Mardy Fish v. Tobias Kamke- Enjoying by far the best year of his career, Mardy Fish will be looking to make a deep run in the 2011 US Open.   In the first round he will be facing Tobias Kamke from Germany.  Kamke will be no light task as the speedy Germany possesses an all around game with no overwhelming weaknesses.  Kamke generates a ton of racket speed off both sides and will be looking to dictate play from the baseline by taking the ball early when given the opportunity.   With this being said, Fish will undoubtedly have to work but should be able to make it through unscathed.

Prediction:Fish in 3

Roger Federer v. Santiago Giraldo- This first round match is about as lopsided as it gets.  Giraldo is a defensive baseliner from Colombia who does not have any weapons to threaten Federer and really prefers the Clay courts to which his style of play is much better suited.  Federer should be able to use this match to build form for the rest of the tournament.  I don’t see any possible way for Federer to lose this match barring an injury.

Prediction: Federer in 3

Ryan Harrison v. Marin Cilic- This is an extremely intriguing matchup.   You have the young  American upstart in Ryan Harrison looking to breakthrough in a major for the first time and accelerate his already inclining career path.  In contrast, Marin Cilic is attempting to regain the form that cemented his spot in the top 10 and spurred him to an Australian Open semifinal in 2010.  Cilic has not won a grand slam match this season and this match very well could lead to his completion of a “grand slam”- losing in the first round of all four majors.  Look for Harrison to relentlessly attack the Cilic forehand as it contains a lot of wrist action and is prone to breaking down.   Overall, I think Harrison plays a more reliable, gutsy, confidence driven game and at this moment is in a better spot in his career despite being ranked lower.

Prediction: Harrison in 4

Gael Monfils v. Grigor Dimitrov- This is an absolutely fantastic first round match between quite possibly the future of men’s tennis in Dimitrov and arguably the most electrifying player on tour in Monfils.  Dimitrov is surely going to give Monfils everything he can handle and really make him work hard to earn his passage through to the 2nd round.   This match will really be predicated on whether the passive or aggressive Monfils shows up.  If Monfils chooses to camp back 2 miles behind the baseline and retrieve with his exceptional defensive abilities, he really is not setting himself up with the best chance to win.  Dimitrov has incredible shot making ability and if he is on, playing defensive is simply not going to work out for Monfils.  If Monfils chooses to play more offensively, this could be a slugfest.  I expect Monfils will draw substantial confidence from his performance against Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati and in the end find a suitable balance between offense and defense that will be too much for Dimitrov to counter.

Prediction: Monfils in 4

Ivo Karlovic v. Fernando Gonzalez- Many people might be surprised to find out that Fernando Gonzalez in fact still does play tennis being he has only played 6 tour level matches this season.  Plagued by a knee injury in the first half of 2011, Gonzo faces a formidable challenge in the big serving Croatian.  I really see this match as one that is going to be very difficult for Gonzalez to win.  Only having played one hard court match this summer, Gonzo is lacking match play and there is no worse player to try to develop rhythm against than Karlovic.

Prediction: Karlovic in 4 (expect a few tiebreakers)

Kohlschreiber v. Stepanek-  Stepanek has enjoyed greater success on the American hard courts than Kohlschreiber this summer and leads their head to head 4-1.  Kohlschreiber is a personal favorite of mine but unfortunately the craft and finesse of Stepanek will prove too much for the German.

Prediction: Stepanek in 4 tight sets

Other Matches:

Malisse v. Granollers- Toss up match.  Neither player has won a hard court match this summer and Granollers has not even played in a hard court tournament.  This is a tough call, but I am going to say the X-man in five unentertaining sets.

Prediction: Malisse in 5

Monaco v. Seppi- This could be a long, drawn out match as both of these guys prefer to grind it out from the baseline.  Monaco  definitely has a greater ability to turn defense into offense and pull the trigger.

Prediction: Monaco in 5

Rounding off Day 1…

Montanes over Kukushkin in 5, Ferrero over Andujar in 3, Dolgpolov over Gil in 3, Petzschner over Ramos in 3, Fognini over Zeballos in 5, Llodra over Hanescu in 3, Tipsarevic over Gensse in 3,  Nishikori over Cipolla in 3, Gasquet over Stakhovsky in 3, Haas over Dasnieres De Veigy in 5, Troicki over Falla in 4, Berdych of Jouan in 3, Anderson over Soeda in 3

Upsets: Sela over Bellucci in 4, Jaziri over De Bakker in 5

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• Gael Monfils Trick Shot Against Juan Carlos Ferrero – September 7, 2011
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• US Open 2011 Injury List is Growing – August 22, 2011
• Radek Stepanek: Solid Results to Win the ATP Washington Tournament – August 9, 2011

Day 4 saw the start of the doubles events on the outside courts, thus you will notice more quick round ups.

Mens Singles:

In the mens draw it seemed like today was a bit of a non-event. All of the seeds in action today won through their matches and with relative ease. Great performances by Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, but thats not really new. On the outside courts there was a match that caught my eye, Fabio Fognini vs Stephane Robert. Robert had played a very solid match in the first round, but he came up against Fognini who was on fire! Fognini killed it and progressed 6-2 6-1 6-0. Is Fognini a player in watch in the draw?

Womens Singles:

In the womens draw all of the main players progressed through their matches. There was another great perfomance by Samantha Stosur and she is shaping up to be a real contender for the title! The only seed to lose today was Tsvetana Pironkova (32) who lost to Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-2. Dulko looked to be playing some very solid tennis on the outside courts. Last years champion Schiavone also played some great tennis today, sweeping aside Vesna Dolonts 6-1 6-2.

Mens Doubles:

First round of the mens doubles was today and it saw a very close opening match for the Bryan brothers (1) who only just progressed in three sets to Santiago Giraldo and Pere Ribe. For me there are three unseeded teams who have a great chance in the mens doubles: Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut (been playing doubles together since juniors and have won Grand Slam titles together as juniors), Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Dodig, Xavier Malisse and Alexandr Dolgopolov. Watch out for one of these teams to make it a long way in the tournament.

Womens Doubles:

I really enjoyed two doubles matches today and the two teams to look out for in the womens doubles is: Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Patty Schnyder, and Andrea Hlavachova and Lucie Hradecka. Both of these teams played great matches today and beat favoured opponents.

Mixed Doubles:

For me there is only one mixed doubles pair and thats Leander Paes and Iveta Benesova. They played an amazing match today and looked a class above the rest, and thats on the day where a few top seeds fell.

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Ivo Karlovic has just set the world record for the fastest serve and none of the players even noticed. Karlovic dropped a 156 mph bomb which was nearly returned nicely.

The serve speed record is a big deal. It gives the 32-year-old Karlovic a spot in tennis history beyond his record-breaking height and the four titles he has already won.

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The big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic has withdrawn from Wimbledon with a foot injury. Karlovic reached the quarterfinals last year, so he is going to lose a lot of ranking points. Im sure the points are the least of his worries, especially considering with the size of his serve and how good his volleys are, he would have a chance of doing very well.

The 6-foot-10 Karlovic has been bothered for months by an Achilles tendon injury in his right foot and also missed the French Open.

With his withdrawal Thursday, Romania’s Victor Hanescu was elevated one spot in the seedings at No. 32.

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Missing most of the clay-court season this year, Karlovic told the Croatian press earlier today that he remains adamant on participating in the upcoming Wimbledon Championships, and his countries’ Davis Cup tie against Serbia in July.

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Hewitt seems to be in great form at the moment but unfortunately he will meet Rafael Nadal in the 3rd round.

Related Articles

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