US Open - Matches

Have changed the topic so that this thread can run through the tournament. Hope that's OK

Laura looking ok. Evo looking ok too, but a break down.

Not too worried about a conjested looking Murray schedule. His first three matches should be reasonably straight forward anyway. Yes he'd rather be on today but he'll be alright.

Evo breaks back for 4-4, first set.

He doesn't look out of his depth at all here. He looks the better player at the moment.

Yep, I'd actually wager he's the more talented player here. Like I said yesterday he can definitely win this...this match could actually be the perfect springboard for his career.

Evans takes the set

Robson looks nervy, she'll get better though

1st set to Robson 7-5

Watching Tomic vs Ramos. Safe to say that Bernard's backhand is worse than Roddick's pre-Larry Stefanki

Robson wins 7-5, 6-0

Dan Evans leads 6-4, 6-4

Evans now has a break in the 3rd, in total control of this

Evans all over Nishikori in the third set too. 3-0 ahead! What a springboard this will be for him if he can see it out.

Great start for the Brits. Murray v Evo in the men's final, Laura v Heather in the women's?

Danny_1982 wrote:Evans all over Nishikori in the third set too. 3-0 ahead! What a springboard this will be for him if he can see it out.

Great start for the Brits. Murray v Evo in the men's final, Laura v Heather in the women's?

I wonder what odds you'd get on that? Thousands to one?

Evans playing superbly, if he improves his topspin backhand he could go up the rankings quite a bit.

ChequeredJersey wrote:

Danny_1982 wrote:Evans all over Nishikori in the third set too. 3-0 ahead! What a springboard this will be for him if he can see it out.

Great start for the Brits. Murray v Evo in the men's final, Laura v Heather in the women's?

I wonder what odds you'd get on that? Thousands to one?

Well, Evans to win the open is 5000/1 with Bet Victor. So I think it might be tens of thousands to one for the above bet. Nishikori has break back point though here... Saved.

Big hold from Evans!

Evans wins 6-4 6-4 6-2. What a superb result for the guy!

Absolutely spanked him

What a terrific result for Evans. This guy was the great hope of the LTA a few years ago but only now seems to be fulfilling his potential. Arguably the best result by an up and coming Brit since Murray beat Stepanek at Wimbledon in 2005.

Ramos or Tomic next for Evo and the way Bernie's going, it'll be Ramos. Superb Evo, what a magnificent victory

Well done Evans and Robson though

Wow. :o

Dan Evans has beaten No.11 seed Kei Nishikori 6-4 6-4 6-2 and did so playing superb tennis - great depth, array of shots, aggression and focus. A deserved win and I'd say he will have a great chance on this form in his Second Round match against either Albert Ramos or Bernard Tomic.

Great stuff Evans! What a result.

The match up obviously worked well for him, but Nishikori is ranked 11th in the world. Tremendous stuff!

Evo has that Federer-look about him where he's been running about for 2 hours but looks fresh as a daisy.

Great result.
Absolutely not surprised.

The sky (top 50) is the limit for this guy.
His talent is such that he plays better against better opposition.
He actually makes the game look easy...not many do that.
His first true foreign venture is showing what he's capable of.
When you think he's been playing Aegon GB Pro Series just a few months back a) it shows the gap between the relative top and bottom of the game isn't as big as you think, b) this guy has been seriously denigrating his potential.

This is his breakthrough, he's got to believe in himself and know he belongs in the upper echelons...there's not really anyone more talented until you get into the very top of the game. His volleying skills alone are probably top 10, he's an allcourter who can make guys like Nishikori look average on their day. Bravo Dan...

Outstanding result by Evans  

Three tough qualis and then takes out the 11th seed (actually ranked 12 Danny, but that matters not a jot wrt Evans' performance) in three clean straights !

His first time into R2 of a Slam and here's hoping he can push on even further .......

Perhaps the hard work involved in getting into the main draw was what helped Evans to come through here. He would have been well & truly warmed up and was seemingly more in the zone than Nishikori.

2nd round prize money of $53,000 wont hurt the bank balance either.

Sky Sports 1 + 2 come over my Broadband now so every night at peak time the picture goes awry Tennis is arguably the worst sport to watch with a dreadful picture too which is rather infuriating.

Dan's win today takes him a place above Jimmy Wang in the rankings.

ryan86 wrote:Dan's win today takes him a place above Jimmy Wang in the rankings.

You've made my day. What's he up to in the rankings?

156th, though that's of course provisional. Jimmy is actually in Bangok this week, and Wimbledon heroes Dustin Brown and Steve Darcis are in Como and could overtake as well as other players in the 1st Round at the US.. A win in the 2nd round would gain him about another 10 places.

Evans will be enjoying the sight of Ramos and Tomic involved in a marathon match. They are locked at two sets all after almost three and a quarter hours of play. Dan will go into that match the fresher player and surely brim full of confidence.

Our friend Jimmy (one place below at 157, as ryan reports ....) didn't actually make it through the qualis into the main USO draw.

Pity really, cos if he HAD done, then we would almost certainly have had an opportunity to see Wang go out with a bang ..........

There was a film on Film 4 the other night about Jimmy's journey to the US. I think it was called "The Arrival of Wang".

Pity Jimmy wasn't an F1 driver. It would be fun listening to commentators talking about a Wang Kers device.

Had he won his qualfying section, he would have got Klizan, but more importantly moved himself a match away from a Wang - Monaco tie.

lydian wrote:Yep, I'd actually wager he's the more talented player here. Like I said yesterday he can definitely win this...this match could actually be the perfect springboard for his career.

Evans! What a result.! Only caution to add is he must be ranked where he is for a reason, so this doesn't mean he'll necessarily zoom up the rankings. And he is 23, so age wise he ought to be approaching his top ranking already in theory.

Posted on the right topic now.... Mike Russell now moves to 0-9 at Flushing Meadows. It's just not his tournament.

Wang-Monaco is the dream tie but we had Wang-Odesnik at Wimbledon which wasn't too bad.

He is ranked where he is (by his own admission) because he has not been as professional as a tennis player should be. He admits to clubbing too much and not practising and training as hard as he should. He now claims those days are behind him and hopefully this will be the case so lets sit back and see.

Tomic through in just under four hours to play Dan Evans in the Second Round. Rafa already a break up at 3-1 in the first set.

First set 6-4 to Rafa, he's coming to the net a fair bit

Rafa definitely playing much more aggressive stuff nowadays. He probably realises that passiveness extends rallies and puts extra unnecessary strain on that knee so is looking to end rallies much sooner.

Raga takes set 2 6-2

It's actually the way he used to play when he burst onto the scene and beat Federer on HC as a 17 yo. When he plays more like this you can see why he was such an irrepressible talent/force.

lydian wrote:It's actually the way he used to play when he burst onto the scene and beat Federer on HC as a 17 yo. When he plays more like this you can see why he was such an irrepressible talent/force.

What changed?

I'd say after 2005 Toni decided to turn him into the ultimate baseline warrior to pursue a strategy of grinding opponents down...it's the traditional Spanish clay way which Toni was brought up under. It was also perhaps kick started by courts slowing down even more than ever before. It's an ok approach, and Nadal is great at retrieving, but it put Nadal on the backfoot by being 5-8 yrds behind the baseline and increased the strain on his body. It also in my opinion denied his natural game/instinct somewhat because contrary to popular opinion Nadal is fine at taking the ball early - look at his success since doing so these past 2 Masters events. Of course the less aggressive approach bore good fruit, undeniably, but it also undeniably stalled his development on HC a great deal where an aggressive game is key to success.

As Nadal cruises through in straight sets another seed bites the dust. Ernests Gulbis is beaten in five sets by Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria.

lydian wrote:I'd say after 2005 Toni decided to turn him into the ultimate baseline warrior to pursue a strategy of grinding opponents down...it's the traditional Spanish clay way which Toni was brought up under. It was also perhaps kick started by courts slowing down even more than ever before. It's an ok approach, and Nadal is great at retrieving, but it put Nadal on the backfoot by being 5-8 yrds behind the baseline and increased the strain on his body. It also in my opinion denied his natural game/instinct somewhat because contrary to popular opinion Nadal is fine at taking the ball early - look at his success since doing so these past 2 Masters events. Of course the less aggressive approach bore good fruit, undeniably, but it also undeniably stalled his development on HC a great deal where an aggressive game is key to success.

Bad Toni  

CaledonianCraig wrote:As Nadal cruises through in straight sets another seed bites the dust. Ernests Gulbis is beaten in five sets by Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria.

Out of curiosity, where do you Haider Maurer?

Usually under the patio JHM?

Just watching Verdasco earlier, boy can that guy hit a forehand. His lack of overall success vs his prodigious ball striking talent is simply amazing.

I was just thinking about Nishikori there, and him being ranked 12th etc. and I can't remember him ever doing anything. It feels as if he's never at the sharp end of tournaments.