Day 7 featured many great matches and a few surprises. I'll get right to it as I'm excited to cover it all.
To start the day, Rafael Nadal had a tough time with David Nalbandian, but eventually prevailed 76(5) 61 75. It was a match filled with ebbs and flows and Nalbandian should have won the first set as he led the majority of the time until 5-4 when he got broken serving for the set. Overall good match, and I expect Nadal to play better vs his next opponent, Gilles Muller. Muller has given Rafa many problems in the past, but he will need to play at his best to test the Spaniard. Final score will be Nadal in 4 I think.
Andy Murray blazed past his mother's fancy Feliciano Lopez and looks to be in fine form heading for another run at a Grand Slam title. He will next face American Donald Young, who defeated Chela. A huge win for Young, but the run could stop in the Round of 16 against a sharp Murray. But Young did defeat Andy in Indian Wells this year, so the match will have its backstory for the media.
In shocker of the day, depending on how you look at it, Gilles Simon beat Juan Martin del Potro in 4 sets, giving JMDP his first loss in New York since winning two years ago. Juan was not at his best at all and looked slightly injured throughout the match, but credit to Simon who always finds a way to win. He is in great shape and constantly challenges the top guys. He may not have any weapons, but he is very smart and knows how to get it done. Like him or hate him, you must give him his due for finding a way to win all the time.
Andy Roddick breezed by Julien Benneteau and looks in fine form heading into the 4th round. He next faces David Ferrer, who will be an extremely tough opponent, and they play for a potential match with Nadal in the QFs. Should be fun stuff. Sticking with Americans, John Isner got by late-upstart Alex Bogomolov Jr. in three tight sets. With Roddick, Isner, and Donald Young winning today, they join Fish as the 4 Americans lasting through to the Round of 16. That has to be a good sign for American tennis if you are looking for them.
On the women's side, I didn't really see much but I did catch part of the match between Samantha Stosur and Maria Kirilenko, a marathon three hour match filled with exciting points and a 17-15 2nd set tiebreak in which Kirilenko saved many match points to extend the match to 3 sets. Stosur won the 3rd 6-3 on her 8th match point, showing how hard-fought the match was. Both women should take a bow because that was a superb match. FWe have now seen two brilliant women's matches on back to back days, and they are finally living up to their potential over there in the WTA it seems. Adding to that mantra, Flavia Pennetta fought off a 6-2 lead in the second set tiebreak, and a sickness of some kind to overcome Peng Shuai in a tough two setter. The women's matches in this tournament have been very high quality, which I love.
Looking ahead to tomorrow and my predictions:
Federer should run over Monaco. 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 Fed.
Djokovic should handle Dologopolov, although Dolgo is a fighter. 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 Djoko.
Tipsarevic is too good for Ferrero. 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 Tipsy.
Fish vs Tsonga, ahh, the match of the day. I honestly expect a really close match and it should be fun to watch. Would not be surprised to see a 5-setter and either way it goes I expect Roger to beat them in the quarters. Prediction: 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 Fish.
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