US Open Men's Singles Preview (Second Quarter)

This last of the eight previews here at The Daily Forehand for this 2010 US Open is of the second fourth of the men's singles draw, the Andy Murray Quarter.

Second Quarter:

Andy Murray GBR (4) v Lukas Lacko SVK
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP v Dustin Brown JAM
Juan Ignacio Chela ARG v Yen-Hsun Lu TPE
Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ v Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (25)

An incredibly routine opening week has lined itself up for 2010 US Open Series winner Andy Murray.  Lukas Lacko and Dustin Brown are flashy players who could make things interesting for a few moments, but I would be surprised to see either take a set off Murray.  Wawrinka should make it through to the third round to face Murray, a match in which Wawrinka will do things well, but Murray will do all of them just a bit better.  The real issue for Murray is coming out of the blocks and laying an egg early, the way he did last year against Paul Capdeville in the second round and then again in the fourth round against Marin Cilic (who was more effectively able to scramble Murray's egg).  If he shows losses of focus early on in this tournament, it could be a sign that he's going to do it again against tougher opposition.   But if he doesn't, he probably won't.  Funny how that works.  Predicted Round of 16er: Andy Murray

Sam Querrey USA (20) v Bradley Klahn USA [WC]
Marcel Granollers ESP v Andreas Seppi ITA
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Lukasz Kubot POL
Potito Starace ITA v Nicolas Almagro ESP (14)

2009 US Open Series champion Sam Querrey has won titles on all four surfaces this year already, but I think most would agree that his favorite is this one.  The fast hard courts of New York play into his game perfectly, and he has the game to beat anyone on this surface, a fact he proved in Los Angeles this year with a win in the finals there against Andy Murray.  The questions with Querrey are about his self-belief and endurance at grand slams.  For all his titles at smaller tournaments (six in total), Querrey is yet to make it to the quarterfinals of a grand slam.  Murray in the fourth round will be a tough ask, but Querrey should at least make it to that round, one would think.  He might start off lazily against Bradley Klahn, but by the time he meets Almagro he should be firing on all cylinders and feeding off the crowd well.  Predicted Round of 16er: Sam Querrey

Mikhail Youzhny RUS (12) v Andrey Golubev KAZ
Dudi Sela ISR v Xavier Malisse BEL
Jack Sock USA [WC] v Marco Chiudinelli SUI
Frederico Gil POR v John Isner USA (18)

This is exactly the easy draw the hobbled John Isner needed to play his way into this tournament, as an ankle injury he suffered in Cincinnati looms over his participation in the tournament.  Gil will prolong points (as much as is ever possible against Isner), but he should get through him and Chiudinelli with relative ease if he does enter.  But it will all come crashing down against Mikhail Youzhny (or perhaps Xavier Malisse if the resurgent Belgian pulls off that upset), who would have been a tough out for Isner had he been 100%, and will be nearly impossible if he isn't.  It's still not entirely clear whether or not Isner will even take the court at this tournament, but I have to think his early opening rounds make him slightly more gung-ho about risking further injury for this event, the biggest event on his calendar.  Predicted Round of 16: Mikhail Youzhny

Radek Stepanek CZE (28) v Julien Benneteau FRA
Tommy Robredo ESP v Lukas Rosol CZE [Q]
Victor Hanescu ROU v Carlos Berlocq ARG
Michael Llodra FRA v Tomas Berdych CZE (7)

This is a real loaded section of the draw, floater-wise.  Victor Hanescu was seeded at Wimbledon, and  Michael Llodra (#35), Julien Benneteau (#37), and Tommy Robredo (#41) didn't miss being seeded at this tournament by huge margins.  The seeds in this section share membership on the Czech Davis Cup team, but aside from that their careers could not be more different at this moment.  Stepanek has struggled mightily , whereas Berdych has been incredibly solid since Indian Wells or so, an upswing in form that brought him to the semifinals of the French Open and the final of Wimbledon.  Llodra is a tough early test for him, but I think he'll be able to make it through that match, Berlocq, and an eventual third round contest with the winner of Benneteau-Robredo.  Predicted Round of 16er: Tomas Berdych