U.S. Open R3 previews and picks: Federer vs. Mannarino, Isner vs. Kohlschreiber

August 31, 2013 Ricky Match previews, Predictions 26

Roger Federer will be aiming for a spot in the U.S. Open fourth round when he takes the court on Saturday against Adrian Mannarino. Meanwhile, John Isner and Philipp Kohlschreiber have a rematch on their hands.

(7) Roger Federer vs. Adrian Mannarino

Federer will continue his quest for a sixth U.S. Open title when is featured during the night session on Saturday. The seventh-ranked Swiss moved safely through his first two rounds by dismissing Grega Zemlja and Carlos Berlocq in straight sets. Federer is by no means in peak form at the moment, but he is off to a good enough start in New York and he showed signs of his former self earlier this month in Cincinnati (lost to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals).

Up next for the 17-time Grand Slam champion is a third career meeting with Mannarino. Both of their previous dates have gone Federer’s way; 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 at Wimbledon in 2011 and 6-2, 6-3 later that year on the indoor hard courts of Paris. Mannarino has now advanced to at least the last 32 in each of his last two majors (reached the fourth round at the All-England Club). The 65th-ranked Frenchman has taken care of both Horacio Zeballos and Sam Querrey in four sets. Mannarino is playing well, but this should be another routine day at the office for Federer.

Pick: Federer in 3 losing 8-10 games

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(13) John Isner vs. (22) Philipp Kohlschreiber

Isner and Kohlschreiber will be doing battle in a rematch of a U.S. Open showdown at the exact same stage of last year’s event. In fact, it ended up delivering the latest finish in tournament history (tied)–2:26 A.M. Kohlschreiber pulled off a third-round upset with a 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory that put him on the scoreboard against Isner for the first time in four tries. Isner won their three previous encounters at the China Open in 2010 and twice in 2012 (at Masters events in Rome and Toronto).

The 14th-ranked American had also been playing well at this time last summer, but he is even more on fire in 2013. He is 16-2 on hard courts in the United States dating back to the Atlanta second round, a stretch that includes a title in Atlanta and runner-up showings in both Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati. So far in New York, Isner has taken out Filippo Volandri and Gael Monfils. Kohlschreiber booked his spot in the last 32 with scalps of Colin Altamirano and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The 25th-ranked German is a solid 25-17 for the season. Isner may be somewhat fatigued from a tough one against Monfils, but is much-improved from 2012 and he should be able to get revenge on Kohlschreiber

Pick: Isner in 4

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26 Comments on U.S. Open R3 previews and picks: Federer vs. Mannarino, Isner vs. Kohlschreiber

  3. Seeing Mannarino in the 3rd round is a surprise in itself. It’ll be an even bigger surpise If he puts up any resistance to Federer.

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  5. Wow! Kohls just won the third set. Isner double faulted the set away! Maybe there is some fatigue setting in with him.

    Kohls has played very well in this match.

    If Isner is going to win, then he will have to do it in five sets.

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  6. This is getting interesting. Kolbi is 2-1 up. At best Isner has to play 5-sets……………..music to the ears of Rafans.

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  8. Ordinarily I would go to bed after a Rafa match but I am staying up for the Izzy/Khols match. It’s that important………….

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  10. Unbelievable, Khols is determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We’re going to 5, Izzy breaks in the 4th…………oh, Khols, Izzy is playing on one leg…..

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  13. Sorry for Izzy but relieved for YKW 😉 Not because the result would have been in any doubt but to spare the wear and tear of playing Izzy.

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  14. Kohls did it! I thought for sure it would go to a fifth set when Isner broke Kohls and was serving for the set. Kohls broke back to get to a tb. That was some great play from Kohls to get the win in four sets.

    I thought that Isner was tired, but you can never be sure with him. I think the match with Monfils took a lot out of him. He started double faulting in key moments and then made more errors. I think if Isner had somehow managed to win this if five sets, then he would not have had much left for Rafa. But considering that he has the ability to get so many cheap points with aces, you just never know with him.

    I thought for sure that Isner would get through to meet Rafa. But when I saw the score and realized that Kohls won the first set, I had some hope. They switched to the match after Rafa’s match was over. I have to say that Kohls surprised me by playing some really good tennis in this match. He stayed calm and kept it together despite the crowd.

    Also, the chair umpire took the unusual step late in the fourth set of going over to Isner’s box to give his people a warning. The commentators said that they have never seen a chair umpire do something like this. Initially the chair umpire was signaling to them from his seat on court, but then he came down and walked right over to them. I don’t know what prompted this action. Maybe they were shouting out in the middle of the point or saying things to try to rattle Kohls. I don’t know. But that was quite unusual to see.

    I am really happy for Rafa. I think Kohls is playing well enough to give Rafa a good match. But at least Rafa won’t have to stand there and watch some giant blast ace after ace by him.

    This is the break I wanted for Rafa! Thank goodness! Now he won’t have to go through a tight, nerve wracking match with the ace machine before Fed. I do believe that he would have ultimately won, but it’s nice to see him catch a break.

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  16. This is the best Fed has played in a long time…he is very aggressive…he was killing 2nd serves from the lefty … Rafa’s 2nd serve won’t be easy to attack though…

    I am nervous about the upcoming potential match with fed..very confident in rafa right now but fed is making me nervous

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  17. Rafa won’t be thinking about Fed. He has to get through Kohls first. He is playing tomorrow in the first night match.

    Rafa said that he has to work on his serve. Hopefully he has been practicing. He knows that Fed is playing well. But we know how much Rafa loves a challenge. I will get nervous when it happens.

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  19. and I agree with you NNY…rafa will be thinking about Kohls… I like this as a great practise match…kohls flattens out his backhand quite well and roger will be looking to do the same with his backhand against rafa so ideal practice….plus, more baseline game rhythm !

    I really liked rafa’s ROS in the dodig match…work on your serve and ROS rafa ..good luck

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  20. vamosrafa,

    Yes, Djoker’s draw is a joke! LOL! Honestly, he could sleep walk his way through to the semis. I just saw the end of the Granollers/Smyczek match. Finally Granollers was able to fight back from being down a break in the fifth set to get the win. What’s his reward? He gets to play Djoker next!

    No more American men in the tournament. That’s life these days.

    Thanks for the reminder of how Kohls likes to flatten out his backhand and the fact that Fed likes to do this against Rafa. As you said so well, good practice!

    I did think that Rafa’s ROS against Dodig was really good. I took note of JMac’s point about Rafa staying back a bit and then right when Dodig served, he took a step or two forward to return serve. It really makes a difference in how effective Rafa can be with the ROS.

    I do hope that Rafa practiced his serve. It was good enough to get him through the first week, but he will need to be even better in the second week. I wonder if Rafa is going to have some tactics of his own against Fed.

    Reply

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