US Open Day 6: Roddick, Safina, Sharapova All Sent Home

Some awfully big names crashed out of the US Open in third round action Day 6, knocked out (predominantly) by some awfully impressive up-and-comers. 

There are a much more manageable number of matches from this point on in the tournament, so I'll be writing up all of them.

Here are Saturday's sixteen singles results, sorted by shock value:

The Upsets (in order of surprise):

John Isner USA def. Andy Roddick USA (5) 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5) -- I saw Isner push Roddick to 7-5 in the third in Washington, but I still didn't see this one coming at all.  Roddick played incredibly passive, contented tennis for the first two sets, which was way too long.  Though he fought back in the third and fourth sets, Roddick had already let Isner in too deep, and the taller of the big-serving Americans was able to hang on mightily in the fifth to close out this match.  The commentators on Tennis Channel, specifically Ted Robinson, were going on and on about what a
pity it was for Roddick to lose yet another match where he was only broken once, but they never mentioned that he was only able to break the unseeded Isner twice, which is a less than spectacular returning performance against anybody, including somebody 6'9''.  Roddick is playing well, despite the losses since Wimbledon, this is just a tough draw against a dangerous opponent in Isner who has become comfortable against Roddick.

Melanie Oudin USA def. Maria Sharapova RUS (29) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 -- This match has to be a lot less crushing for Sharapova because of Oudin beating Dementieva in the previous round, giving the seventeen-year old American some credentials and hype, all of which seemed justified.  Sharapova's serving was comical (21 double faults? Seriously?), but Oudin won this match more than Sharapova lost it.  It's incredible how much Oudin has already accomplished this week, and how much there is left for her to do.  Her run has been the story of the tournament on the women's side, but at this point she's still attained only the same amount of ranking points and prize money as Gisela Dulko, who is about as far from this tournament's story as you can get.

Petra Kvitova CZE def. Dinara Safina RUS (1) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5) -- Petra Kvitova finally put Dinara Safina out of her misery in the third round, playing not especially well for most of the match to beat the WTA #1.  Safina played ridiculously passive tennis, hitting only 12 winners for the entire match.  Yes, twelve.  I realize that would be a fairly low total for one set, let alone three, but that's how many the top player in the rankings achieved today. Kvitova, who has a ranking similar to the type of competition Safina faced a couple months ago at the illustrious Slovenia Open, made a boatload of errors, but the normally aggressive Safina was hitting so few winners that it didn't matter.

Anybody who reads this site on an even occasional basis knows I often do little to contain my disdain for Safina, the player with the most ranking points over the last 52 weeks through no fault of her own.  But in this tournament I doubt there is anyone sad to see her exit.  Whatever the cause was (her brother's retirement, pressure over her ranking) Safina produced three of the most mind-numbingly terrible matches in recent memory in her three rounds at the US Open, struggling mightily against opponents all ranked outside the top 60 (including one ranked outside the top 160), trailing in the third set against all three.  Safina looked absolutely miserable out there all week, and played some miserable tennis that undoubtedly made anyone watching miserable as well.  I think the best thing for Safina in the long run would be to lose the #1 ranking for a while so that it becomes a non-issue as she gets herself in order.  And she should have someone fire Zeljko Krajan for her.  Her relationship with that greaseball is as unhealthy as any in tennis today.

The Unsurprising (in order of seed):

Roger Federer SUI (1) def. Lleyton Hewitt AUS (31) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 -- Hewitt, who was bageled twice by Federer in the 2004 US Open Final, seemingly caught Federer off-guard by not coming onto court in the fetal position.  Hewitt fought admirably against Federer, who while certainly not at his best didn't play terribly, either.  As Hewitt's game catches back up to his always unflappable grit, he could become a force to be reckoned with.  If the draw breaks in the right places, I'll go as far as to say that a title at his home slam next January isn't out of the question.

Novak Djokovic SRB (4) def. Jesse Witten USA 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-4 -- This was both an incredibly impressive match for Jesse Witten and an extremely unimpressive match for Djokovic.  Djokovic clearly underestimated Witten before the match, especially his speed, as he grew more and more rustrated with every ball Witten was able to chase down.  Witten dictated play with his forehand whenever he got to one, and he never looked overwhelmed by the moment of playing a top four seed in front of thousands in the middle of a grand slam.  With that mental hurdle in mind, Witten didn't play particularly, but neither did Djokovic.  Djokovic seemed to have better conditioning down the stretch (there's a phrase you won't see too much), and as he won the match he looked both humbled and impressed by Witten and his effort.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (6) def. Shahar Peer ISR 7-5, 6-1 -- Safina's exit left Svetlana Kuznetsova as the highest seed remaining in the top half of the women's draw, a dubious distinction to be certain.  No one has been talking about the streaky 2004 US Open champion at all this week, but she is the only player in the top half who has made it to a grand slam semifinal previously.  She's probably the safe pick for favorite at this point, though she's so unbelievably hot-and-cold that it would not be wise to invest any significant trust in her chances.

Nikolay Davydenko (8) def. Marco Chiudinelli SUI 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 -- Davydenko had slightly more trouble with qualifier Chiudinelli than might have been expected, but a straight sets win in the third round of a grand slam is never something to be dissatisfied with.  Nobody is talking about Davydenko as he makes his way through the draw with ease, though the radio silence is likely because few give him any shot against Soderling or Federer.

Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9) def. Sorana Cirstea ROU (24) 6-3, 6-2 -- A battle of young women who are hitting ad campaigns as hard as they're hitting the ball lately was won by Wozniacki, who was able to fend off Cirstea's few weapons.  Wozniacki faces Kuznetsova next in a battle between the two highest remaining seeds in the top half of the draw.  Wozniacki, despite her numerous titles and strong ranking, has never before won a match in the second week of a slam, so it's tough to give her a good chance of breaking into the open part of the top half.

Fernando Verdasco ESP (10) def. Tommy Haas DEU (20) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), 1-6, 6-4 -- Hardly a surprising scoreline for a match between these two mentally suspect players who are both always game for a fight.  And a fight it was, full of the flashy shot making, temper tantrums, and strategic blunders one would expect from the two.  In the end, Verdasco made it through battered but alive, and now faces a slightly more promising draw that no longer features Andy Roddick in the Round of 16.  A run to his second hard court grand slam semifinal, which would require wins over Isner and Djokovic/Stepanek,  isn't totally out of the question.

Robin Soderling SWE (12) def. Sam Querrey USA (22) 6-2, 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-1 -- It was clear in his first two matches that Sam Querrey was spent.  The US Open was Querrey's eighth tournament in eight weeks, a frequency that led to some impressive wins on the hard courts of the US Open Series.  But Soderling was too much for him the whole way, as the Swede found some of the big hitting that gave him the early summer of a lifetime.  It was still one hell of an American summer season for Querrey, who gets to rest some now after a seven stretch that saw him win Los Angeles, make the finals of Indianapolis, New Haven, and Newport, and win the US Open Series.  Nothing there he can hang his head about.  Rather than criticism for peaking too early, Querrey deserves a pat on the back and a long nap.

Nadia Petrova RUS (13) def. Zheng Jie (21) CHN 6-4, 6-1 -- I thought Zheng would win this match, so I'm fairly surprised by the lopsided scoreline in Petrova's favor.  The high bounce on the US Open courts should find Petrova's strike zone more than the shorter Zheng's, but it's still a surprising result for a player in Petrova who has had a very weak summer.  Petrova will be happy to see Oudin in the next round instead of Sharapova, certainly, as Sharapova had beaten her three times in the last three months or so.

Tommy Robredo ESP (14) def. James Blake USA (21) 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 -- Tommy Robredo, as I have said before and will say again, is a steady player who will most always beat players he should beat, and who rarely threatens players better than he is.  Blake is decidedly not better than many at this stage in his career, and this streaky performance against a very beatable opponent was more extraneous proof of that reality.  Blake has to take stock of his career and how much more he thinks he will be able to get out of it some time before the end of this year, because he is trending down rapidly.  Having started the year in the top ten, he is on the verge of falling out of the seeding territory for the slams, and may well do so before the Australian Open. 

Radek Stepanek CZE (15) def. Philipp Kohlschreiber DEU (23) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 -- It's hard to know what you're going to get from Kohlschreiber in these stages of a tournament, so this result isn't much of a surprise.  Stepanek has been very steady in this tournament despite a somewhat underwhelming 2009, though one that did see him take the mantle of Czech #1 from Tomas Berdych.  His match in the next round against Novak Djokovic is a rematch of what was probably the match of 2007 when the two of them met in the second round at the US Open that year, a match Djokovic won 7-6 in the fifth. 

The Unseeded (In no particular order):

Kateryna Bondarenko UKR def. Anastasia Rodionova AUS 7-6(4), 6-4 -- The feistier, harder hitting Bondarenko knocks out the unpleasant Aussie in two tough sets, playing scrappier if not better tennis than her opponent to reach the third round.  Kateryna becomes the first of the Bondarenkos to reach the second week of a slam, a feat which I am very happy to say that I correctly predicted.

Gisela Dulko ARG def. Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ 6-3, 6-4 -- Dulko, who made waves earlier this summer by taking out Sharapova on her way to the third round of Wimbledon, taking out the player who a round before had saved match points on her way to upsetting Jelena Jankovic.  Dulko makes the fourth round of a grand slam for only the second time in her long career. At #40, Dulko is somehow the highest ranked player remaining in the top quarter of the draw, so she has to like her chances to improve on her career best run at a slam.

Yanina Wickmayer BEL def. Sara Errani ITA 6-3, 6-4 -- A match that was a lot closer than the scoreline was won by Wickmayer, a 19-year old Belgian who has a pretty decent chance of getting out of the wide open top quarter.  Before this tournament, Wickmayer had a total of one win at a grand slam in her career, so for her to be in the second week of a grand slam is pretty shocking.