Wednesday Match Report

I went to the matches yesterday. Here's what I saw:

Got on the grounds around 11:20, just after play had started. Did a quick cruise of the grounds. Watched a few points of Dushevina-Bychova, only because Bychova had sat down next to me at the Bronx event the other week and had lunch in a shady spot by one of the small courts. Wanted to see what her deal was. I guess she upset Kuznetsova in the first round here the year Kuznetsova was defending, but hasn't done much else. Nice looking girl, but don't see her doing too much on the court.

Watched a few minutes of Kohlschreiber-Zabaleta. Kohly was pretty much toying with him, so I moved quickly. Watched a few games of Berrer-Przys... Berrer had already won the first and got up an early break in the 2nd, only to give it right back. I enjoy watching some of these types of matches where you have either a few journeymen, or a journeyman and a younger guy trying to break into the scene. You could see how much it meant to Berrer. He was really into it. Oh, by the way, an hour or so later he and a security guy cut in front of me in line so he could take a potty break. And I think Sam Querrey's dad was a few people in front of me in line since the back of his hat said something like "Dan Querrey"...I forget the first name. I think it looked like the guy I saw interviewed during one of Sam's matches - probably at Wimby. I would have asked him what happened to his son the previous day, but didn't feel like losing any teeth. Anyway, Berrer is not a bad looking player. Was focusing more on his play, so can't say much about Przys...

Also saw the end of the first set of Wawrinka-Korolev. I guess this turned out to be a doozy. They were trading some nasty groundies as you might expect. Koroloev certainly has a lot of game, just seems like he's going to need to learn how to harness it. Also caught a bit of the Lee-Parrott vs. Ljubo-Bolelli doubles match. I know Ljubo has had some past success with Ancic in slam events and especially in Davis Cup. He certainly knows how to volley, but I wasn't terribly impressed with his doubles sense. He didn't really have that good feel and movement around the net that you see from the top doubles guys.

I made a point to take in a bit of the Gulbis-Starace match, wanting to see what this Gulbis had to offer. Well, plenty in my eyes. I know Potito probably isn't exactly much of a test on a fast hard court, but I really liked what I saw in Gulbis. Smooth strokes, great feel, very creative, not afraid to come in. I suspect he may take the familiar route of a really young player that breaks into the top 100 or even top 50, then maybe takes anywhere from 6-18 months to really find their game, and learn how to compete against and beat the top players, and then makes his push into the top 20 or even higher. Look forward to some big things from this kid.

Then I had to position myself for Robredo-Reynolds. Reynolds and Tursy are my two favorites on tour, so I wanted to take in the better part of both their matches if possible. The US Open keeps letting more and more people in each year, so getting a seat at any court other than Ashe can be a pain in the ass. They were playing on court 13 which is one of the larger non show courts. Had to wait to get in as the Sugiyama match was just finish up, but got a good seat that was even shaded. Reynolds missed on a bunch of break opps in Robredo's first two service games. Tommy then got one break that he turned into a 6-3 set. Play was pretty even from the baseline. Tommy was obviously just a bit more consistent even though Reynolds dictated play for the most part. Man, Tommy's backhand can be sweet. Second set was very similar. Reynolds probably had better break chances and finally got a set point at 5-6 on Tommy's serve, but couldn't convert. It seemed like on all of Reynold's good break chances he went for it on the return, but was always missing. I liked the agressive strategy at first, but when it kept failing time after time, thought it may have been a bit more prudent to just get into the rally.

Need to break here. I'll follow with part two shortly....

good report, thank you

Ok, here's the rest.

So, I left the Reynolds match after he dropped the tight second set, and went to Armstrong for Henman-Tursunov. The crowd was strongly behind Tim as one would suspect. At the beginning of the match I thought Dmitry might blow Tim off the court. Tim looked a bit tight and I didn't think his attacking game would pose much of a problem for Dmitry. But Tim got into a groove and played some brilliant stuff at net - great hands and touch volleys of old. I was surprised that Dmitry just couldn't seem to into the match. I know he has a history of some shaky patches but he usually shows some decent toughness at the majors. His serve does blow this year. Oh, minor sidebar. In the fourth set as things were looking increasingly bleak for Dmitry, and as my mood was getting increasingly sour, this young French family sat right next to and behind me. Parents and two kids, maybe six and eight. Don't get me wrong, I like the French, but this family was driving me nuts. The kids would not stop talking, and the parents were doing nothing to pipe them down. And we were actually only a few rows back from the court. It got to the point where I nearly turned around and said "Would you kindly shut the *uck up."

Oh well, poor Dmitry, but great win for Tim. Dmitry was good in signing for about ten minutes after the loss. Tim was interviewed courtside and mentioned that it was nice to finally win against Dmitry in a major after losing in all the others to him. He also thanked the crowd for the special atmosphere. Not sure of Tsonga's form, but not liking Tim's chances too much there. Who knows, maybe he can ride the fans' suppurt.

After that did another pass of the grounds. Wild match with Gonzo and Gabash. Crazy Chileans going nuts as usual trying to urge Gonzo to a comeback. Wanted to catch the beginning of the Dechy-Ram vs. Kirilenko-Andreev match. Maria was looking very nice in a little brown one piece that was very floppy. Funny point where the two guys were at net and Dechy and Kirilenko were trading groundies from the forehand court. Andy kept trying to poach, and finally went but couldn't quite reach the volley. Dechy held her ground and was able to get to the wide forehand and ripped one of her own back crosscourt. As she was doing so, Andy was scampering back to his side at the net and came within a whisker of getting plugged in the head, but ducked just in time, not even looking back at the ball but somehow sensing that he would have been dead meat. They shared a nice laugh after the point. I guess this one wasn't much of a match judging from the scoreline. No surprise as Igor's another one of these guys that plays singles on a doubles court. Works sometimes, but not too often.

Walked by the Aspelin-Knowle vs Kubot-Skoch match. Knowle hit a return of serve about as hard as I've ever seen a ball hit, right back at the net guy. It was a high forehand return that he hit down on. Whoever was playing the net (I don't know the two of those guys by look) tried to volley it, but had absolutey no shot to keep it in play. Hit his frame and bounded off into the crowd.

That was about it. Left the grounds around 7:30 after a good eight hours or so of nice tennis.