US Open

[Sir David Gray]

The final Grand Slam of the season started earlier today. Andy Murray is, once again, looking for his first Grand Slam win in New York.

So far today, Andy Roddick went through to round two in straight sets, as did Nikolay Davydenko. World number five, Robin Soderling, was taken to five sets by an unknown Austrian.

In the women's competition there was a great result for Elena Baltacha as she beat Petra Martic in straight sets. It was a repeat of the first round match at this year's Wimbledon where Martic won in three sets. She'll now play this year's Wimbledon semi-finalist, Petra Kvitova in round two.

Andy Murray will probably be playing on Wednesday against Lukas Lacko.

Roger Federer and Venus Williams will start their tournaments tonight.

[Dashing Bob S]

The final Grand Slam of the season started earlier today. Andy Murray is, once again, looking for his first Grand Slam win in New York.

So far today, Andy Roddick went through to round two in straight sets, as did Nikolay Davydenko. World number five, Robin Soderling, was taken to five sets by an unknown Austrian.

In the women's competition there was a great result for Elena Baltacha as she beat Petra Martic in straight sets. It was a repeat of the first round match at this year's Wimbledon where Martic won in three sets. She'll now play this year's Wimbledon semi-finalist, Petra Kvitova in round two.

Andy Murray will probably be playing on Wednesday against Lukas Lacko.

Roger Federer and Venus Williams will start their tournaments tonight.

Murray's best chance of a Grand Slam to date, imho. Coming into tourney in good form, on his preferred surface, with morale-boosting wins in Toronto against Nadal and Federer. Could this be the time he finally gets past the Fed to notch up a Grand Slam?

I'm excited, thank god this has come along as nothing a ER or football internationals is floating my boat at the moment.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray beats Lacko 6-3 6-2 6-2.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's into the third round as he beat Jamaican Dustin Brown in straight sets last night.

Brown played really well in the first set as Murray won 7-5. However, Murray began to get to grips with Brown's unusual style and he went 5-0 up in the second set before Brown began a mini-comeback to get it back to 5-3 but that's as good as it got for him as Murray won the next seven games in succession to come through 7-5 6-3 6-0 in less than an hour and a half.

He will now play his big mate, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the last 32. Should he get through that match, he'll play either Sam Querrey or Nicolas Almagro. Murray really shouldn't have too many trouble in getting to the semi finals, when he should face Rafael Nadal, if all goes to plan.

Some top seeds have already gone out of the men's draw. Nikolay Davydenko went out in straight sets having changed his racquet at the end of every set and at the end of the match, he put the lot of them in the bin! Marin Cilic and, Wimbledon finalist, Tomas Berdych have also made early exits. Andy Roddick also suffered a controversial defeat at the hands of Janko Tipsarevic.

In terms of the British contingent in the women's draw, Anne Keothavong went out in round one in three sets and Elena Baltacha lost in the second round to Petra Kvitova, who got to the semis at Wimbledon this year.

[shamo9]

Murray's into the third round as he beat Jamaican Dustin Brown in straight sets last night.

Brown played really well in the first set as Murray won 7-5. However, Murray began to get to grips with Brown's unusual style and he went 5-0 up in the second set before Brown began a mini-comeback to get it back to 5-3 but that's as good as it got for him as Murray won the next seven games in succession to come through 7-5 6-3 6-0 in less than an hour and a half.

He will now play his big mate, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the last 32. Should he get through that match, he'll play either Sam Querrey or Nicolas Almagro. Murray really shouldn't have too many trouble in getting to the semi finals, when he should face Rafael Nadal, if all goes to plan.

Some top seeds have already gone out of the men's draw. Nikolay Davydenko went out in straight sets having changed his racquet at the end of every set and at the end of the match, he put the lot of them in the bin! Marin Cilic and, Wimbledon finalist, Tomas Berdych have also made early exits. Andy Roddick also suffered a controversial defeat at the hands of Janko Tipsarevic.

In terms of the British contingent in the women's draw, Anne Keothavong went out in round one in three sets and Elena Baltacha lost in the second round to Petra Kvitova, who got to the semis at Wimbledon this year.

Lapses of concentration, poor body language and a tendency to crack under the weight of expectation. You can't afford any one of these to win a major, never mind all three.

It's only going to get harder for the 'solitary Brit' from hear on out.

[Hibs Class]

Didn't quite go to plan for Murray - struggled physically and missed chances. Huge disappointment, again. Hopefully his new coach will make the difference for next year.

[HibbyAndy]

Gutted.

[Sir David Gray]

Kim Clijsters will play Vera Zvonareva in the women's final as Clijsters defeated Venus Williams in three sets. Zvonareva was in particularly good form as she beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to seal her second successive appearance in a Grand Slam final after she lost to Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

In the mens' draw, Rafael Nadal plays Mikhail Youzhny in the semis tomorrow and a potential cracker is in store when Roger Federer plays Novak Djokovic in the other semi.

As for Murray, the defeat to Wawrinka will be hard to take for him as it was quite worrying how badly he faded in the third and fourth sets. First and foremost, I think he has to seriously look at the coach situation and decide who he wants to go with. Stanislas Wawrinka is a good player but with all due respect to him, he shouldn't be beating Andy Murray, the number four player in the world, in that kind of manner.

Apart from the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Toronto, 2010 has pretty much been a write-off for Murray. It's especially disappointing that this has happened when you consider how successful a year he had in 2009. He's just fortunate that the guys behind him, such as Soderling, Berdych and Verdasco haven't been able to take advantage of his poor form and he has subsequently been able to hold onto his number four ranking. It's quite important for him not to drop any lower than fourth because he would then have to play Federer and Nadal before the semi finals, which he wants to avoid at all costs.

[Sir David Gray]

Did anyone just watch that Federer-Djokovic match? :thumbsup:

Djokovic won in five sets but the final set and a bit was possibly the best bit of tennis I have ever seen. Federer had two match points at 5-4 but Djokovic produced some stunning shots and after about three or four deuces, Djokovic eventually held his serve to level it at 5-5. He then broke Federer to go 6-5 up and then saw it out in the next game to win 5-7 6-1 5-7 6-2 7-5.

The biggest winner to come out of this match, though, must surely be Rafael Nadal. With the final less than 24 hours away, Nadal managed to get to the final by barely breaking sweat against Mikhail Youzhny. He won in straight sets in just over two hours.

I think it will be a really great final, regardless, though. Djokovic has been playing really well throughout this tournament and Nadal has the incentive of trying to complete the 'Career Grand Slam' (winning all four Grand Slam tournaments). It's the first time that Djokovic will have appeared in a Grand Slam final since he won the Australian Open in 2008 and he has been in the US Open final before. Whereas, for Rafael Nadal, it will be his first appearance in a US Open final.

However Nadal will be looking to win his third Grand Slam final in a row this year after already winning the French Open and Wimbledon and will win the 9th Grand Slam title of his career if he can win tomorrow.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Caught the end of that match last night, great entertainment!

[Sir David Gray]

The start of the final has been delayed as it's raining in New York. :grr:

This might help Djokovic a little bit as he must still be pretty tired after last night's exertions.

It's not great for us British viewers though because even if the match was to start in the next 20 minutes or so, it's unlikely to finish until well into Monday morning. :boo hoo:

[Sir David Gray]

Men's final has just started if anyone's interested.

Nadal's broken Djokovic in the opening game of the match so that's probably set one finished. :greengrin It's currently 2-1 to Nadal.

I like Djokovic but I would quite like to see Nadal win this match because he deserves to complete the "Career Grand Slam" and to do it by 24 years of age would just be an unbelievable achievement, particularly when you consider that Federer was almost 28 before he managed to complete the same feat.

[Sir David Gray]

Set one to Nadal - 6-4.

Currently 1-1 in the second set.

[Sir David Gray]

The rain has returned in New York and they reckon it'll last about an hour. :boo hoo:

It was 4-4 in the second set when play was suspended. Djokovic was 4-1 up but Nadal started to hit top form and won three games in a row to get himself back into the set.

[Sir David Gray]

I can't believe there's been no reaction to last night's match on here yet.

I couldn't stay up to watch it all, I had to admit defeat early in the third set, when it was after 1am in the UK.

However, I watched the re-run on Sky this morning and what a final it was. Novak Djokovic probably played as well as he has ever done and still it wasn't good enough to beat Nadal. I think that shows just how great that guy actually is. He played against someone who played near enough at the top of their game, who is a former Grand Slam champion and who is only ranked two places below him and he won that match by some considerable distance.

Whether he is your favourite player or not, you simply have to stand back and admire Rafael Nadal. Not just his fantastic tennis shots but the way in which he competes for every single point as if his life depends on it.

You can have access to all the best coaching in the world from an early age if you want but no-one can coach the hunger and desire that Nadal possesses, that just comes from within.

Some of the rallies that the two of them had at times last night were almost unbelievable and it wasn't all one-sided as Djokovic won his fair share of those points, particularly in the second set.

Nadal now has nine Grand Slam titles to his name and is only the seventh man to win all four Grand Slams and the second youngest to complete the achievement. It's amazing when you think that, in 2002, Pete Sampras won his 14th Major, which was a record that many people said would never be beaten. Within seven years, Roger Federer had surpassed it and has now go on to win 16 Majors. Again people said that, surely, no-one will ever beat this record. Bearing in mind that Nadal could go on to dominate for the next five or six years, there is no reason why he can't beat Federer's record within the next three or four years.

I take my hat off to Djokovic though. The guy really is a class act when it comes to sportsmanship and the way in which he congratulated Nadal at the end of the match was a great moment and fantastic to see.

[CropleyWasGod]

I can't believe there's been no reaction to last night's match on here yet.

.

1. it's the fitba season

2. it's a school night.

3. naebdy's interested :greengrin

[shamo9]

I can't believe there's been no reaction to last night's match on here yet.

I couldn't stay up to watch it all, I had to admit defeat early in the third set, when it was after 1am in the UK.

However, I watched the re-run on Sky this morning and what a final it was. Novak Djokovic probably played as well as he has ever done and still it wasn't good enough to beat Nadal. I think that shows just how great that guy actually is. He played against someone who played near enough at the top of their game, who is a former Grand Slam champion and who is only ranked two places below him and he won that match by some considerable distance.

Whether he is your favourite player or not, you simply have to stand back and admire Rafael Nadal. Not just his fantastic tennis shots but the way in which he competes for every single point as if his life depends on it.

You can have access to all the best coaching in the world from an early age if you want but no-one can coach the hunger and desire that Nadal possesses, that just comes from within.

Some of the rallies that the two of them had at times last night were almost unbelievable and it wasn't all one-sided as Djokovic won his fair share of those points, particularly in the second set.

Nadal now has nine Grand Slam titles to his name and is only the seventh man to win all four Grand Slams and the second youngest to complete the achievement. It's amazing when you think that, in 2002, Pete Sampras won his 14th Major, which was a record that many people said would never be beaten. Within seven years, Roger Federer had surpassed it and has now go on to win 16 Majors. Again people said that, surely, no-one will ever beat this record. Bearing in mind that Nadal could go on to dominate for the next five or six years, there is no reason why he can't beat Federer's record within the next three or four years.

I take my hat off to Djokovic though. The guy really is a class act when it comes to sportsmanship and the way in which he congratulated Nadal at the end of the match was a great moment and fantastic to see.

Ow! What's with the avatar? I thought you were a Federer fanboy, jumped ship already?:tsk tsk:

[Sir David Gray]

Ow! What's with the avatar? I thought you were a Federer fanboy, jumped ship already?:tsk tsk:

I've gone off Federer a little bit to be honest. I've noticed it quite a lot recently that he hardly acknowledges a player at the end of a match when he's been beaten. I still admire him because what he has done in his career has been absolutely outstanding and is, without question, still the best tennis player of all time in my opinion.

However, Rafael Nadal could quite easily take that unofficial title from him by the time he is ready for retirement. I really admire the way he plays the game and I love his approach to each and every match that he plays. As I've said in my last post, you cannot coach that kind of mentality. I think he is also a bit more humble than Federer and is a bit more gracious in defeat.

Nadal really deserves the success that he has got, he has earned all of it and good luck to him.

[Danderhall Hibs]

I've gone off Federer a little bit to be honest. I've noticed it quite a lot recently that he hardly acknowledges a player at the end of a match when he's been beaten. I still admire him because what he has done in his career has been absolutely outstanding and is, without question, still the best tennis player of all time in my opinion.

However, Rafael Nadal could quite easily take that unofficial title from him by the time he is ready for retirement. I really admire the way he plays the game and I love his approach to each and every match that he plays. As I've said in my last post, you cannot coach that kind of mentality. I think he is also a bit more humble than Federer and is a bit more gracious in defeat.

Nadal really deserves the success that he has got, he has earned all of it and good luck to him.

I agree with that. I've thought Federer is a tit for a while now.

[lyonhibs]

I agree with that. I've thought Federer is a tit for a while now.

My head was turned by the fact that he was a tracksuit and had his racket bag embroidered with the insignia "15" for the final in which he ended up winning his fiteenth Grand Slam. He effectively considered it won before he walked on the course, which shows a hearty dose of disrespect for his opponent.

That said, probably the greatest tennis player ever, but nowhere near my favourite.