US Open Preview

Tennis is well underway at the US Open in New York. On the men’s side there have been no major surprises, with all top five players moving forward. Switzerland’s Roger Federer (1) has easily made it into the third round by defeating Germany’s Simon Gruel on Wednesday night (6-3, 7-5, 7-5). Federer will play Australian Lleyton Hewitt (31) on Saturday. On Thursday, Novak Djokovic (4) had no difficulties winning over Carsten Bell (6-3, 6-4, 6-4). Djokovic’s third round match will be played on Saturday against American Jesse Witten. Andy Roddick (5) beat France’s Marc Gicquel in three sets on Thursday night (6-1, 6-4, 6-4). He will have to face American John Isner on Saturday. Both Spain’s Rafael Nadal (3) and Great Britain’s Andy Murray (2) will be playing their second round matches on Friday. Nadal defeated Richard Gasquet of France on Tuesday (6-2, 6-2, 6-3). He will be facing Nicolas Kiefer on Friday night. On Tuesday, Murray was successful against Ernests Gulbis (7-5, 6-3, 7-5). Murray will play against Paul Capdeville on Friday afternoon.

The woman’s side has been much less predictable. Top seeded female, Dinara Safina has made it into the third round, but it took her three sets to win each match. Her most recent match was against Kristina Barrios (5-7, 6-2, 6-3). She will play on Saturday against Petra Kvitova. Neither Williams sisters have had any problems in the tournament. Venus Williams (3) beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (6-4, 6-2) on Wednesday. Melinda Czink lost to Serena Williams (6-1, 6-1) on Wednesday as well. Both Williams sisters will be playing their third round match on Friday. Serena will play Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez and Venus will face Magdalena Rybarikova. Kim Clijsters has thus far had a successful comeback by advancing to the third round. Wednesday, Clijsters lost the first set to Marion Bartolia (14), but was able to recover by winning the next two (5-7, 6-1, 6-2). On Friday, Clijsters will play against a fellow Belgian, Kirsten Flipkens. Maria Sharapova (29) has also had a successful comeback; she easily defeated Christina McHale Thursday night in two sets (6-2, 6-1). She will play seventeen year old American, Melanie Oudin on Saturday. Oudin surprisingly knocked out number four seed Elena Dementieva on Thursday in three sets (5-7, 6-4, 3-6).

Stay tuned for more US Open updates.

-Roxanne Martin