Djokovic’s quarter
Upset special: Tommy Haas over Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round. Haas is not quite as on fire as he was earlier this season, but he is well-rested. Del Potro, on the other hand, may not be 100 percent.
Deep sleeper: Marcel Granollers. His nearest seeds are Fabio Fognini and Benoit Paire and no other unseeded player in the Fognini-Paire section is ranked higher than No. 75 in the world.
Prediction sure to go wrong: Jurgen Melzer in the third round. Melzer is coming off a long week in Winston-Salem and a potential second-round opponent, Igor Sijsling, destroyed him at the French Open.
Winner: Novak Djokovic. Only a 100-percent Del Potro would have a chance of stopping him.
Murray’s quarter
Upset special: Denis Istomin over Nicolas Almagro and into the fourth round. If Istomin can channel what was on display at the 2010 U.S. Open against Rafael Nadal, this is a draw on which he can capitalize.
Deep sleeper: Ivo Karlovic. The 6’10’’ Croat advanced through qualifying without dropping a set or even losing serve a single time. He fired 37 total aces in his first four qualifying sets.
Prediction sure to go wrong: Donald Young over Martin Klizan. Three straight wins for Young in qualifying is an amazing feat by his standards. Asking for one more over a 2012 U.S. Open fourth-round finisher may be too much.
Winner: Andy Murray. The defending champ lost early last year in Cincinnati, too…. And look what happened. No time to panic.
Ferrer’s quarter
Upset special: Dmitry Tursunov over Richard Gasquet and into the quarterfinals. Tursunov is a player who feeds off momentum, and he is borderline on fire right now. He has a clean bill of a health and a relatively short week in Winston-Salem will only help.
Deep sleeper: Feliciano Lopez. The Spanish left-hander is playing well and has been to the fourth round of the U.S. Open twice in his career. He will fly under the radar with guys like Milos Raonic, Jerzy Janowicz, and Ernests Gulbis in this section, but all of Lopez’s opponents will be vulnerable.
Prediction sure to go wrong: Ernests Gulbis over David Ferrer. Based on current form, Gulbis may actually be the odds-on pick to win if this third-round clash takes place. And that’s what makes it scary.
Winner: Jerzy Janowicz. With experience from having reached the Wimbledon semifinals plus an absolute dream draw in New York, the sky’s the limit.
Nadal’s quarter
Upset special: Tommy Robredo over Kei Nishikori and into the fourth round. A revitalized Robredo is an outstanding 31-17 this season. He is 16-11 lifetime at the U.S. Open and has been to the fourth round an incredible seven times, including twice in his last three appearances.
Deep sleeper: Bernard Tomic. It’s not often that nobody is talking about Tomic. A relative slump is the reason, but the 20-year-old Aussie remains dangerous and Kei Nishikori as his nearest seed is not exactly a terrible draw.
Prediction sure to go wrong: John Isner in the fourth round. The Nadal-Isner rematch of their Cincinnati final is already hyped out of control, which is why it just seems destined not to come to fruition. Isner could face Gael Monfils in the second round and Philipp Kohlschreiber—who beat him last year in New York—in the third.
Winner: Rafael Nadal. There are two threats in this quarter and Nadal just took care of both of them in Cincinnati.
Full bracket
First round
Djokovic over Berankis in 3, Becker over Rosol in 4
Nieminen over Kubot in 4, Dimitrov over Sousa in 3
Paire over Bogomolov in 5, Smyczek over Duckworth in 5
Granollers over Zopp in 3, Fognini over Ram in 4
Haas over Mathieu in 3, Gimeno-Traver over Lu in 5
Dolgopolov over Goffin in 5, Youzhny over Mahut in 3
Melzer over Donskoy in 3, Sijsling over Gojowczyk in 4
Hewitt over Baker in 4, Del Potro over Garcia-Lopez in 3
Murray over Llodra in 3, Hanescu over L. Mayer in 4
Young over Klizan in 4, Monaco over F. Mayer in 4
Seppi over Malisse in 4, Devvarman over Lacko in 4
Johnson over Kamke in 4, Istomin over Almagro in 5
Wawrinka over Stepanek in 4, Blake over Karlovic in 4
Baghdatis over Soeda in 4, Anderson over Brands in 3
Benneteau over Przysiezny in 3, Chardy over Stakhovsky in 4
Vesely over Kudla in 4, Berdych over Lorenzi in 3
Gasquet over Russell in 3, Robert over Olivetti in 5
Struff over Rufin in 4, Tursunov over Bedene in 4
Lopez over Serra in 3, Klahn over De Schepper in 5
Andujar over De Bakker in 4, Raonic over Fabbiano in 3
Janowicz over Gonzalez in 3, Sock over Petzschner in 4
Kuznetsov over Sela in 4, Tipsarevic over Cuevas in 3
Gulbis over Haider-Maurer in 3, Kukushkin over Martin in 3
Bautista Agut over Bellucci in 5, Ferrer over Kyrgios in 3
Federer over Zemlja in 3, Giraldo over Berlocq in 4
Mannarino over Zeballos in 3, Querrey over Pella in 3
Robredo over Matosevic in 4, Haase over Dancevic in 4
Tomic over Ramos in 4, Nishikori over Evans in 3
Isner over Volandri in 3, Monfils over Ungur in 4
Roger-Vasselin over Montanes in 4, Kohlschreiber over Altamirano in 3
Verdasco over Dodig in 5, Davydenko over Williams in 4
Pospisil over Dutra Silva in 3, Nadal over Harrison in 3
Second round
Djokovic over Becker in 3
Dimitrov over Nieminen in 4
Paire over Smyczek in 4
Granollers over Fognini in 4
Haas over Gimeno-Traver in 3
Youzhny over Dolgopolov in 4
Melzer over Sijsling in 3
Del Potro over Hewitt in 3
Murray over Hanescu in 3
Monaco over Young in 4
Seppi over Devvarman in 5
Istomin over Johnson in 5
Wawrinka over Blake in 4
Anderson over Baghdatis in 4
Benneteau over Chardy in 4
Berdych over Vesely in 3
Gasquet over Robert in 3
Tursunov over Struff in 3
Lopez over Klahn in 3
Raonic over Andujar in 3
Janowicz over Sock in 3
Tipsarevic over Kuznetsov in 4
Gulbis over Kukushkin in 4
Ferrer over Bautista Agut in 3
Federer over Giraldo in 3
Querrey over Mannarino in 5
Robredo over Haase in 4
Tomic over Nishikori in 5
Isner over Monfils in 3
Kohlschreiber over Roger-Vasselin in 4
Verdasco over Davydenko in 4
Nadal over Pospisil in 3
Third round
Djokovic over Dimitrov in 3
Granollers over Paire in 5
Haas over Youzhny in 4
Del Potro over Melzer in 4
Murray over Monaco in 3
Istomin over Seppi in 4
Wawrinka over Anderson in 4
Berdych over Benneteau in 3
Tursunov over Gasquet in 4
Lopez over Raonic in 5
Janowicz over Tipsarevic in 3
Gulbis over Ferrer in 4
Federer over Querrey in 3
Robredo over Tomic in 4
Isner over Kohlschreiber in 4
Nadal over Verdasco in 3
Fourth round
Djokovic over Granollers in 3
Haas over Del Potro in 5
Murray over Istomin in 3
Berdych over Wawrinka in 4
Tursunov over Lopez in 5
Janowicz over Gulbis in 5
Federer over Robredo in 3
Nadal over Isner in 3
Quarterfinals
Djokovic over Haas in 3
Murray over Berdych in 5
Janowicz over Tursunov in 4
Nadal over Federer in 4
Semifinals
Djokovic over Murray in 4
Nadal over Janowicz in 4
Final
Djokovic over Nadal in 5
Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!
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Can Albert Ramos take this annoying Tomic out?
With a following wind and a little bit of luck………………………..yes.
Dont think he’ll get the job done. He’s flagging now:-(
who?
Tomic down 2 sets to 1 and a break
Dan Evans has just put out the No.16 seed! What a feather in his cap…
Correction. No11 seed
The video of the #1 40th Ann celebration
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/08/34/Heritage-No1-Celebration.aspx
also on best of the day page. Good stuff.
Yay Dan and Yay Laura too!
One of Ricky’s semifinalists – Jerzy Janowicz – is out. Maximo Gonzalez, who defeated JJ, comes from same hometown as Juan Martin del Potro and Juan Monaco!
But, there was something wrong with JJ’s back – he received treatment during the match.
Mr Sharapova is out.
Gulbis, Dimitrov, and Janowicz all out
future of tennis looking good.
So both Jerzy and Janowicz are out!!!! Very interesting and beaten by relative unknowns!!!
Aren’t they one and the same person?
Do you mean Dimi and Jerzy?
Yep…………..spotted it too late!
Isner seems to be heading towards Rafa’s way!!!!
Looks like it. I hope someone takes him out before that Rafa doesn’t need the agro. Volandri was worse than useless.
Im telling you, last thing Rafa needs, but if they do met Isner intends to make a statement!!!…………but so doees Rafa!!!
Someone on another site was saying that they feel that the stars are aligned and its Rafa’s year!!! Boy oh boy oh boy! I feel the same way!
GSlam no.13 in 2013!!!
VAMOS!!!
Good, I want Rafa to be tested before he meets the big guns. Keeps him sharp mentally.
@wc 7.25
Just what I was thinking 🙁 Though JJ was injured/sick wasn’t he? That bit of the draw even wider open now.
nice…dimitrov out, JJ out, gulbis out…wow…shocking
I hope that maybe the hype will die down with Jerzy now. I know that he had a back problem in that match, but he didn’t look good against Blake in the first round at Cincy. People seem to forget that at Wimbledon, both Rafa and Fed got knocked out early. That helped Jerzy to get to the semis.
I remember when Cilic beat Murray in the fourth round at the 2009 USO and then got to the semis at the 2010 AO, everyone was calling him the next great player, baby Delpo, whatever. But he hasn’t come close to doing anything like that again.
Dimitrov cramps up in best of three matches. How would he possibly trouble any of the top guys? Gulbis is the ultimate head case. He has pretty much thrown away his career.
Raonic has a opportunity now in his part of the draw. Maybe he can take advantage. But things are looking good for Ferrer if he can play decent tennis.
wc0206@August 27, 2013 at 7:25 pm
_future of tennis looking good_.
Better than good – Vasek Pospisil lost. He had more than 5 match points!
he had 7
Cant believe anyone could ever be worse than Verdacso yesterday!!!!!
Raonic is the worst of the Futures in my humble opinion. He simply has no game. Harrison is far more talented but not good enough to beat the very top like the likes of Rafa did as a teenager, If Harrison gets a few lucky draws he would do well.
If Rafa makes it past the Qtrs. he’ll have done the hard part.
at least Klizan is looking very good!
ROFL
With all 32 matches completed for the bottom half of the draw, Ricky has a very respectable 69% success rate for his predictions. (Y)
Six seeded players have already bitten the dust after just two days play.
Gulbis’ frank comment maybe ‘I got carried away seeing my name in BOLD in the draw’ might equally well apply to Jerzy and Dimitrov.
Gulbis just doesn’t care enough. He thinks that his talent should be enough and that he shouldn’t have to do anything more except show up on court. He will never put in the hard work necessary to be successful in this sport.
Ferrer’s part of the draw is beyond easy now. There is only Raonic. Tipsy isn’t playing well right now, so I don’t see him doing anything. If Ferrer can’t make it through for whatever reason, then goodness only knows who could show up in the semis!
I find everything about Gulbis deeply unattractive. And I’m not amused by his conceited responses in press interviews. Net result: I get a deep sense of satisfaction whenever he gets egg on his face.
Daveed has gone off the boil somewhat but he should be able to handle Raonic if they both get to the QFs.
Hehehe! Fedal are not fans of the gluten-free hocus-pocus;
RT@AmyFetherolf: “Q. Some players are interested in the gluten free diet. What do you think about that? ROGER FEDERER: Oh, no, I have extra gluten.
“Nadal is not even convinced gluten-free will be the top athletic diet in the next few years. The same way people believe Twitter and Facebook could be overtaken by the next social media site, Nadal says gluten-free dieting could lose its standing.
“Now, it seems like the gluten-free diet is great,” he said. “After three years or four years, we will find another thing that will be great too. Then the gluten-free will not work anymore.”
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-table/201308/rafael-nadal-gluten-free-diet-tennis-us-open
Well, it works for Nole, is all I can say. But would also work for anyone who wants to lose a load of weight, athlete or not.
@ed
Completely agree with you re Gulbis. Spoilt little rich boy, or what? Just shows that talent alone will not cut it. As Dan Evans discovered this Summer, you gotta put in the work.
Couldn’t resist a plug for Dan, folks. 😉 He is another “one off.” Top 50 material too, if he keeps working.
I am more inclined to believe Muzza when he says he felt lethargic when he tried a gluten free diet and he stopped. How can you be in a high insurance sport and not eat carbs? Nonsense. Nole is fooling people.