Men's Fourth Round French Open Preview

By Mike Mcintyre

Half-way to the finish line and all of the main threats in the men's draw at Roland Garros appear poised to live up to their billing in Paris.

Top ranked Rafa Nadal survived his first five-set French Open match against John Isner and a third set hiccup against Pablo Andular in round two to advance with ease to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3. 6-0 route of Antonio Veic. Next up is unseeded veteran Ivan Ljubicic who upset Fernando Verdasco in straight sets on Saturday. While Ljubicic is a wily veteran, he stands no chance against the defending champion and will go down in three in their meeting I'm certain. While Ljubicic has defeated the Spaniard twice before, both of those meetings came on hard courts. Nadal will own him on clay to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Gilles Simon vs. Robin Soderling fourth round match should be a good baseline battle between one of three remaining French hopes and the two-time returning finalist from Sweden. Soderling leads their head-to-head 4-2 but the pair have never met on clay before. Expect a long match with Soderling likely prevailing to set-up a fantastic quarter-finals match against Nadal. Not a player Rafa is looking forward to facing.

After the finals in Australia, Andy Murray is still waiting for his "I'm Back" moment of 2011. Following the first Slam of the year he tanked in the first round of three consecutive tournaments. Back on track after a semi-final appearance in Rome where he had the chance to serve for the match against unbeaten Novak Djokovic, Murray can hold is own on clay and if his ankle holds up he should be able to dispatch Serb Viktor Troicki. Troicki is at an all-time high of 15th in the ATP World Tour rankings but I don't think he'll be able to pull-off the win against an experienced player like Murray. Murray leads 3-0 in their previous encounters although they have never met on clay and their last match was almost two years ago. Murray's health will dictate the outcome here.

 Moving along we have a surprise quarter of Alejandro Falla, ranked 127th in the world, against veteran dirt-baller Juan Ignacio Chela who has maintained a top-forty ranking even at the age of 31. At one apiece in their career against one another, this match could go either way. Ultimately unless you are from Colombia or Argentina you probably don't care one way or the other. The victor will no-doubt be taken care of by the winner of the Troicki-Murray match.

In the bottom half speedster David Ferrer will meet up with the acrobatic and unpredictable Gael Monfils of France. Should be a fantastic match that has five sets written all over it. Monfils has made the semi-finals here before while Ferrer is certainly capable himself and both have the potential to give their likely next opponent, Roger Federer, a tough go. With the year he's been having I give Ferrer the slight edge.

Federer meanwhile will feast upon his fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka in their fourth round encounter. Roger holds an intimidating 8-1 record against his former gold medal-winning doubles partner from the Beijing Olympics. Wawrinka came back from two-sets down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win a tough third round match and even if he was well rested I doubt he'd be able to topple Federer here at a Slam.

In another surprising fourth round match, Fabio Fognini will face Albert Montanes. While Fognini is a bit of a journeyman, Montanes is a legitimate clay court threat. Montanes is unseeded but reached a career-high ranking of 22 in the world last summer. He hasn't been lighting it up this year but won two clay court tournaments in 2010. He has played Fognini four times in his career and won the three most recent matches, all on clay.

The winner above faces the unenviable task of facing the winner between Novak Djokovic and...well, does it really matter? With a 40-0 record in 2011, Djokovic should be able to deal with Richard Gasquet in their match. Fresh off a four set send-off of Juan Martin Del Potro, Djokovic fears no one. While Gasquet took out Federer recently in Rome and definitely has a talent level that could trouble any player on tour, Djokovic is almost untouchable at the moment. It would take a Herculean effort from a Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal to have a chance at ending the Djoker's impressive streak right now.

Enjoy the fourth round and stay tuned for more analysis and updates from us here at ProTennisFan. Feel free to follow us on Twitter as well throughout the event and beyond.

Aussie Open Men's Quarter-Finals

By Mike McIntyre

Few surprises remain as we examine the eight men still standing in the Australian Open draw. The top four contenders are all looking strong as we approach the finish line.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have been looking terrific and should all advance to the final four.

Nadal will take-on compatriot David Ferrer, the seventh seed, who had an early match scare against Canadian Milos Raonic in the round of sixteen. Nadal owns Ferrer with a career head-to-head advantage of 11-3 and has won the last seven matches in a row against him. Look for that trend to continue in straight sets.

Murray faces a tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov, who at 22 years old is looking like he could be ready to enter the upper-echelon of the men's game. Dolgopolov possesses a deceptive serve, delicate drop-shot and altogether some variety that we don't see from many players. For an ATP World Tour that has had the majors dominated by Federer and Nadal for many years, it is nice to see guys like Dolgopolov and Raonic starting to emerge.

Murray and Dolgopolov have only met once before and it was back in 2006 with the Scot prevailing. That result can be tossed aside and the young Ukrainian could indeed surprise Murray when they meet here in the quarters. Murray's experience in the Slams should get him through, but don't be surprised if it requires more than three sets.

The heavy-hitter match of the final eight has Tomas Berdych playing Novak Djokovic. The Serb holds a 4-1 advantage in career meetings including their last two encounters, however Berdych won their semi-final match last year at Wimbledon. It's nice to see Berdych really embracing and solidifying his position in the top-ten. He had strong Slam results at the French and Wimbledon in 2010 and appears ready to carry that over to this season. It should be a good one between the two here but I think Novak is going to be tough to defeat here on the hard courts.

Finally let's not forget Roger Federer who is going up against his compatriot and Olympic doubles partner Stan Wawrinka. Fed leads their series 6-1 and has only lost to the Swiss number-two player on clay. Federer has had a few simple matches of late by his standards but will certainly be challenged by either Berdych or Djokovic - the last two players to beat him in Grand Slam play - in the next round.

 

2011 Australian Open Men's Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Welcome back everyone to another season of tennis on the ATP World Tour. After an amazingly short break we are back to business and the first Grand Slam of 2011 is already upon us.

A year ago we watched Roger Federer surge out of the gates by defeating Andy Murray (the pre-tournament favorite) in Melbourne in straight sets. After that, Roger faltered while Rafael Nadal reclaimed the number one ranking and three Grand Slams in a row. The year ended with Federer finishing strong at the Tour championships in London and he seems poised to continue along that path in the new year.

An early season victory in Doha against Nikolay Davydenko signals Federer is ready to push Nadal for the number one ranking once more. But as he approaches the age of thirty, Federer is well aware that father time is going to be knocking on his door with increased frequency.

As for Nadal, a recent bout with the flu has put his preparation for a "Rafa-Slam" in jeopardy. How healthy will the Spaniard be as he tries to win his fourth consecutive slam?

From my perspective, we are ripe to have a new Grand Slam champion here this year. Despite Federer's apparent return to brilliance, he is much more prone to faltering now than ever before. He has been beaten in the past year by players that never would have previously given him the slightest challenge. Players like Berdych, Davydenko, Hewitt, Monfils and Soderling all earned big wins over the Swiss master in 2010. Once that aura of invincibility has disappeared, anything can happen.

With Nadal's health questionable, there is no guaranteeing he will be able to hack numerous best-of-five set matches in the tough Australian heat. He is susceptible to an early round upset depending on his fitness and if he endures those opening rounds will be forced to face some very difficult players in the quarter and semi-finals.

Nadal opens the main draw against Marcos Daniel of Brazil who is ranked 93rd in the world and is not exactly known for his hard-court abilities. In fact, Daniel was unable to amass a single victory on cement in 2010. Even Nadal at 50% is going to steamroll this guy in the opening round without a doubt.

Nadal could get Feliciano Lopez in round three and Marin Cilic or John Isner in the fourth round. David Ferrer or David Nalbandian could await in the quarter-finals. Nalbandian has given Nadal problems in the past, and both he and Ferrer faced-off in the finals of Auckland yesterday where Ferrer emerged victorious. The bottom line is that both players are feeling pretty good early on this year and will make Rafa work hard to earn a win against them.

In the semi-finals Nadal has players like Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling among his potential opponents. All of those foes are in the second quarter of the draw which promises to be a brutal one to navigate through. A Soderling vs. Tsonga round of sixteen match is possible as well as a Del Potro vs. Murray. Wow!

In the bottom half of the draw, fans will likely be cheering for a Roddick vs. Djokovic quarter final, followed by that winner taking on Federer in the semi-finals.

Roddick made the finals in Brisbane a week ago where he fell to Soderling. Djokovic played in the Hopman Cup but against lower opponents, so it is tough to gauge where his game is at just yet. Three years removed from his only Slam win however and we're all still waiting for the Serb to get it together and prove himself to be more than Rafa and Roger's understudy.

Don't forget about other big names in the bottom half of the draw like Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils and Nikolay Davydenko. This is the year where one of these guys could finally make it happen for the first time at a Grand Slam.

While we can expect the possibility of a Rafa vs. Roger final, I suggest being open to something quite different in two week's time. The stage is set and starting tomorrow we will see the first matches of our favorite kind of tennis take place - Grand Slam tennis! Sit back and enjoy the show.

 

 

Around The Corner: Sydney and Auckland

By Mike McIntyre

Medibank International - Sydne, Australia 

American Sam Querrey has the top seed and enjoys a first round bye. He will face either Alexandr Dolgopolov (who lost to Roddick in Brisbane) or a qualifier in his first match. It will be interesting to watch Querrey this year and see if the 23 year old is ready to take another big step forward. 2010 saw him win tournaments on all three surfaces, so expectations are high.

Gilles Simon looks to be the toughest opponent in Querrey's section of the draw and the two could face-off in the third round. Simon is a former top-ten player, though he is not seeded in this event after sustaining a lackluster 2010 season.

Ernests Gulbis is the third seed and is also in the top-half of the draw, but somebody remind me when he last accomplished anything worthwhile on the circuit.

Marcos Baghdatis is the defending champion in Sydney and is seeded second this year. He gets the winner of Potito Starace and Julien Benneteau. Look for the Frenchman Benneteau to possibly give him trouble in round two.

Juan Martin Del Potro has a wildcard into the tournament and gets Feliciano Lopez, the eight seed, in a tough first round match. After missing the majority of 2010 with a wrist injury, it is going to be fun to watch a healthy Del P and see if he bounces back this season. It will be nice to see him back near the top of the rankings and giving guys like Nadal and Federer a good run for their money.

Heineken Open - Auckland, New Zealand

World No. 7 David Ferrer of Spain takes the number one position in Auckland and gets a bye in the first round. He will open against either Tobias Kamke or a qualifier in round two. Philipp Kohlscrhreiber the eighth seed looks like potential trouble in the top-half of the draw while veteran Tommy Robredo is also present though unseeded.

In the bottom half clay-court guru Nicolas Almagro is the number two seed while John Isner is the third seed. The tall American returns to Auckland as the defending champion where he won his first ever ATP World Tour title. In the finals a year ago he saved a match point en-route to defeating Arnaud Clement.

David Nalbandian is also present and could cause some damage if he is healthy and fit to start the season. It seems something usually goes wrong with the Argentine in the early-goings of the tennis year, perhaps due to a lack of proper preparation or maybe just due to his chronic misfortune with injuries.

All in all a pretty nice draw in Auckland this year and one of several players involved could walk away with the title.

Kooyong Classic

Though not an official ATP tournament, the Kooyong Classic usually has some top-level talent on display. The annual exhibition offers up some pretty nice prize money to entice tour players to play.

This year they boast a lineup of Jurgen Melzer, Nikolay Davydenko, Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt, Mikhail Youzhny, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco in the tournament.

The draw has not yet been revealed but winners advance to the championship side while losers are relegated to the consolation section where they still are able to get a couple of matches under their belt prior to heading to Melbourne.

Enjoy the tennis and stay tuned for our Australian Open preview in a week's time.

Around The Corner: ATP World Tour Finals

By Mike McIntyre

The end is near tennis fans.

The ATP World Tour Finals being held in London, England marks the official end of the 2010 tennis season. The top eight players in the world are gathered to duke it out for bragging rights and a little extra cash as well.

While not nearly as prestigious as a Grand Slam event, the year-end tourney offers up more quality matches in one week than we are normally accustomed to watching. In a regular event the top eight players can only meet in the quarter-finals and rarely do we see them all left as the final ones standing. Here in London we get some fantastic matches right from the get-go with the field split into two groups of four players who all play each other once in the round robin format.

In Pool A this year we have world number one Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick.

Pool B has Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling and David Ferrer.

Let's take a closer look at both pools and speculate on who has the best chance of ending the year with a final tournament victory.

Rafael Nadal has just completed another mind-boggling season, perhaps his best one yet. Capturing three Grand Slams including his first U.S. Open title, Nadal has been by far the most dominant player on the ATP World Tour.

Shoulder troubles hampered Nadal in recent weeks and kept him out of the Masters 1000 event in Paris, but he claims to be healthy now and ready to go. Nadal has been out since early October and without much match time lately I wonder if he will be as sharp as he will need to be to take this title for the first time in his career. Nadal has twice before made the semi-finals of this event, losing both times to Roger Federer.

Novak Djokovic had a decent year in 2010 but has still not been able to win a Slam since his one and only such victory at the Australian Open in 2008. He made the finals at the U.S. Open in September defeating Roger Federer in a memorable semi-final, but then fell to a very in-form Nadal. Djokovic has lost twice to Federer this fall and most recently lost the third round in Paris.

Tomas Berdych is the only first-time participant in the event and had his best year on Tour. The 25 year-old participated in the most number of tournaments of anyone in the top ten and made his first ever Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Since that time he has failed to advance past the quarter-finals of any event and has not had two consecutive victories in any event since he played Toronto in August.

American veteran Andy Roddick has not had the type of year he was hoping for as he did not advance past the quarter-finals of any of the Grand Slams. He also uncharacteristically had poor showings at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and dropped out of the top-ten for a short time as well. Roddick's best results came early in the season and it is tough to imagine him advancing deep in London.

 Roger Federer has had a tough go by his standards this year but did capture one Slam in Australia and after a surprising loss to Berdych at Wimbledon has played with far greater consistency and resolve. He has gone 30-4 since that defeat and has won three titles. If he can get through Andy Murray - who has given him all sorts of problems in his career - he should have a good shot at taking this title.

Murray has been very inconsistent this year but still has Federer's number for the most part. Federer still seems to get the better of the Scot in Grand Slam matches when things matter the most, but otherwise Murray has dominated the Swiss star. Murray won the Masters 1000 event in October in Shanghai, but since then has lost to Juan Monaco and Gael Monfils. He definitely has the ability to win this event, but will have to defeat some big names in order to make that happen.

Robin Soderling is a player who also has a serious shot at this title. He won the first Masters 1000 series event of his career recently in Paris and has proved over the past two years that he belongs in the top ten. Lookout for him this week as well.

Feisty Spaniard David Ferrer has played well since the U.S. Open with one tournament victory in Valencia and another final appearance in Beijing. The 28 year-old is the one player who is likely to get handled quite easily with a field as deep as this one. It is a noble accomplishment that he has qualified for this event but I don't expect him to last long.

My call is for the either Federer or Murray to emerge victorious in London this year. They have both had some strong results this fall and should be hungry to end the year on a high note.

Enjoy this week's tennis everyone and we'll see you again around the corner in 2011.

 

Around The Corner: Tennis On The Rise in Asia

By Mike McIntyre

The ATP Tour crosses several time zones this week and sets up shop in Thailand and Malaysia where it hopes to attract new fans and sponsors in an effort to spread its global presence.

World number one and the dominant force in men's tennis in 2010, Rafael Nadal was treated like royalty when he arrived a few days ago in Bangkok.

While both stops on the schedule are ATP World Tour 250 events, the fact that the region has attracted the likes of Nadal and other young stars such as Juan Martin Del Potro, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco shows that they are committed to hosting premium quality tournaments.

Malaysian Open

Robin Soderling is the number one seed at the Malaysian Open and receives a first round bye. He should have an enticing semi-final match against Berdych if the draw holds true to form. Speedster David Ferrer of Spain is also in the top-half of the draw and should win a few rounds.

In the bottom-half, Marcos Baghdatis faces up and coming Kei Nishikori in the first round in what could provide the tournament with its first upset. Nishikori will have the crowd behind him and has been playing the best tennis of his season towards the late stages of the summer hardcourt swing. Ranked 123rd in the world, the 20 year old Japanese sensation made it through qualifying at the U.S. Open before advancing to the third round. In the process he defeated top-twenty player Marin Cilic before having to retire with an injury to Albert Montanes.

Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny are also in the bottom half of the draw. Davydenko has had some big struggles since returning to the Tour in June after a lengthy injury layoff due to wrist surgery. He has not resembled his old self and has a 10-10 record since that time.

Meanwhile, Youzhny made it to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open and jumped in the rankings to 9th in the world - one spot away from his career high that he reached in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if he overtook Davydenko as the highest ranked Russian before the year is out.

PTT Thailand Open

 Rafael Nadal is making his first ever appearance at the Thailand Open. While he was scheduled to play the event the past two years in a row, injuries derailed his plans and he was forced to withdraw. He comes in as the clear favorite following his impressive performance in New York where he captured the only missing Grand Slam from his already incredible tennis resume. Nadal gets a first round bye and will play the winner between two qualifiers in his opening match.

After tumbling down the rankings to the 35th spot in the world, Juan Martin Del Potro emerges from his nearly year-long wrist injury and holds the 5th seed here in Bangkok. His potential third round opponent is Nadal which will be a most difficult match in his first tournament back on the Tour. Let's hope Del Potro can remain healthy and get a few tournies under his belt before the conclusion of 2010. Having him back in the mix next season will be a huge boost to the current Roger and Rafa show we have been watching this year.

Jurgen Melzer and Fernando Verdasco represent the talent in the bottom half of the draw but neither one should be able to knock-off a healthy and in-form Nadal.

The Asian tennis swing continues next week with level 500 events in both Japan and China and then we have the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai that should have all the big names out in full force.

Men's U.S. Open Fourth Round Preview

By Mike McIntyre

The final week of Grand Slam play for 2010 is about to begin and there are sixteen players left in the men's draw. Noticeable absentees include the Andy's (Murray and Roddick) and Tomas Berdych. Other than that I suppose David Nalbandian and Marcos Baghdatis bowed out slightly earlier than we had thought, but there are still several big names left in the draw.

Rafa Nadal has been rolling along just fine on the hard courts so far in this tournament. He'll get compatriot Feliciano Lopez next. Lopez took him out of the grass court tune-up event at Queen's Club in June so we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss him. Nadal will raise his game when required however and we all know how hungry he is to complete the career slam with a win in New York. I'm going with Nadal in straights.

Another all-Spanish battle features Fernando Verdasco the 8th seed against number 10 seed David Ferrer. Verdasco impressively knocked off Nalbandian in the third round while Ferrer advanced against a lesser-known hard court player in Daniel Gimeno-Traver. I'm looking at a tough five set Verdasco victory which would give us a nice re-match of the Nadal/Verdasco tilt from the Australian Open that went the distance in 2009.

American hopeful Sam Querrey and Swiss understudy Stan Wawrinka both have the opportunity to make their first career Grand Slam quarter-final. Querrey has had a great year at the lower-level tournaments winning three ATP Tour 250 events, and one 500 event. Let's see if he now has the game to make a splash on a bigger stage. Wawrinka just beat one of the U.S. Open favorites in Andy Murray. Can he keep that level up? I'm picking Wawrinka in four sets due to experience.

Mikhail Youzhny took out American John Isner in the last round and will now face veteran Tommy Robredo. Normally I'd go with Youzhny hands-down but I've learned to never count Tommy out. Just when you think his career is on the downward swing, he tosses in an excellent result. Still, talent wise, you gotta think Youzhny will pull this one out in four.

Monday gives us the four bottom-half matches, starting out with Richard Gasquet against Gael Monfils. This match should be one of the most entertaining between Gasquet's beautiful backhand and Monfils' colorful court antics. The all-French match holds a 2-2 career head-to-head with all meetings on hard court. Could go either way really as neither has enjoyed much success on this surface this summer, but Le Monf has my vote in a five setter. 

Mardy Fish is likely wishing that the heat would return to Flushing Meadows in time for his match against Novak Djokovic. Unfortunately cool temperatures are in the forecast giving Djokovic the ideal conditions he needs to succeed against the American. While Fish has had a great summer and has made the quarter-finals in New York once before, the Djoker has been picking up his game this week and looks ready to advance. Djokovic in four. 

Robin Soderling gets the easiest match on paper as he takes on clay-court specialist Albert Montanes. A straight set wins for the Swede should be in the cards, making him a very dangerous and well-rested player to face Roger Federer in the next round.

Federer gets resurgent Jurgen Melzer who has had the best season of his career for sure. The 29 year old had never before advanced past the third round of a Slam before 2010 and has now made the semi's at Roland Garros, the fourth round at Wimbledon and now again the fourth round at the U.S. Open. His run is about to end at the hands of Federer who will have one last routine victory before having to face a serious test in Soderling. Federer in straights.

Third Round Men's Preview at U.S. Open

By Mike McIntyre

The third round will finish off play today at the U.S. Open leaving us with 16 competitors in the draw. So far all of the favorites still exist on the men's side with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray all looking strong. Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling are also still in the mix.

Here is a quick peak at some of the matches coming up today:

Nadal will take on Frenchman Gilles Simon. Gotta give props to France for having so many talented players in the top 50 on the ATP Tour at the moment. Simon is trying to rediscover his hardcourt form that led him to wins over both Nadal and Federer back in 2008. It's a different story in 2010 and I don't expect him to challenge Nadal. We're going with the Spaniard in three sets.

Feliciano Lopez the 23rd seed is up against Sergiy Stakhovsky with the winner to likely face Nadal. Stakhovsky just won the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven a week ago and comes in with great momentum. Lopez is inconsistent and his backhand is notoriously weak. Stakhovsky in four sets.

In an all-Spanish battle, the feisty David Ferrer will face countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Ferrer made the semi's in New York in 2007 and his experience and determination will carry him through to the next round in four sets.

In what Brad Gilbert labeled a "popcorn" match on his Twitter account, David Nalbandian will face Fernando Verdasco. While Nalbandian has had a great summer he has struggled a bit lately and spent more time on court than Verdasco this summer. I wonder if he has enough gas left in the tank for this match. Verdasco only dropped five games in his last match and I expect him to come through against Nalbandian today in four sets. 

Fourth seeded Andy Murray is my pick to make it to the finals and will advance easily today against Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland. Three sets and expect a much tougher match against the next Swiss opponent I predict he will face.

American Sam Querrey will have the crowd behind him as he faces Nicolas Almagro today. Almagro is more known for his clay-court prowess but he hits a hard ball. Querrey should win this match but I've yet to see him have his Grand Slam breakthrough. If he does not win today his toughness in big matches will continue to be questioned. I'm gonna go with Almagro in five.

Another American, John Isner will take his big serve against Mikhail Youzhny the 12th seed from Russia. Youzhny can play top-ten tennis if he puts his mind to it and with Isner just returning from an ankle injury I see the Russian advancing in four sets. 

The last match on the men's side today has veteran Tommy Robredo against serve and volley whiz Michael Llodraw. This is a great opportunity for either of these players to make the fourth round of a major. Robredo is the more consistent of the two although the chips could fall either way. I'll take Tommy in five sets.

U.S. Open Day 2 Recap

By Mike McIntyre

The heat stole the spotlight for a second consecutive day in New York as the schedule at the U.S. Open went late into the night thanks to several long matches.

Acting as an equalizer between players, the humidity in particular narrowed the gap between the lesser known talents and their normally more dangerous counter parts. 

Here are some of the more interesting men's matches from day two at the Open.

Novak Djokovic came ever so close to being a first round casualty against fellow Serb Victor Troicki. Down two sets to one and a break in the fourth set it appeared as though Djokovic's fragile physique and mental fortitude would once again do him in. Brad Gilbert speculated that a potential Djokovic retirement would give him a career Slam in that department, as he has previously been forced to retire from play at the other three majors.

Instead Djokovic showed some heart as he broke back and then took the fourth and fifth sets as Troicki ran out of gas and allowed nerves to take over. Djokovic prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

A strange statistic is that Djokovic improved to 6-0 in Grand Slams when trailing two sets to one, and to 12-5 in matches that went to a fifth set. Those numbers go against the prevailing opinion of the world number three player when it comes to long matches. Maybe we should give him a bit more credit?

One seeded player who went five sets but could not prevent the upset was Marcos Baghdatis. The 2006 Aussie Open finalist has been on a good role this summer, making the finals in Washington D.C. and the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati.

Not known for his physical fitness, Baghdatis perhaps became a victim of playing too much tennis over the last month. He even played the New Haven event the week before the U.S. Open which I never really saw the need for.

It was 32 year old veteran Frenchman Arnaud Clement. himself an Aussie Open finalist from 2001, who defeated Baghdatis by a score of 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

"What can I say? I was really heavy on court," Baghdatis said after the match. "I wasn't feeling very fit. It's not a matter of fit but very heavy. Couldn't play aggressive. I was really defensive today, and Arnaud played a very good first set. I mean, the second set he was giving a lot of points away and I took them, but I was really heavy on court. I was really defensive. I think I didn't play very good tennis, and he won the match."

A nice result today was the routine win for struggling American veteran James Blake who got by Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Blake has had a terrible time trying to get his game back on track this summer with a 3-8 record coming into the match since returning to the tour in June. Now ranked 108th in the world it will be tough for Blake to rediscover his previous form at the age of 30, but maybe he can conjure up a good run on home soil.

After the match Blake spoke of enjoying these types of victories at this stage of his career:

"Yeah, it's a great feeling. Any time you win a match, harken back to the days when my biggest goal and biggest dream was to win a round at the US Open. Somewhere along the way to some people it started to get taken for granted. It's still exciting for me to win a match here, to have fans that are excited to see me play and get to play again in front of some great fans. I'm happy to get through."

In the last men's match of the day, Nadal overcame a very tough Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-3. Nadal was pushed by the Russian in the first two sets but showed some great tennis in the third set to avoid prolonging the match any further. 

Other results worth noting include Mardy Fish taking down Jan Hajek in five sets. Fish has been on fire all summer long but required the distance to dispatch of Hajek. He won by an interesting score line of 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. 

David Nalbandian also needed five sets to beat Rik De Voest and I wonder if he, like Baghdatis, has stretched himself too thin with so much match play this summer.

Tenth seeded David Ferrer, a semi-finalist in New York in 2007, beat up-and-coming Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

I also must give a shout-out to fellow Canadian Peter Polansky who won his first ever Grand Slam match by disposing of clay-court guru Juan Monaco, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-3. Polansky has had some tough five-set losses in Grand Slam play so it's nice to see him finally pull one out.

Around The Corner: Hamburg and Atlanta

By Mike McIntyre

The International German Open - Hamburg, Germany

The German Open offers European clay-court specialists another opportunity to pad their ranking point totals for the year.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko is seeded first but given his play as of late I wouldn't expect much in terms of results here. Struggling to find his game after returning from injury, Davydenko was bounced in the first round in Stuttgart last week and is 3-4 since returning from a three month layoff. While Davydenko is the returning champion, he will have considerable difficulty in defending this time around.

Nicolas Almagro is seeded fifth and is always dangerous on red clay. The Spaniard just captured the title in Bastad, his first of 2010, and has a favorable draw here in Hamburg. One knock against Almagro however is that he usually disappoints after a big result. Consistency is lacking and it will be a challenge for him to put together back-to-back titles.

Veterans Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo are both in the draw and have the ability to raise the trophy as does Albert Montanes who won in Stuttgart last week.

Third seeded Jurgen Melzer has performed well at the last two Grand Slams, where he made the semis at Roland Garros and the fourth round at Wimbledon, but then bowed-out 4-6, 1-6 to Montanes a week ago on clay.

Second seeded David Ferrer is my favorite here and performed well in Bastad where he lost just a few days ago in the semi-finals to Robin Soderling in three sets.

The Atlanta Tennis Championships - Atlanta, Georgia

The city of Atlanta gets to host an ATP event for the first time since 2001 when Andy Roddick won his first ATP tournament. Previously this tournament was held on green clay, but returns as a hard-court event leading up to the U.S. Open. The city is no stranger to big tennis events as it hosted the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Roddick gets a first-round bye and could face Xavier Malisse in the third round. Roddick holds an 8-0 career advantage against the 58th ranked Belgian, who is climbing his way back up the rankings as of late.

If you're a fan of American tennis you'll want to keep a close eye on the second quarter of the draw. There you'll find a quartet of aging American players who will fight for the chance of facing Roddick in the semi-finals.

Twenty-nine year old Taylor Dent gets an opening round match against thirty year old James Blake that should be a crowd pleaser. Blake has dropped out of the top-hundred while Dent is working on moving back towards the top-fifty. Blake is taking his departure from the upper-echelon of the game with much difficulty and has talked recently about how this could be his last year on tour if things do not improve. 

Also lurking in this section are twenty-seven year old Robby Ginepri and twenty-eight year old Mardy Fish. I would look to Fish to have the best chance of breaking out of this section of the draw as he won the title in Newport, Rhode Island just over a week ago.

Third seeded Lleyton Hewitt should be able to have a solid run in Atlanta and his presence here indicates to me that he is serious about taking a good run in Flushing Meadows. The veteran from Australia can still hit a good ball and is always a threat when healthy.

In the bottom quarter look for second seeded John Isner to advance quite deep in the draw. I'd imagine that Isner has more than recovered from his epic first-round victory at Wimbledon over Nicolas Mahut. Let's hope that Isner has found some time to practice around his recent media blitz that included reading the top-ten list on Late Night with David Letterman and winning an ESPY award for greatest record-breaking performance.