Streeter Lecka - Getty Images

about 1 month ago: WASHINGTON - AUGUST 05: Gilles Simon of France celebrates after defeating Andy Roddick of the USA 6-3,6-3 during day 4 of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 5 2010 in Washington DC. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON--At a certain point in a tournament, the storylines transition away from the players and onto the matches.  Once everyone remaining has a couple of wins to his name, the question becomes not who is playing well, but rather who will take home the title.

Though it can vary occasionally, this juncture usually comes at the quarterfinals.  With that in mind, here is my look at Friday's four quarterfinal matches, and who has the best chance of winning this title. 

In order of their likelihood of becoming 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic Champion:

David Nalbandian (vs. [13] Gilles Simon)--In a lot of ways, this shouldn't be a tremendous surprise.  Nalbandian has been known to pull off huge results straight off the DL, and the way he played just after Wimbledon in an away Davis Cup tie in Russia showed that his weapons are all still there.  But the way he has won this week really has been surprising.  He's absolutely steamrolled any and all competition, losing only nine games in six total sets. A comprehensive beatdown of seventh-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 was incredibly impressive, as was his 6-1, 6-0 rout of Marco Chiudinelli late last night.  In his quarterfinal tonight, Nalbandian should be able to play the competent power baseline game against Gilles Simon that Roddick couldn't.  Nalbandian is definitely on the trickier half of the draw, but I'm not seeing anyone who can beat him.  Unless an injury flares back up, he is going to win this tournament.

[1] Tomas Berdych (vs Xavier Malisse)--Perhaps no player of these eight remaining has won as unconvincingly as Tomas Berdych has.  He dropped the second set against both Dmitry Tursunov and Denis Istomin, and really has not found his range yet on his serve or his groundstrokes.  But he's proven through his recent deep runs at both the French Open and Wimbledon that his game is sturdy and can translate to vastly different surfaces.  Winning two matches ugly should be enough to have played him into form.  Xavier Malisse pulled off the biggest shock of this tournament in the third round by beating John Isner(yes, bigger than Simon d. Roddick), but in Berdych he should find a much more comprehensive, steady opponent.

[4] Marin Cilic (vs. Janko Tipsarevic)--Marin Cilic is playing Washington for the second time, after an extremely poor showing in 2009 when he flamed out in his first match against qualifier Somdev Devvarman.  Though he's the fourth-seed, Cilic is the only player of the eight remaining who hasn't yet played a match on the Stadium Court (though he did spend some time enjoying the view from the press box).  Though he played both of his matches thus far on the Grandstand, his excellent form hasn't gone unnoticed.  In the third round, he put an end to Mardy Fish's eleven-match win streak, using his superior power and enormous height to pound his way through a Fish that has proved to be quite slippery these last several weeks.  In the quarterfinals, He faces a tricky opponent in Janko Tipsarevic, who hasn't dropped a set and beat sixth-seed Sam Querrey, last week's champion in Los Angeles.  If he can play like he did against Fish, Cilic should be able to hit through Tipsarevic, but it won't be an easy task.

[3] Fernando Verdasco (vs. [9] Marcos Baghdatis)--Fernando Verdasco was on the verge of making headlines early in this tournament for all the wrong reasons.  But down two match points in his first match vs. German Michael Berrer, Verdasco fought back, eventually winning the match in a tiebreaker.  He then survived a tricky third round encounter against streaky American qualifier Ryan Sweeting, coming back from a break down in each set to win 6-4, 7-5.  In Marcos Baghdatis he faces a tricky and similarly flashy opponent, but one who was in a world of trouble last night against the largely unheralded Illya Marchenko.  Verdasco should make it through this match, and could even win the next, but I don't see him possibly besting anyone who would come out of the bottom half.

Jeff Gross - Getty Images

about 1 month ago: LOS ANGELES CA - JULY 30: James Blake returns a backhand to Feliciano Lopez of Spain during the Farmers Classic at the Los Angeles Tennis Center - UCLA on July 30 2010 in Los Angeles California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON--James Blake started the year well, making the quarterfinals of Brisbane and Delray Beach, and pushing Juan Martin del Potro to 10-8 in the fifth at the Australian Open.

But he missed the entire clay court season, and his once top five ranking has fallen outside the top 100.

Just as it did last year, Blake's future in tennis rests on his ability to get the results he needs during the summer American hard court swing.  Blake, who turns 31 in December, needed a wild card into the main draw this week's tour stop in Washington, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, which he won in 2002.

In his first round, Blake was fortunate to draw qualifier Ryan Sweeting, one of the few players in this field ranked below him.

And early on, Blake was able to dictate completely, forcing his will on the young American with quick, powerful points.

But in the final two sets, Sweeting was able to get the first strike in nearly every rally, leaving the always aggressive Blake stuck playing a counter-punching style which doesn't suit him at all.  The level of play and desire in the third set was evident on both ends, with fistpumps and racquet tosses and ball abuse flying off the Blake end of the court in rapid succession.  But Sweeting's break in the third game of the set held up, giving the Young American the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

With the win, Sweeting will likely move past Blake in the ATP rankings, as their two careers move in opposite directions.  It's unlikely either of them will ever have the success that Blake once did, but it is fascinating to see the sparks that can fly when a falling star and rising star collide.

* * *

Since I hadn't heard him address the issue (and since the two were in LA at the same time last week), I decided to ask Blake about his dust-up at Wimbledon with ESPN's Pam Shriver during his first round loss to Robin Haase.

TDF: You talked about not getting frustrated with anyone but yourself when you're on the court, but at Wimbledon this year, you got sort of angry with Pam Shriver, who was doing commentary for ESPN, and was talking loudly behind where you were playing.  Can you talk about what happened there? And I know she was in LA when you were there last week--have you spoken to her at all?

James Blake: I didn't see her in LA, no.  What happened there was, I guess there was a new area there, where they were commentating behind the court.  And she didn't apparently didn't realize how loud her voice was, or how much it traveled.  And twice on break points, she was commentating pretty loudly while I was playing.  It was just surprising to hear from a former player.  It's sometimes understandable for fans, especially kids, that don't know what's going on in tennis matches.  But she's been to, and played in a lot of tennis matches in her day.  So that's all I did, I said that, and she somehow questioned me while I was out there.  But in the past, it's done with.  We've both moved on, it's not really a big deal.

Two fans wait out the rain, which lasted about an hour. (AP Photo)

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WASHINGTON--Assorted thoughts from Sunday's six qualifying matches and two first round main draw matches:

• The marquee match of the day, qualifying's top seed Kevin Anderson vs. #12 Kei Nishikori, did not disappoint.  The two were incredibly evenly matched, both benefiting greatly from the quick surface that aids the aggressive styles both have.  Anderson simply made far too many errors off the ground, and even a player as flashy as Nishikori was able to outsteady him.  After in which Nishikori saved several break points in a marathon game at 4-4 in the third, and then was able to seal the 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win on his third match point with a gorgeous backhand slice down the line that snuck past a reaching Anderson.  (For more on Nishikori, check out the interview he did Saturday with The Daily Forehand).
• #7 Igor Kunitsyn, who made the semifinals of this tournament in 2008 while most top names were busy at the Beijing Olympics, looked very steady in a straight sets (6-3, 6-4) win over crowd favorite, #2 Michael Russell. Kunitsyn played aggressive, angular tennis that was simply more lethal than Russell's neutralizing defense.
• #10 Kevin Kim pulled off perhaps the biggest surprise of the day by beating #3 Somdev Devvarman 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.  Devvarman had great success in his previous two appearances at this tournament, making the quarterfinals in 2008, then qualifying and beating Marin Cilic in 2009.  But 2010 won't see him in the main draw without a wildcard, which likely means the end to what will have been a short stint in the top 100.
• The third upset of the day on the Grandstand (after wins by Kunitsyn and Kim) was #8 Grega Zemlja beating #4 Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in a match interrupted by an hour of rain.  While the take-away for most would be that this being a disappointing loss for the higher-ranked Young, the fact is that Grega Zemlja played extremely well.  He hits an extremely hard, accurate ball from almost anywhere on the court, and his passing shots gave Young fits when the American ventured to net.  With the potential I saw in Zemlja today, he could soon become the first Slovenian in the top 100.
• After the match, I spoke with Donald's coach/mother, Illona Young, and then Donald.  They had a lot of real interesting stuff to say, and I'll put it all together in a feature piece on him real soon.  His story is an extremely intriguing one that often gets overlooked nowadays with the growing (and deserved) hype surrounding fellow young Americans Sam Querrey and John Isner.
• The only two qualifying matches that weren't upsets were both held on the newly redesigned Court 1.  #6 Ryan Sweeting beat unseeded Greg Jones 6-4, 6-4 in front of a surprisingly big crowd, after #3 Brian Dabul had double-bageled #11 Igor Sijsling (he of the orange shoes).  Sijsling's blowout loss can't make snappily-dressed Aussie John Millman feel too great, since he lost to Sijsling in straight sets the day before.
• Sadly, I did not get to see almost any of the Giraldo-Malisse match, since I was watching (and talking to) Donald Young while it was going on.  Malisse beat Giraldo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, which is too bad since I'm a huge fan of Giraldo's game, and had been looking forward to watching him.  I first saw Giraldo play in Washington back in 2007 when he was ranked #156 (almost 100 spots below where he is now), and was absolutely blown away by both his forehand and his lack of a serve.



• I did, however get to watch a great deal of the last match of the day, which was Horacio Zeballos beating Michal Przsiezny.  Zeballos (in the AP photo to the right), ranked at #51 now, is easily the most anonymous player in the top sixty.  Even on some of the fastest hard courts in the world, it's clear that Zeballos is a true clay courter, and will likely never change.  He simply doesn't seem to know how to keep rallies short.  He does, however, know how to grind, and his 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win was a great display of that, and his closing ability.
• Remember how I talked about making the effort one day and learning how to spell Pavlyuchenkova? Today, I did the same with Michal Przysiezny.  Przysiezny, Przysiezny, Przysiezny. That was tough. (Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, incidentally, came back from a set and 4-0 today to beat Elena Vesnina in the Istanbul final.  Sunday was Vesnina's birthday.  Not cool, Nastia) Anyway, Przsiezny played pretty well, and he kept fans on their toes by donning several different shirts as the match wore on.  Przsienzy also sported incredibly awesome hair, which looked sort of like it does in this picture, but slightly less faux-hawkish and more like Alfalfa.  As far as his play, he played like a guy better than his 1-9 record in ATP main draw matches during 2010 would indicate (though his one win was a quality upset of Ivan Ljubicic at Wimbledon).  But he didn't play all that well in the decisive moments of the match, and thus he lost.  Przysiezny currently sits at his all-time high ranking of #87, which is pretty incredible considering that he was playing Futures this time last year, and was ranked #679.  I don't think I've ever seen a rise that huge in my life.
  

That's all for now from Sunday.  Stay tuned for the Donald Young piece though.  He and his mom both have a lot of interesting stuff today.

From now on I'm going to try to do more short things during the day, rather than these long recaps.  Let's hope time permits.

 

The crowds on Day 1 of qualifying, as seen from the press box. It was a lot more crowded than it looks. (Ben Rothenberg/The Daily Forehand)

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(Sorry for the delay everybody.  I left the grounds Saturday and pretty promptly fell asleep--forgot how tiring this tournament stuff can be...)

WASHINGTON--Twelve first round qualifying matches are in the books from Day 1 action at the 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.  Only one of the twelve seeds lost, which on the one hand means that it wasn't especially exciting stuff, but on the other means that Sunday's final round of qualifying should be awesome.

It's hard to synthesize all the different action into cohesive thoughts, so instead I'm just going to go the bullet point route.

• It's great that these local guys get a chance to show their stuff at a big tournament like this, but I can't say that any of the three were especially impressive.  Junior A. Ore and Denis Kudla were simply overmatched by Kei Nishikori and Somdev Devvarman, respectively, and Michael Shabaz just didn't appear to be conditioned enough to hang with Donald Young as the match wore on.  Instead of Shabaz, would have given a wildcard into qualifying to Treat Huey, a locally raised kid who played his high school tennis at St. Stephen's/St. Agnes in suburban Washington, played his college tennis at UVA, and has emerged as a pretty solid doubles player, entering Wimbledon with Devvarman and getting his ranking up significantly.
• These guys playing qualifying sure are snappy dressers.  I guess if you're not going to make enough in prize money to pay for your plane ticket, you might as well look good doing it, right? John Millman (right) lost in straight sets to Igor Sijsling (he of the orange shoes), but he did manage to pull off a pretty bold yellow and red look.  Junior A. Ore wore that hideous shirt John Isner's been wearing lately, but he accessorized it with hot pink knee tape to match the stripes. 
• Ivo Klec is everything you could ever want in a qualifier.  He has an awesome name, is bouncy and hyperactive, displays enormous mood swings during matches, and plays a flashy counterpunching, go-for-broke style that is wildly unpredictable and extremely entertaining.  He does this awesome thing where he flips the racquet behind his back and tries to catch it with the same hand.  At least I assume that's how the trick is supposed to end--he didn't do it successfully once. And he knows that he's eventually supposed to lose the important points so that the bigger names stick around, which he did by falling to top qualifying seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets.
  
• Igor Kunitsyn made the semifinals here in 2008, and won the Kremlin Cup later that year, so it's sort of odd to see him as the #7 seed in qualifying (even though I realize he hasn't done much since).  His countryman Dmitry Tursunov was watching him from behind the fence, and mingling with an adoring public.
  
• The first eleven seeds up all won, but the final seed on court, #9 Carlos Salamanca of Colombia, lost.  He was the only of the seeds I had never heard of, and has played on nothing but clay since March, so it's not a huge shock that he was the one to break the trend, losing in straight sets to gangly Aussie Greg Jones.

That's all for now.  Be sure to stick around for an interview I did with Kei Nishikori, the biggest name in the qualifying draw, in just a little while.

Hamish Blair - Getty Images

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington is Tomas Berdych's first tournament since playing in the 2010 Wimbledon final. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON--I was very surprised how many main draw players are already here and practicing.  Since all sixteen seeds have byes, I had figured that they would mosey in late, spending as much possible time at their homes in Europe or wherever else. 

But with the notable exception of Andy Roddick (and the players remaining in the draws at Los Angeles, Umag, and Gstaad), it seems like just about everyone is in Washington already.

Top seed and recent Tomas Berdych practiced twice, the second time with Yen-Hsun Lu.  Berdych was hitting the ball as cleanly as he always does, though he didn't seem totally satisfied with his serve.



On the other side of the grounds, Radek Stepanek and David Nalbandian played a few practice games.  For all the flak he gets for being out of shape, "Fat Dave" looked to be at a fairly decent fighting weight, if lacking any muscle definition.



Earlier in the day, I saw Marin Cilic practicing as well.  He looked pretty lost out there, and just seemed to have a real hard time focusing.  His results have fallen off significantly since he broke through to reach the semifinals of this year's Australian Open, and he could really use a big showing here in Washington to get himself back on track.

I didn't spend a whole lot of time around the practice courts (much prefer the stuff that counts), but I briefly saw Michael Llodra, Dmitry Tursunov, and Viktor Troicki hitting as well.  Nothing important to report from any of those brief glimpses.

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Starting today with the first day of qualifying, I will be covering the entire Legg Mason Tennis Classic for the third straight year.

The 2010 edition of the tournament is without two-time defending champion Juan Martin del Potro, but it still features three top ten players (Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco) and another three in the top twenty (Marin Cilic, John Isner, Sam Querrey).

The tournament is held about a mile from my house, in just about as urban an environment as you'll find for an outdoor event on either tour.  The crowds are always loud and invested, the stands are packed, and it's generally the best tournament of its level anywhere in the world.  Not that I'm biased, or anything...

I'll be doing all the press conference and interview stuff I've done in the past, but will probably leave the vast majority of the photography to the professionals this year so that I have more time to write.

I'll also be tweeting up a storm at twitter.com/dailyforehand, so if you're not already following that, you should be.

Lastly, if you have anyone you'd really like to see an interview with, or perhaps just a particular question you want answered, let me know and I'll do my best.  From detailed mechanics questions about Falla's backhand to asking Gasquet if his shampoo endorsement and recent hatless-ness are coincidental, I'll ask just about anything reasonable.

So stick around, and hopefully you'll have nearly as much fun reading this week as I know I will writing.

ATLANTA - Sometime over the past two years the USTA had a brilliant idea. It took some prodding from various individuals including Atlanta Tennis Championships Tournament Director Bill Oakes, but a national playoff open to anyone was instituted this year with a U.S. Open qualifying wildcard going to the winner.  The U.S. Open National Playoff was born. 

All you had to do was be at least 14-years old, pay a $125 entry fee and travel to one of the 16 sectional qualifying sites. Young and old tried to qualify, even U.S. Olympic Skier Bode Miller who was a promising junior tennis player dusted off his rackets and played.

The final 16 players from all over the country advanced to Atlanta and played out the tournament alongside The Atlanta Tennis Championships last week, with the finals to be televised live on Tennis Channel.

The players that advanced to Atlanta weren't your local club players. They included players with world rankings of 500-1000, former and current college players as well as a Haitian displaced by the earthquake in his homeland who now resides in the States.

Blake Strode, a former college player at Arkansas who has a world ranking in the 500's won the event and the wildcard into qualifying in New York. He said it was a lot of hard work and his patience was tested throughout the four matches he won in Atlanta. He defeated former top-100 player Cecil Mamitt of California in the finals in a 3-set epic.  Strode is also a future law school student at Harvard where he has been accepted on a deferred basis.

Advancing to the semis were Chris Wettengel, a former player at The University of Minnesota, and young Haitian Olivier Sajous, who earlier in the week almost qualified for the main draw of the Atlanta ATP event.

The players had great support all tournament from family and friends as well as the fans in Atlanta, as they were playing in extreme heat.

The women's playoff will be contested this week during the Bank of the West event at Stanford's tennis center.

The U.S. Open now is truly an "open" championship.

Kevin C. Cox - Getty Images

about 1 month ago: ATLANTA - JULY 25: Mardy Fish poses with the trophy after defeating John Isner in the finals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships at the Atlanta Athletic Club on July 25 2010 in Atlanta Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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ATLANTA- Mardy Fish is back in the top 40 with a victory in The Atlanta Tennis Championships, his second tournament victory in a row.  He is riding a 10 match winning streak heading into Los Angeles this week.

Playing in 100+ degree heat, Fish and fellow American John Isner demonstrated a high quality of tennis throughout the 2 hour and 45 minute match, which was held Sunday afternoon at the Atlanta Athletic Club. 

Isner started off strong, taking the first set 6-4. But the heat started getting to the 6'9" Isner midway into the second set, which is what  Fish needed to get a break, and take the second. 

The final set stayed on serve, and, as is customary in many John Isner matches, it concluded with a tiebreaker. 

It is was Fish who had more in the tank at the end, and he held off his good friend Isner 7-4 in the breaker to secure the title.

It was Fish's first match in the afternoon heat all week.  Isner had played in the heat on Friday and Saturday. as well as a doubles match late on Saturday night.  Still he had nothing but praise and congratulations for Fish.  It was the third final Isner has lost this year and to that he said, "That's hard to swallow."

"I've never won two tournaments in a row, and "I've never won 10 matches in a row," Fish said when asked about his winning streak.

A sell-out crowd celebrated Fish's victory and Isner's effort.  Both said they hope to return next year and again use the Atlanta heat as preparation for the U.S. Open.