U.S. Open second round
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu: Who knows what Djokovic was on display in Toronto and Cincinnati? But the real Djokovic was back in action for a first-round rout of Diego Schwartzman. That’s bad news for Mathieu. Djokovic in 3.
Sam Querrey vs. (28) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez: This one is a rematch of a recent Winston-Salem quarterfinal, won by Querrey 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4. In fact, all three of their previous ATP-level meetings have ended 6-4 in the third in Querrey’s favor. The bottom line, though, is that GGL is the better player right now and played much better than Querrey in the first round. Garcia-Lopez in 4.
(22) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (WC) Michael Llodra: Kohlschreiber and Isner are one win away each from going head-to-head in the U.S. Open third round for a third consecutive year. They should not have any trouble making it happen; meaning this should be the last Grand Slam singles match of Llodra’s career. Kohlschreiber in 4.
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. (13) John Isner: You know Isner wants another shot at Kohlschreiber, having lost two heartbreakers in successive seasons. As long as he doesn’t get caught looking ahead, the big man should roll. Isner in 3.
Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Benoit Paire: Newsflash: Benoit Paire cares about tennis. The mercurial Frenchman showed guts, grit, and desire in a five-set win over countryman Julien Benneteau on Monday. But which Paire will show up to face PCB? You never know! Paire in 4.
(Q) Matthias Bachinger vs. (8) Andy Murray: Bachinger, who qualified to get into the main draw, has played nine sets at this U.S. Open and none has been more competitive than 6-3. That being said, none of his opponents has been ranked in the top 10 like Murray. Murray in 3.
Nick Kyrgios vs. Andreas Seppi: You can’t get a more stark contrast in styles. Seppi is a 30-year-old veteran with a solid game but little flair and almost no emotion on his sleeve. Kyrgios is an energetic 19-year-old with massive power and an outgoing personality on the court. That contrast should make for a fun one to watch. Seppi in 5.
(Q) Borna Coric vs. Victor Estrella Burgos: You can get a bigger age difference in a match…like if Cici Bellis played Kimiko Date Krumm. But this one is pretty big. Coric is just 17 and Estrella Burgos is exactly twice as old at 34. What they do have in common is that this would be the biggest win of either one’s career. Coric won three qualifying matches then obliterated Winston-Salem champion Lukas Rosol. Coric in 4.
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kyrgios for the win.
#RealDeal
#NoleFam
On the other topic thread I was hedging with Krygios and Seppi. I think that I ended up picking Krygios. I am going to stick with it.
For all the other matches, I agree with Ricky’s picks.
Isner is serving for the second set. 1st one was a tiebreaker of course. Cahill just said that 62 percent of Isner’s serves so far have been unreturned. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sorry, but I would rather watch anyone else than sit there and see Isner blasting monster serves all over the place. But I am hoping for another matchup with Isner and Kohls again.
Querrey won today. ESPN is playing it up as though their life depended on it. It’s big news when a male American tennis player makes the third round these days.
Who is this Joker playing Djoker?
This Open is doing my head in……….
Who is this joker playing Djoker?
@ ritb & nny
I’ve not been able to watch many matches this week but when I have I’ve mostly nodded off to sleep 🙁 I don’t recall there ever being so many tedious matches at a Slam. Or when the crowd have been so subdued.
However the Murray-Bachinger and Raonic-Gojowczyk matches were good value today. Windy conditions created a more level playing field than might have been expected from the rankings with both underdogs putting up some spirited resistance and providing entertaining tennis in the process.
Amelie is clearly having a calming influence on Andy. He was on his best behaviour tonight. No muttering and chastisements to himself; no knuckle bashing with his racquet; no angry glances and comments towards his box. Long may it last.
ed,
The problem for those of us in the states is that it’s all about the Americans. Now I understand that this is what they do, given that it’s the American slam. But many times we have to watch matches that are not that competitive, as opposed to others that may be more exciting and better quality.
I know that people here from the UK have said that they do the same in showing Andy’s matches at Wimbledon over other players. So I guess it’s to be expected. But true tennis fans who want to see the best matches often suffer.
They didn’t show much from the Raonic/Gojowczyk match and it appeared to be a good one. We saw some of Murray/Bachinger but not that much. I know that we can watch some matches on ESPN3, but I prefer to watch on TV.
I think Andy is looking good right now. He is keeping it together. It can’t have been easy for him this year, returning from back surgery and then losing Lendl.
I am still hoping that things will pick up as we head to the second week of the tournament. But it hasn’t been a scintillating first week at all.
As an example, we were forced to watch Serena blast another opponent off the court in a 6-0, 6-1 match. Another snoozefest. Then ESPN kept switching from men’s matches to the doubles match with Serena and Venus. I tried the tennis channel, but they were showing the same thing. I guess it is what it is.
The Arthur Ashe stadium is particularly sedate without the B Block crowd now Blake has retired. I don’t think the raucous Hewitt Aussie supporters have shown up either – at least I didn’t see or hear them whenever I checked out his match. The night matches are slightly more animated.
I’m lucky as I have a subscription to Eurosport Player which covers up to 6 or 7 matches simultaneously. Unfortunately now you can only tune into one at a time whereas before you could get four up on a split screen at once so if I want to follow more than one I have to keep switching backwards and forwards.