved one step closer to a semi-final showdown with Serena - a battle between the last two players to hold the number one ranking. In the other half of the draw, the winner of today's quarter-final between Russian 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva and Australian 10th seed Samantha Stosur will most likely reach the final. Since breaking through to reach last year's French Open final, Stosur has been out of form, but has begun to find her game again this summer. Her road to the quarters has been a mighty long one, topping Nadia Petrova 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 in the third round, a three hour, 16 minute victory which was the US Open longest-ever women's match, and then knocking out another Russian veteran Maria Kirilenko in three see-sawing sets. This match will be tightly contested, as both players have powerful styles well-suited to hard-courts and have both reached Slam finals before. A finalist here last year, Zvonareva will have to find something special as she has lost the past seven times she has played Stosur and the rain will have given the Aussie an extra day to recover from her marathon matches. My predictions Men's final: Novak Djokovic come through against Andy Murray in four well-played sets. Women's final: Serena Williams will breeze past Samantha Stosur without the loss of a set in the entire tournament.