By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor
Good morning. This is the Tribe's regular place for all tennis talk relating to the US Open. Today's Order of Play can be found on this link. We's appreciate it if you could keep the subject of your posts tennis-focused until the day's matches are over. After that, it's OK to go off-topic.
!Elena Matches of the Day:
There are only six single matches being played today - the first two women's quarterfinals, and the remaining men's fourth-round matches. All but one of the matches are being played on Arthur Ashe Stadium - with the match between Gilles Muller and Nikolay Davydenko taking place on Armstrong Stadium (Davydenko has won their two previous matches with ease).
First up on Ashe, Elena Dementieva plays Patty Schnyder. The head-to-head is 9-7 in Dementieva's favour, and she won their last three matches fairly easily. She's the favourite to come through today.
Next, Novak Djokovic takes on Tommy Robredo. Djokovic is 3-1 up in their head-to-head, with Robredo's only victory coming in 2005, on carpet. However, during their only hard-court meeting, last year in Rotterdam, Robredo took the first set. He's had two good wins so far this fortnight, over Safin and Tsonga, and I think he could take a set today.
Roger Federer tackles Igor Andreev next. The two have played each other only once before, back in 2004, when Andreev took a set during the Gstaad final, on clay. Andreev has little to hurt an in-form Federer with, huge forehand notwithstanding. I think Federer wins this one in straight sets.
The first match of the evening session involves Jelena Jankovic and Sybille Bammer. Jankovic is the favourite, leading the head-to-head 6-1. Bammer's sole victory over Jankovic was in 2006. It's worth noting that when the two met in the fourth round of the US Open last year, Jankovic took three sets to seal her win.
The final match on Ashe Stadium is between Andy Roddick and Fernando Gonzalez. Roddick leads the head-to-head 7-3, and won their last, match, at the 2007 Masters Cup, in straight sets. Before that, Gonzalez bested Roddick in three sets in the semifinals in Vienna - at the time, he was on a hot indoor streak that also saw him reach the final in Madrid and also in Basel. With the crowd behind him, Roddick must be the favourite today, but Gonzalez certainly has the tools to trouble him.
Player of the Day:
There were no major upsets yesterday. On balance, I'd say that Sam Querrey provided the biggest surprise, by taking four straight the second set in his encounter with Rafel Nadal, after the world number one served for the set. He also made life very difficult for Nadal during the third set, which went to a tiebreak in which Nadal asserted himself. The other three men's matches were straight-set affairs. Andy Murray and Mardy Fish both recorded emphatic victories - Murray over Stan Wawrinka, and Fish over Gael Monfils. Both men have reached the US Open quarterfinals for the first time, and looked convincing doing so.
Weather Report:
It's expected to be hot and sunny again.
As always, enjoy today's tennis.