U.S. Open Tuesday Preview

By Mike McIntyre

There are four big men's matches scheduled for play on Tuesday at the U.S. Open as the field quickly approaches the final eight competitors. The tournament has avoided any major upsets amongst the guys and one has to wonder how much longer that will continue.

Andy Murray vs. Donald Young

American Donald Young will attempt to keep his best-ever Grand Slam showing moving along as he faces fourth seeded Andy Murray in the opening match on Arthur Ashe stadium at 11am. It is hard to believe that Young is only 22 years old as it seems he has been struggling on the ATP World Tour for years already. Actually, he has been struggling on the Tour for years as he rushed into his professional career at the tender age of 15.

Young has slowly begun maturing and making some strides this year that have signalled he is ready to move towards the expectations the tennis world has held for him for so long. Earlier this year he defeated Murray on the hard courts of Indian Wells. More recently he made the semi-finals of a level-500 tournament in Washington, D.C. as well.

That meeting in March was the only career encounter between Young and Murray, but expect a much different result on Tuesday. Young has been riding an emotional roller-coaster in New York with big wins over Stan Wawrinka and Juan Ignacio Chela, but faces a player of an entirely different calibre in Murray.

The Scotsman has amped-up his game over the past month and is not playing at the same mediocre level he was at earlier in the season when they first met.

Young can take home a lot of confidence from New York but he won't take another victory.

Prediction: Murray in three

Gilles Muller vs. Rafael Nadal

No-doubt recovered from his press-conference cramping incident from Sunday that was highly and uncomfortably covered by television cameras, Rafa Nadal will be feeling just fine as he faces severe under-dog Gilles Muller.

Nadal has yet to drop a set in the tournament and the defending champion rarely bows-out of a Grand Slam early. While I still have doubts about his ability to defend his title from a year ago, I can't see him getting bounced by Muller.

The pair have a career head-to-head record of 2-1 in Nadal's favor, but Muller's win was back in 2005 when Nadal was still discovering his game on hard-courts. More recently, they met at Wimbledon this summer with Nadal prevailing 7-6, 7-6, 6-0.

Muller has performed well in New York before, making the quarter-finals in 2008. He may give Rafa a challenge for a set, but otherwise will have to come up with the best tennis of his career to cause an upset.

Prediction: Nadal in four

John Isner vs. Gilles Simon

In a match that will offer fans a real contrast in styles, bit serving American John Isner will take-on the hustling baseline game of Frenchman Gilles Simon. This will be the first meeting between the two and the result is really anyone's guess.

Simon's best Grand Slam result was the quarter-finals of the Aussie Open in 2009 while Isner has made the fourth round at three majors including this one.

Both players have solid winning records on the Tour this year while Isner came into the Open with a tournament win in Winston-Salem. Both have had to beat top-level players in their journey here so far, with Isner defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the fist round and Simon just coming off a victory against Juan Martin Del Potro.

I see this one going the distance with at least a couple of tie-breaks given Isner's outstanding service game. Could go either way but I'll take a leap and go with Isner thanks in-part to the crowd support he'll receive.

Prediction: Isner in five.

 Andy Roddick vs. David Ferrer

In the opening match of the evening session, the third American man in action on Tuesday will be 2003 champion, Andy Roddick.

Roddick has finally found his game after struggling with injuries and consistency issues all summer long. He dispatched Julien Benneteau in routine fashion in the previous round and the Frenchman had been playing some great tennis coming in. Things are about to get a whole lot harder against Ferrer.

The Spaniard can hang on any surface and will never, ever, get tired. Ferrer holds a 5-3 advantage over Roddick in their prior matches and defeated him this year in Davis Cup play in straight sets on hard-courts. For those who don't know Roddick well, he is a guy who lives for representing his nation. He gives 110% in Davis Cup matches, so you can imagine how well Ferrer must have been playing to attain the victory on that day.

While I feel that Andy may yet have a crack at going deep in another Grand Slam before the end of his career, I don't see it happening here with Ferrer standing in his way.

Prediction: Ferrer in four.

Comments

[Terisa]

I did not see it reported that Ferrer beat Roddick in his hometown after Roddick blew a 2 set lead or 1 set in Davis Cup. He definitely did not let that happen again this time in Flushing. I think he still has a shot at winning given his serve and a lucky draw. But to beat 2 of the top 3; Rafa, Djokovic or Federer consecutively I don't think so. One of them sure.

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im aiting for Gilles Muller vs. Rafael Nadal so badly thanks a lot for informing

[TennisShoeView]

Just looking back past some old results, sorry for the late comment here. Can't believe that Roddick took down Ferrer, even though it was on hard courts. I didn't see him having any kind of a chance. Congrats to him for a huge win and too bad he couldn't put up more of a showing against Nadal.

I don't think Andy will see past the quarters anymore at this point. There are just too many strong contenders these days even outside the ridiculously strong top 4, who he has no shot of beating unless his serve is on for an entire best of five