Quarter-finals
in the bottom half are going to be played today at the Flushing Meadows.
Rafael
Nadal meets Andy Roddick in the second match at the Arthur Ashe stadium today.
Roddick is riding a better and better showing with each round, whereas Nadal is
his usual self, fighting hard against all opponents. In some ways, David Ferrer
is a poor man’s Nadal and he was defeated in four sets by Roddick yesterday.
There will be a similar opponent today, but with higher skills. Nadal tries to
reach the unreachable like Ferrer, but Roddick had answers to that. Ferrer has
the same never say die spirit, but that was not enough to stop Roddick. Ferrer
is fitter than Nadal at this stage this year, but he could not dent Roddick’s
performance. However, that is only as far as comparisons go. Nadal is ten times
champion who has capacity to shut his ears off to the deafening roars from the
stands. He is not that good a returner
of serve and Roddick is not going to falter on serve. If the serve is returned,
Roddick will try to capitalize on the short balls and put them out in one-two
combination. Nadal will engage Roddick in longer rallies and induce errors
ultimately. In all probability, it is
going to be Roddick’s offence versus Nadal’s defence. Dice is loaded in Nadal’s
favour.
John
Isner will provide a perfect foil for Andy Murray. He will be the pro-active
player to the reactive Murray. His endeavour will be to take the set to the tie
breaker and hope to land first serves in. Murray will run like hare and
retrieve each and every ball. If the serve is returned and rally gets beyond the
initial server’s advantage, Murray is likely to win the point. Isner has lasted
the longest match in tennis and so, it is difficult to see him out of gas even
if any match goes to the wire, but then he had a triple tie break four setter against Gilles Simon in the rain delayed fourth round schedule. Murray is a good returner and he has excellent
anticipation. He will also send in a few aces, since Isner is not that good a
returner. The extra mobility and doggedness gives Murray an edge over Isner.
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