The Grandstand’s Ricky Dimon and Pete Ziebron of Tennis Acumen preview and pick four of the best men’s singles matches on Tuesday at the U.S. Open. In one, Winston-Salem champion Lukas Rosol is going up against 17-year-old Borna Coric.
(29) Lukas Rosol vs. (Q) Borna Coric
Ricky: Rarely does anything good come from making a deep run in a tournament the week before a Grand Slam (unless you’re Ernests Gulbis: Nice title followed by French Open semifinals). Unlike Gulbis, though, Rosol is not really a momentum player. He goes through wild swings in form from week to week as opposed to having prolonged stretches of either good or bad tennis. Having to make a quick turnaround, Rosol could be in for one of his poor tournaments. Coric, meanwhile, is making a name for himself in 2014 and the teenager has to be brimming with confidence thanks to three qualifying victories. Coric 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6.
Pete: Rosol is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of world No. 27 thanks to his second career title last Saturday in Winston-Salem over Jerzy Janowicz. The Czech is 11-1 in his last 12 hard-court matches, including an Irving Challenger win, and his two previous losses on hard courts prior to this stretch were to Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Coric won the U.S. Open juniors event just last year. He can also proudly point to an impressive win over then-world No. 21 Janowicz in Davis Cup action in Poland this April. Rosol is rolling and Coric’s last hard-court match was at an ITF Futures tournament several months ago in China, where he earned $753 for winning three matches. Rosol 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
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Bernard Tomic vs. Dustin Brown
Ricky: Tomic is by no means on fire, but he has at least resurfaced well inside the top 100 thanks to some hard-court wins this summer. The mercurial Aussie suddenly seems to be wanting it more, too, as highlighted by an emotional run to the Bogota title. Brown upset Rafael Nadal in Halle, but that came on grass and Nadal had just won the French Open. Even on a fast hard court, this is not the same Brown as the Brown on grass. It’s also not a good matchup for the German. Tomic takes the ball early and likes a target, which is what the net-rushing Brown will give him. Tomic 6-2, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Pete: Despite the loud and valid questioning of Tomic’s efforts this year, he has appeared in two finals and won his second career title last month on the Bogota hard courts. Additionally, Tomic played in Washington, D.C. and advanced through qualifying in both Toronto and Cincinnati, losing his initial main-draw matches at both Masters 1000s. Prior to last week in Winston-Salem, the last hard-court match Brown played was a Challenger in March in Mexico. Meanwhile, Brown’s most recent eight matches have come against five Spaniards and three South Americans on clay. The German’s grass-court victory over then-world No. 1 Nadal in Halle seems like long, long time ago. His record is 3-7 since. Tomic 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
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(25) Ivo Karlovic vs. Jarkko Nieminen
Ricky: Like almost all Karlovic matches, this promises to be a competitive clash that comes down to just a few crucial points. As such, the edge should go to Karlovic, who has arguably the biggest serve on tour and whose opponent has one of the weakest serves in the top 100. Furthermore, Nieminen has played only two hard-court matches this summer, whereas Karlovic played in four hard-court tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open (including a runner-up showing in Bogota). Karlovic 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.
Pete: Quite amazingly, the 35 year-old Karlovic has never played the 33 year-old Nieminen on the ATP Tour. Karlovic has reached four finals on three different surfaces this year, losing all of them. While the 6’11” Croat played four hard-court events this summer, reaching the final in Bogota, Nieminen elected to only play one–last week in Winston-Salem. In fact, Nieminen even played a clay-court Challenger last month in Finland; not the best preparation for the final major of the year for the Finn. Karlovic 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
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Yen-Hsun Lu vs. (28) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Ricky: This hyphenated-name showdown should be a good one. Garcia-Lopez is coming off a quarterfinal performance in Winston-Salem and Lu has enjoyed a consistently stellar summer hard-court swing (one Challenger title, a third-round appearance in Cincinnati, and a semifinal finish in Winston-Salem). They are separated by just one spot in the rankings, with Lu coming as close as possible to a seed without getting one. Although Garcia-Lopez is an all-court player, a fast hard court–as opposed to clay–favors Lu. Lu 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Pete: The matchup of world No. 33 Garcia-Lopez against world No. 34 Lu certainly does not have the feel of a couple of guys ranked this high, yet here we go. Like John Isner, Lu played all five U.S. Open Series events this summer, going 7-5 overall. Chinese Taipei’s top player is only one place away from matching his career-high of No. 33 and he will need to get the the third round to climb higher in the ATP rankings. Garcia-Lopez has not fared well this summer, losing to lucky loser Malek Jaziri in Toronto, qualifier James Ward in Cincinnati, and to Sam Querrey last week in Winston-Salem. Lu 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
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Pete also did Istomin-Gasquet:
Ironically, Gasquet’s last 3 matches have been against Vasek Pospisil twice and Ivo Karlovic, so he will get a break from big serving for a change against Istomin when he arrives on Court 17 on Tuesday. Both players played quite a bit leading into the US Open, with Gasquet going 6-2 in 3 events and Istomin recording a disappointing 2-4 mark in 4 tourneys on hard courts this summer. Even though Gasquet missed Cincinnati after pulling out of Toronto following 2 wins, the world No. 14 should have plenty of game to advance. Gasquet 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.
AeRosol is still a hero of the Federazzi – his matches must be mentioned in the headlines!
I am wondering why S.Stakhovsky and T.Robredo aren’t their heroes.
+1
#NoleFam
Home Pro Game News
Federer: Fans longing for Nadal, but not players
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 /BY KAMAKSHI TANDON
TAGS:2014 U.S. OpenRafael NadalRoger FedererPrint
Roger Federer says the U.S. Open is more exciting when Rafael Nadal is in the draw. (AP Photo)
Roger Federer says the U.S. Open is more exciting when Rafael Nadal is in the draw. (AP Photo)
Roger Federer isn’t cheering Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the U.S. Open, but says the tournament would have benefited from the defending champion’s presence.
“I’m more disappointed for the fans, his fans, and the tournament,” said Federer, speaking before the U.S. Open. “It’s more exciting with him.
“For us, the players, I mean, we hope he gets well and he feels better quickly and all these things and he’s back on tour soon. But at the same time, I think what stands out is the opportunity, to try to take advantage of him, the fact that he’s not here. It’s one less really difficult player to beat maybe.”
Federer and Nadal have never played each other at Flushing Meadows, the only significant tournament that has not played host to their famous rivalry. Nadal is 23-10 lifetime against Federer. The Spaniard has won their last five meetings, including a straight-sets win at the Australian Open in January.
“I mean, maybe he was not going to be in my section. Maybe I wouldn’t have played him at all, like I have never played him here in the last ten years anyways,” Federer said. “I mean, it’s just that the focus is more on you or other players rather than him.”
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/08/fans-longing-nadal-says-federer-not-players/52513/#.U_xeNPldVS0
As I said in my original differences from Ricky’s US Open Picks, Rosol for the win.
#NoleFam
Nole was back close to his formidable best last night. If he plays like this, ol’ Fed doesn’t stand a chance!
Coric vs Rosol being the most intriguing match of the day is symptomatic of the Federazzi putting the bulk of the talent in the half opposite Federer.
#YawnFest
#VoteNoOn18
#NoleFam
^^^^@ augustta
Elementary dear Watson.
The Federazzi leap on any win from the ranks of the next generation. Robredo took like 11 years to get his one and only win. Stakhovsky had never even met Federer until 2011 before beating him at Wimby ’13 in their second meeting.
Interestingly, Julian Benneteau does not even feature on their radar yet he has a 2-5 H2H and has pushed him to five sets at Wimbledon.
.
ed251137 (at 1:09 pm),
—The Federazzi leap on any win from the ranks of the next generation.—
❓
S. Stakhovsky is 6 months younger than aeRosol. I don’t understand why the Federazzi don’t glorify Stakhovsky in every article/tournament!
Well I just hope you not comparing a player struggling to stay in the Top 100 with No.27 Rosol. Don’t you? Or do you. No you did. OK. Good.
#NoleFam
how bad was Stako yesterday?
The SKY team are so enamored with the tennis that they’ve directed the viewers onto the interactive channels on the red button and have carried chatting about nothing at all on the main screen.
@augusta
That is a surprise. I was under the impression Rosol was much younger.
ed,
You shouldn’t have let the Federazzi impress you. Be cautious! aeRosol is older than Rafa.
Isner about to head into a tiebreak as he does against the No. 419 in the world.
Isner would be lucky if he could break a hard-boiled egg.
#NoleFam
A hard-boiled egg is much harder to break than a raw egg. 😀
Even Isner can break a raw egg (as long as it’s on home soil).
#GodsCountry
#LetsPoachThis
Giron up a mini-break.
#GoBlake
#LetsDoThis
Giron choked back the MB and will now lose the set.
#NID
#Idemooooo
#GodsCountry
Isn’tner wins 1st set.
#NapTime
#LetsDoThis
Some great match ups at Flushing today! I like Jarko over Dr. Ivo, and I like the newcomer Coric as well.
Haven’t been able to watch any matches today but I see Rosol has hit the wall.
It means that this hero of the Federazzi is gone from the headlines.
http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/tennis/laughing-tennis-ball-smiley-emoticon.gif
I was totally with you guys on that pick for Lu to win. I didn’t see any of the match, but I’m shocked how badly he lost it. I also had Rosol, but Ricky was completely right. Everything I heard about that match was that Rosol was physically unprepared for the US Open this year. Nice job Ricky!
Borna to be Right
High strike rate from Ricky so far.
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