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US Open Day 4 - Matches to Watch
A day after Victoria Azarenka’s scary collapse and Andy Roddick’s complaining, here’s hoping Day Four provides us with some solid, competitive matches. There’s certainly plenty of intriguing possibilities in today’s matches to watch. All start times are Eastern.
MEN
Robin Soderling (SWE) vs. Taylor Dent (USA), 1 p.m. – Here lately, Robin Soderling has been more like Robin Staggering, losing in the third round to players outside the Top 10 in each of his last two events, and needing three sets in the second round of each to advance. Since his 10-week joy ride of reaching the finals at the French Open, the quarters at Wimbledon and the finals at Bastad, he’s just 3-2, including a five-set heart-stopper against the No. 214 player in the world in the Open’s first round. Dent actually upset Soderling at the US Open back in 2003, but was demolished by him (6-0, 6-1,6-1) in the second round of the French this year. Dent was very impressive in his first-round win over Alejandro Falla.
Peter Polansky (CAN) vs. James Blake (USA), 3 p.m. – The oddsmakers wouldn’t have bet on this matchup taking place for all the chili dogs at the Papaya King. Polansky, ranked 215th in the world, won just his second ATP match of the year, upsetting 30th-seeded Juan Monaco. His other ATP win this year was also against a seeded player in a tournament, when he defeated Jurgen Melzer at Toronto. Blake received a controversial wild card to the Open, despite being ranked 108th and losing in the first round of five of his last seven tournaments. A favorable draw saw him whip 321st-ranked Belgian Kristof Vliegen. If there’s any magic remaining in Blake’s racquet, this is the tournament where he’ll discover it. He has reached at least the third round five straight times, including quarterfinal appearances in 2005 and 2006.
Phillip Petzschner (GER) vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB), 7 p.m. – Relegated back to No. 3 in the world by Roger Federer’s recent surge, Djokovic looked painfully mortal for most of his five-set win over Viktor Troicki in the first round. Still it’s hard to count him out of any tournament. He’s reached at least the quarterfinals in four of his last five. He’s never faced 52nd-ranked Petzschner, who barely broke a sweat in sweeping Dusan Lojda 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. It’s his victory since Wimbledon, breaking a five-match slide that has seen him slide 15 spots in the rankings.
WOMEN
Iveta Benesova (CZE) vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS), 7 p.m. – Sharapova limped her way through the first round, losing the first set before staging a come-from-behind victory. She hasn’t made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam event this year. Failing to do so here means she’ll finish out of the Top 10 for a second straight year after five straight years inside. She’s 2-0 all-time against Benesova, whose ranked 68th, four years older and seven inches shorter. Benesova took a step into the spotlight two weeks ago at Montreal when she knocked off three opponents ranked higher than her, including then-No.3 Jelena Jankovic, to reach the round of 16.
Kaia Kanepi (EST) vs. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB), 3 p.m. – Matchups don’t get much bigger than this, at least in stature. Thirty-third ranked Kanepi is 6 feet tall and 163 pounds, while Amanmuradova 78th-ranked Amanmuradova is 6-feet, 3-inches and 163 pounds. Expect a lot of firepower from these two. Kanepi is 42-16 on the year, with her most impressive stretches coming at Wimbledon (QF) and Palermo (F, def. Flavia Pennetta). Amanmuradova is 16-20 on the year and hasn’t played since reaching the quarters at Cincinnati, defeating No. 1 seed Jankovic along the way.
Svetlana Kusnetsova (RUS) vs. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT), 11 a.m. – We’re not sure if this is really that intriguing of a matchup, we just want to hear the radio call of it. “Kusnetsova serving, great return by Sevastova. Brilliant backhand by Kusnetsova. Back to Sevastova, Kusnetsova with the return, Sevastova again counters, to Kusnetsova, now Sevastova down the line! No, saved by Kusnetsova! And now it’s Sevastova hustling, but a tremendous backhand by Kusnetsova sends Sevastova lunging to her knees! Great return by Sevastova to Kusnetsova! Wait a minute, who’s who?”
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