US Open Day 11 - Quarters complete

Day 11 of this year’s US Open saw the completion of the men’s quarter-finals and we now know the identities of the eight players that are still in contention for the final grand slam singles titles of 2007.

First on court today were David Ferrer and Juan Ignacio Chela and the question to be answered here was could Ferrer overcome his fatigue, after some tough matches and beat Chela for the first time in his career?

The answer was an emphatic yes to both – Ferrer came through in straight sets in a very one sided encounter and now faces the winner of Thursday’s match under the lights, which was Djokovic v Moya, for a place in the final.

Carlos Moya has had a bit of a resurgence this year, but the quarter’s of a slam is really as far as he can expect can go and Djokovic ended his run in another low key affair 7-6, 7-6, 6-1. A tight second set breaker was the highlight of another encounter that won’t live too long in the memory banks. Tonight should be different though.

All eight favourites came through their respective quarter-finals and the only one that dropped a set was Venus Williams (to Jankovic), but hopefully the weekend’s semi-finals and finals will prove a little more competitive.

Looking ahead to today’s matches, I’m obviously firmly in the Kuznetsova camp in the first ladies semi, but the match of the weekend could well prove to be Venus Williams v Justine Henin and this really deserves to be for the title. Will the Venus power game get the better of Henin again? The American holds a 7-1 advantage over Henin, but they haven’t faced one another since 2003 and Henin has improved considerably since then, so this is a tough match to call. Obviously, I hope it will go the distance, with the winner being too tired to raise their game for the final for the sake of my bet, but whatever the outcome, it will be an unmissable match.

The men’s final four is again dominated by Federer and there are really only a couple of questions to be answered here. Firstly, can Davydenko grind out his first win over the Swiss maestro in ten attempts and secondly, can Djokovic fight the fatigue and continue his run?

The Russian has not dropped a set so far in the tournament and ran Fed close at Roland Garros earlier this year, so you would have to say that he is getting nearer to that elusive first victory over the world number one, but can he go the extra mile and create a shock? The way Federer is playing, it seems a forlorn hope.

Djokovic v Ferrer will be a tight match I feel, given the amount of court time that the young Serb has put in this week and it might be a step too far for him. If he has enough left in the tank though he should beat the Valencian, who has admitted that hard is not his favourite surface and would most likely be soundly beaten by Federer or Davydenko if either turned out to be the championship match.

So, no real surprises at all in the semi final protagonists, with the possible exception of Ferrer, but perhaps there’s a shock or two still to occur in these championships and with no night match this evening, I might be able to give myself a break from sleep deprivation and enjoy the possibilities.