ANDY MURRAY BEATS CRAMPS & HAASE & MEN’S RESULTS FROM THE US OPEN & DOUBLES REVIEW

Written by: Staff on 26th August 2014

ANDY MURRAY BEATS CRAMPS & HAASE & MEN'S RESULTS FROM THE US OPEN & DOUBLES REVIEW

epa04368014 Andy Murray of Great Britain hits a return to Robin Haase of the Netherlands during the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Meadows, New York, USA, 25 August 2014. The US Open runs through Monday 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JASON SZENES |

TIDBITS :

* Murray overcomes third-set cramps to beat Haase

* Wawrinka made to work by Vesely, but reaches third round in straight sets

* Kyrgios loses a game due to foul mouth but still beats Youzhny; Russian will fall below #25

* Robredo leaves Roger-Vasselin still below Top Fifty, but needs more to retain his own Top Twenty ranking

* Paire comes to life to top countryman Benneteau

* Monaco likely to lose Top Hundred spot after loss to Tsonga

* No return to Top Forty for Pospisil after loss to Bolelli

* Bachinger leaves Stepanek still below #35

* Leonardo Mayer getting close to Top 25 after opponent Montanes retires

* Raonic, Kohlschreiber, Verdasco also advance

* Becker out of Top Sixty after loss to Gojowyczk in all-German battle

* Young no longer #2 American after loss to Kavcic; likely to lose Top Fifty ranking

* Llodra, despite needing wildcard, strong enough to beat Gimeno-Traver in straight sets

U. S. Open

Novak Djokovic thrashed outclassed Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 as the No. 1 began reversing the fragile form which resulted in only two hardcourt match wins after his Wimbledon title victory in early July.

Djokovic has played the last four New York finals, winning the 2011 title. Schwartzmann was playing only his second grand slam and first hardcourt event at the Tour level. The Serb improved to 46-8 as he plays as top seed for third time in four years.

Third seed Stan Wawrinka started by beating Czech Jiri Vesely 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3) and number five seed Milos Raonic, a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(1) winner over Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts as he plays Robin Haase of the Netherlands during the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Meadows, New York, USA, 25 August 2014. The US Open runs through Monday 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JASON SZENES

Former champion Andy Murray fought through painful cramping to squeeze out a 6-3, 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5 win Monday over Robin Haase to limp into the second round.

Murray, the 2012 New York winner, lost nine games in a row out to 0-3 in the fourth round as his fitness deteriorated against his Dutch opponent. The eighth seed said he was taken by surprise at his physical predicament, especially after what he felt was excellent preparation.

“For me it was unexpected, and therefore, quite difficult mentally to deal with. Sometimes it can happen to one area of your body. But when it starts to kind of go everywhere, you don’t know exactly where it’s going to creep up next.”

Ninth-seeded Toronto champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga opened with a win over Juan Monaco 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-1, while Spanish 16th seed Tommy Robredo beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Two Australians advanced, with Wimbledon quarter-finalist Nick Kyrgios coming to within a penalty point of being disqualified after a series of boilovers in his defeat of Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(1). The volatile teenager later apologized on Twitter. Matthew Ebden beat Tobias Kamke 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2)

Men’s Look Forward: U. S. Open Doubles

Maybe this will be the event that finally does it. Can the Bryan Twins at last reach one hundred titles as a team? And win another Slam while they’re at it?

The seedings and the rankings say yes; they are the #1 team in the draw, and have a huge lead in the doubles standings. But, somehow, that didn’t help all that much this summer. Still, it’s hard to see an obvious threat to them in the doubles draw. There just aren’t that many really strong doubles teams these days.

The #2 seeds, as they have been for most of this year, are Peya/Soares, but they haven’t really been performing all that well lately. #3 Nestor/Zimonjic have been stronger — and they’re in the Bryans’ half. The #4 seeded team is Dodig/Melo, who have been very good, but Ivan Dodig was out for weeks; it remains to be seen if he’s really fully recovered. Seeded #5 are Roland Garros winners Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin, who haven’t done much in recent weeks. Having even more trouble in recent events are #6 seeds Paes/Stepanek, who are in the Peya/Soares quarter. The #7 seeds are Marrero/Verdasco, who probably aren’t the threat here that they would be on clay. The surprise team of the year, Wimbledon champions Pospisil/Sock, are #8 and in the Dodig/Melo quarter; based on results to date, they might be the biggest threat to the Bryans.

In the Round of Sixteen, the Bryans are supposed to face #14 Huey/Inglot; we’d call that a pretty good draw. Marrero/Verdasco weren’t as lucky; they are to face #9 Rojer/Tecau, who are in pretty good form. Nestor/Zimonjic drew #15 Murray/Peers; Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin are supposed to face #12 Butorac/Klaasen. Pospisil/Sock take on the veteran #10 seeds Llodra/Mahut — it would be no surprise to learn that this will be Michael Llodra’s last Slam. Dodig/Melo would face #16 Cabal/Farah, hot off winning Winston/Salem. Paes/Stepanek are supposed to face clay experts Granollers/Lopez, the #11 seeds. And Peya/Soares will take on past finalists Bopanna/Qureshi, the #13 seeds.

Perhaps the most interesting unseeded team is right up at the top. Max Mirnyi and Mikhail Youzhny — tough veterans both, although Mirnyi’s results have fallen dramatically — open against the Bryans. Hardly the first match the Americans would have wanted! Indeed, it’s almost as if the draw had a thing against high seeds; Nestor/Zimonjic will have to open against Fleming/Hutchins, another of the best unseeded teams. Dodig/Melo are stuck playing their opener against Johnson/Querrey, who have looked pretty solid on hardcourts. And Paes/Stepanek have to start against the Italian stealth team of Bolelli/Fognini. In addition, Murray/Peers will play their opener against Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram. Butorac/Klaasen will play their second round against Lindstedt/Melzer — very good doubles players, although not in the best form. Llodra/Mahut might face Cuevas/Zeballos in round two. Cabal/Farah’s second round is likely to be against Fyrstenberg/Matkowski.

The Rankings

There isn’t any question but that the Bryans will be #1 when this is over. But will they be able to walk away with the year-end #1, or will there still be an active Race? This week will decide that. And the Bryans have a big advantage there: Most of their near rivals have a lot to defend. The Bryans themselves lost in the semifinal to Paes/Stepanek, who went on to win the title. The finalists were Peya/Soares, and the other semifinalists were Dodig/Melo.

Paes and Stepanek, who come in at #12 and #11, respectively, are below the Top Thirty in safe points. The new Top Twelve in safe points looks like this:

1..(1) Bryan…………..9820

3..(5) Nestor………….5900

4..(7) Zimonjic………..5740

5..(3) Peya……………5340

5..(3) Soares………….5340

7..(6) Melo……………5160

8..(9) Roger-Vasselin…..4740

9.(10) Benneteau……….4290

10..(8) Dodig…………..4250

11.(13) Marrero…………4020

12.(14) Verdasco………..3750

This means that there is no competition at all for #1; the Bryans will lead by almost 2000 points even if they lose their opener and Nestor/Zimonjic take the title. Any other outcome and the gap is wider. And they have almost a 2000 point lead on Nestor/Zimonjic in the Race, with Peya/Soares 3300 points behind them and Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin another hundred points behind that. So the Bryans can effectively clinch the year-end #1 this week if they win the title. Even if they don’t, they will surely remain atop the Race.

As for the rest of the Top Ten, it will be seen that Daniel Nestor has a very good chance to return to the #3 ranking (even Peya/Soares need at least a semifinal to stay there, and any other team needs more), with Nenad Zimonjic being almost as likely to reach #4. The Bryans, Nestor, Zimonjic, Peya, Soares, and Melo are sure to stay Top Ten, with Roger-Vasselin not clinched but in very good shape. That leaves two spots, held by Benneteau and Dodig. Those are by no means sure, although we’d guess (since Benneteau and Dodig are effectively tied) that the one who lasts longer will stay Top Ten. Obviously David Marrero is the chief threat to take one of their places; a quarterfinal might do it, and a semifinal would make it fairly likely.

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of August 25, 2014

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….11580

2..(2) Nadal…………..8670

3..(3) Federer…………7320

4..(4) Wawrinka………..5310

5..(5) Ferrer………….4415

6..(6) Raonic………….4090

7..(7) Berdych…………3890

8..(8) Dimitrov………..3540

9.(10) Tsonga………….2965

10..(9) Murray………….2835

11.(11) Nishikori……….2680

12.(12) Gulbis………….2580

13.(13) Del Potro……….2365

14.(16) Cilic…………..1855

15.(15) Isner…………..1845

16.(17) Fognini…………1835

17.(19) Bautista Agut……1765

18.(20) Anderson………..1760

19.(21) Lopez…………..1690

20.(14) Gasquet…………1650

21.(22) Dolgopolov………1535

22.(18) Robredo…………1510

23.(24) Monfils…………1495

24.(25) Kohlschreiber……1370

25.(26) MayerL………….1354

26.(27) Rosol…………..1290

27.(29) Almagro…………1240

28.(28) Benneteau……….1205

29.(31) Simon…………..1190

29.(23) Youzhny…………1190

DRAWS

U. S. Open — Week of August 24, 2014

1 Djokovic

28 Garcia-Lopez

22 Kohlschreiber

13 Isner

9 Tsonga

24 Benneteau

31 Verdasco

8 Murray

3 Wawrinka

30 Chardy

21 Youzhny

16 Robredo

10 Nishikori

23 L Mayer

29 Rosol

5 Raonic

6 Berdych

27 Giraldo

19 Lopez

11 Gulbis

14 Cilic

18 Anderson

26 Simon

4 Ferrer

7 Dimitrov

32 Sousa

20 Monfils

12 Gasquet

15 Fognini

17 Bautista Agut

25 Karlovic

2 Federer

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Djokovic

2 Federer

3 Wawrinka

4 Ferrer

5 Raonic

6 Berdych

7 Dimitrov

8 Murray

9 Tsonga

10 Nishikori

11 Gulbis

12 Gasquet

13 Isner

14 Cilic

15 Fognini

16 Robredo

17 Bautista Agut

18 Anderson

19 Lopez

20 Monfils

21 Youzhny………lost 1R (Kyrgios)

22 Kohlschreiber

23 L Mayer

24 Benneteau…….lost 1R (Paire)

25 Karlovic

26 Simon

27 Giraldo

28 Garcia-Lopez

29 Rosol

30 Chardy

31 Verdasco

32 Sousa

******** SCORES ********

MONDAY

US Open also known as the US Corporate Closed

Singles First Round

Leonardo Mayer (23), Argentina, def. Albert Montanes, Spain, 6-2, 3-0, retired.

Andreas Seppi, Italy, def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.

Matthew Ebden, Australia, def. Tobias Kamke, Germany, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Nick Kyrgios, Australia, def. Mikhail Youzhny (21), Russia, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (1).

Matthias Bachinger, Germany, def. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Benoit Paire, France, def. Julien Benneteau (24), France, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Andy Murray (8), Britain, def. Robin Haase, Netherlands, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-5.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9), France, def. Juan Monaco, Argentina, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Simone Bolelli, Italy, def. Vasek Pospisil, Canada, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Fernando Verdasco (31), Spain, def. Blaz Rola, Slovenia, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

Philipp Kohlschreiber (22), Germany, def. Facundo Bagnis, Argentina, 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, def. Nicolas Mahut, France, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1.

Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain, vs. Andreas Beck, Germany, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (0).

Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Kazakhstan, def. James McGee, Ireland, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

Peter Gojowczyk, Germany, def. Benjamin Becker, Germany, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Stan Wawrinka (3), Switzerland, def. Jiri Vesely, Czech Republic, 6-2, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3).

Tommy Robredo (16), Spain, def. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Blaz Kavcic, Slovenia, def. Donald Young, United States, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Milos Raonic (5), Canada, def. Taro Daniel, Japan, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1).

Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia, def. Bradley Klahn, United States, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Michael Llodra, France, def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Spain, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.

Jeremy Chardy (30), France, def. Alejandro Falla, Colombia, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Paul-Henri Mathieu, France, def. Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def. Diego Schwartzman, Argentina, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

Topics: Andy Murray, Diego Shwartzman, Jiri Vesely, Mikhail Youzhny, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Robin Haase, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis Results, Tommy Robredo, US Open

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10sBalls_com says:

August 26, 2014 at 8:24 am

ANDY #MURRAY BEATS CRAMPS & HAASE & MEN’S RESULTS FROM THE @usopen & #DOUBLES REVIEW- http://t.co/uf6CjAp3mp @AndyMurrayFans #tennis #USOpen