U.S. Open Match to Watch: Day 8

The day session on Ashe for Labor Day will feature quite a match between the #1 American, Mardy Fish and a guy who loves this kind of big match in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

This match should be very even.

Believe it or not, these two have never played before.  Both are trying to get through the draw since it has opened up a bit.

Fish has been very consistent this summer and Tsonga has had some big wins in 2011.  It should be entertaining, heart-wrenching and the crowd will be into it.

Look for Fish to take advantage of his supurb conditioning and win in 5.

Mardy Fish

U.S. Open Match to Watch: Day 1

Couldn't pick just one match to highlight for day 1, so how about two choices.

Ryan Harrison vs. Marin Cilic

and

Grigor Dimitrov vs. Gael Monfils

If you are on the U.S. Open grounds tomorrow, you can't go wrong with either of these matches.

Harrison and Cilic will be playing on Louis Armstrong Stadium at 11:00.  Harrison, the young American has had a productive summer.  Harrison is up to #66 on the ATP computer and he could even be higher if a few points would've gone his direction in L.A.  Cilic has kind of hit a plateau with his game and his ranking.  He has big-time talent and should play well on hard courts.

I like Harrison getting the New York crowd behind him and fighting hard to a 4-set victory.

At 5pm on Louis Armstrong, another rising young player, Grigor Dimitrov will take on the popular French player Gael Monfils.  Monfils wil be airborne for some shots, sliding for others, and running down every shot.  Dimitrov reminds many of a young Roger Federer, but needs work on his backhand.  I like Monfils in 4 entertaining sets.

Ryan HarrisonGrigor Dimitrov

Highlights of the U.S Open Men's Qualifying Draw

128 will be on hand, looking for 16 spots in the U.S. Open main draw for qualifiers.  This is a huge deal and the draw is loaded with players capable of pulling an upset.  They are playing for prize money, but the real prize is making it to the main draw next week.

Let's look at some of the contenders and matches that stand out.

Joao Souza of Brazil is the top seed.  He looks like he might have the easiest path, he could face one of the hardest working players in tennis along the way, Roman Borvanov.

The #1 player in the Dominican Republic is in the draw.  That would be Victor Estrella, he makes his living playing mostly Futures events around the Caribbean.

Marsel Ihlan of Turkey might be the best player in the draw.  He is the #3 seed, and he played well in qualifying for Cincinnati.

Joao Sousa of Portugal is also in the field.  Do not confuse him with Joao Souza, who I mentioned earlier.

Americans are littered throughout the draw.  They include, Alex Kuznetsov, Daniel Kosakowski, Tim Smyczek of Milwaukee, and Rhyne Williams, a Tennessee Volunteer who plays veteran, Rik   De Voest.

Believe it or not, Wayne Odesnik is the #19 seed, and he stands a pretty good chance of qualifying.

Keep an eye on young American players like Mitchell Frank, Denis Kudla, Bjorn Frantangelo and Blake Strode, who again won the National Playoff competition this year.

One match to make a note of is an All-American matchup of Bradley Klahn taking on Tennys Sandgren, and yes, that is his real name.

Nice to see Jesse Witten in the draw, as his retirement draws near.  Also, I'll be interested to see who prevails in the James Ward vs. Michael Yani match.

Qualifying for the U.S. Open is free to the public and makes for some interesting tennis.

Marsel Ilhan is the #3 seed in qualifying