The big news yesterday was Raonic losing to Harrison after cramping in the third set. After the match, he said that he cramped from stress which sounded odd to me but I also remember him saying before the US Open how much the tournament meant to him this year.
So it looks like he put too much pressure on himself. I mean it’s good to have high expectations of yourself but I don’t think it is wise to advertise it to everyone that a particular tournament is so important to you.
I watched some of the third set when he was cramping and he was serving at like 50% of his usual serve speed. And after losing the third set it was always likely that he will collapse as he ended up losing 7-6(4), 5-7, 5-7, 1-6.
A much-needed win for Harrison anyway who has been nowhere of late. He plays Baghdatis next which is winnable too.
Djokovic Receives Walkover After Vesely Pulls Out
I wasn’t particularly pleased to hear Vesely pulled out of his match against Djokovic after suffering from inflammation in his left arm because the match was scheduled for the day which meant I could watch.
But for Djokovic himself, it helps because it gives him more time to nurse his left wrist. Some more match time wouldn’t have hurt but in the end, his health is more important. Youzhny won’t be a walk in the park in the third round, however.
Youzhny has been having a bit of a revival of late and had another straight-set win over Pella in the second round 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(3). He has also made the US Open semis on two occasions so he obviously likes the conditions.
The head-to-head stands at 6-3 in Djokovic’s favour but the two haven’t played since the 2013 US Open where Djokovic defeated Youzhny in four sets in the quarterfinals. I’m looking forward to this match and it will be over the weekend so it’s easier to stay up for it.
I think it will be a good contest because Youzhny looks to be in good form while Djokovic is still finding his game after his recent problems.
Then Nadal had another straight-set win when he defeated Seppi 6-0, 7-5, 6-1. His draw is easy because he plays Kuznetsov next and then the winner of Bautista Agut and Pouille, and with Raonic’s exit I can easily see him making semis.
It is, therefore, essential in my view that Djokovic finds his groove and makes semis. I don’t trust Cilic to take care of Nadal. Cilic plays Sock next after he had another comfortable straight-set victory over Stakhovsky.
That should be a decent match and then you have Anderson vs Tsonga which will be competitive too. Anderson has been looking quite good and I hope he wins because he has a big game that can also do damage.
The same can be said for Tsonga but Anderson is from my country so I’ll root for him. It looks like Nadal will face Monfils in the quarters now which I suppose could get interesting but we are not there yet.
Today so far there has been a rain delay but quite a few matches have already been completed including Murray, Nishikori, and Thiem who all won. Murray and Thiem won in straight sets over Granollers and Berankis respectively while Nishikori needed four sets to defeat 21-year old Russian Khachanov.
Khachanov has quite a nice game and I hope to see more from him in the future. Murray is looking good as expected and so is Thiem who now plays Carreno Busta. Carreno Busta got lucky in the fourth set in his match with Tipsarevic when the umpire made a very poor call.
Tipsarevic should have been up 40-0 on the Spaniard’s serve when he was serving for the fourth set but instead, the umpire awarded the point to the Spaniard and he held serve to level at two sets all.
#Tipsarevic http://pic.twitter.com/vx8lXZTt8B
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) September 1, 2016
In the decider, Tipsarevic came back from a break down and had two break points at 4-3 and 40-15 but couldn’t convert and Busta won 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. That was sad to see for Tipsarevic who has also been struggling heavily with injuries.
Umpires shouldn’t be making mistakes like that especially at crucial stages of the match like that. It was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen and the umpire should face disciplinary action just like the players are subject to it.
Still to come today is Del Potro vs Johnson which is the match of the day but unfortunately, it is the last match of the day so I will have to miss that too. Sad! Another match that should be interesting is Fognini vs Ferrer where I hope Fognini can pull off the win.
Later…
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