US Open semi-finals

Any thoughts? The womens all-American semis are tough to call. Meanwhile Nadal ought to have the edge over Del Potro given the latter's backhand isn't what it once was, and I'm anticipating a nervy match between Carreno Busta and Anderson given how much is at stake for them - reaching a 1st slam final.

Williams v Stephens is a strange match 1-6, 6-0 and 2-2 in third set.

I hope Anderson can beat Carreno Busta because Anderson I think will have a better chance to make the final competitive.

In the other semi, I expect Rafa to beat Delpo relatively easily.  But, then again, I thought Fed would beat Delpo easily too...

I quite enjoyed this tournament - the bottom half of the draw with all the upsets - but I would have preferred if some of the youngsters made the SF.  Just like at Wimbledon, only one of the Big 4 is in the SFs.  That I think is quite ok.  However, the remaining three semifinalists do not come from youngsters on the way up but are rather a more-or-less random selection of mid-aged players.  If at least there were one or two of them who were late bloomers, sort of like Wawrinka was, but not even that - the three semifinalists at the USO are all different from the three at Wimbledon, and I do not have any sense that Careno Busta or Anderson are just about to take the next step and become a regular staple in slam finals.

Stephens wins the third set 7-5.

Vandeweghe is getting hammered by Keys. Lost first set 6-1.

Keys defeats Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2. She looks good for the title.

Asking a lot of delpo to perform heroically yet again. But few gave him a chance against Fed. However, I'm sticking with Rafa, and I think Anderson will have too much for CB.
   Most thought the women's tournament was wide open but who would have come up with the finalists we've got? I reckoned Venus would win it. It's now a 50-50 match in the final.
   What ever happens, there will be four different winners of the slams in the women's this year.

Rafa / Anderson final for me. And I'm tipping Anderson to win

delpo nadal h2h is 5-8 for nadal

but the first 3 matches were with a teenager del potro against a consolidated Nadal (2-3 slams at the time)

so its a very balanced h2h with delpo having won the last two times

and if you dont count that first encounters in 2007 (when delpo hadnt yet exploted) it is 3-5 for delpo on hardcourts since 2009

I have Nadal as warm favourite vs. Delpo - he'll pepper the backhand and push Delpo into forcing it with the result, in most eventualities, that the margin for error would be too tight for Delpo to win over bo5 sets; Delpo on the other hand has shown that he always has a puncher's chance against the top players if he comes out swinging, connects and pushes Nadal back.  He also never gives up - it's just that in my view his b/h vs. f/h merits are too uneven and give Nadal too much to work on.

I therefore reckon Nadal in 4, with at least two of the sets being pretty tight.

As far as the other two are concerned it's a great story for both of them and I hope that (i) the person who gets through is the person best equipped to make a match of the final and (ii) the loser feels that he's left nothing out on court.

Keep it neat and tidy .... an all Spanish Final

Nadal in 3, Anderson in 4.

laverfan wrote:Nadal in 3, Anderson in 4.

Seems a good call, am inclined to go with that myself.

As for the title ..... I saw Delpo being offered (yesterday) at 7/1, and Anderson at 11/1. Decided to put a fun little wager on each. But it was totally counter-initiative because in truth only Nadal (barring some dramatic meltdown) will take this trophy.

lags72 wrote:

laverfan wrote:Nadal in 3, Anderson in 4.

Seems a good call, am inclined to go with that myself.

As for the title ..... I saw Delpo being offered (yesterday) at 7/1, and Anderson at 11/1. Decided to put a fun little wager on each. But it was totally counter-initiative because in truth only Nadal (barring some dramatic meltdown) will take this trophy.

I remember someone suggesting a similar thing at Wimbledon for Federer after Nadal and Murray went out in the Q/F's. They were proven correct but got quite a lot of flak for saying so.

Anyway after my very poor prediction on the Federer/Del Potro match (Federer in straight sets) I'll try again.

Think that Anderson will beat Carreno Busta in 3 sets. He beat him quite easily in the Rogers Cup recently. So can see him to repeating that.

Nadal to beat Del Potro in 5 sets. I can see this being a battle with Nadal finally wearing Del Potro down. Mind you it is always difficult to tell how tired Delpo is. He often looks exhausted after a few games but manages to hang in and still be much the same after 5 sets.

You make a fair point re Wimbledon predictions, Calder.

I myself gave Delpo a very good chance of taking out Federer at this USO, partly because Fed was not looking nearly as consistent as he had at Wimbledon (not one set dropped through the 2 weeks), and partly because of their '09 history.

I'm very reluctant to dismiss the chances of any top player - and Delpo is certainly that. So normally I would give Delpo a decent chance of beating Rafa, as he did Fed. But it seems to me that a) Rafa has hit near-perfect form at just the perfect time, and b) Delpo's level will not be sustained, as fatigue kicks in. And hence my staight sets prediction.

Would be delighted to see a five-setter rather than three, so happy to be proven wrong !

Whilst I concur Nadal is favourite for the match with Del Potro, just to play devil's advocate, whilst he has been in great form this tournament he hasn't had the toughest of draws. Sure, you can only beat who's in front of you, but has he been properly tested and battle-hardened? How many times have we seen top players coasting through a tournament with an easy draw, not dropping a set, before coming unstuck against the first real tricky opponent on form? I've seen this happen a number of times with all of the top 5 players and its why I believe a tougher draw is better than an easy one a lot of the time.

I think Nadal in 4 sets is most likely outcome, but if Del Potro beats him is it going to be such a massive shock?

My heart wants Del Potro to win the title but my head says Nadal will win in straight sets against Anderson in the final.

MrInvisible wrote:Whilst I concur Nadal is favourite for the match with Del Potro, just to play devil's advocate, whilst he has been in great form this tournament he hasn't had the toughest of draws.  Sure, you can only beat who's in front of you, but has he been properly tested and battle-hardened?  .......................

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I think Nadal in 4 sets is most likely outcome, but if Del Potro beats him is it going to be such a massive shock?

Er ..... well....... when you put it like that ......... !!
Maybe a surprise. But you're right .... wouldn't be a "massive shock". Anyone who can beat Federer on a HC is pretty much capable of beating Rafa too. Not least a former USO champ. Mind you, Fed is 36 and can only get more & more vulnerable with every passing year.

All things considered, I"ll stick with my straight sets for Rafa (albeit not quite so confidently as a couple of hours ago )

I am going to take a break from predictions after suggesting Federer would beat Del Potro and then coming back on later and adding that it could be in straight sets. I also had bets on Berdych, Tsonga and Krygios to win the title.

Henman Bill wrote:..........................I also had bets on Berdych, Tsonga and Krygios to win the title.

Hang on a minute ..... you mean they're all out ??

I need to pay more attention ! When did that happen ?

Meanwhile, Carreno Busta takes the 1st set 6-4 against a nervous looking Anderson.

It's amazing after so many years that I STILL watch Rafa matches and can't  believe how far back he stands. Is it me or is he standing further back than ever today? I can see him taking a big back swing and clubbing a line judge in the head.

Further back than ever I'd say. Almost out of camera range.

Well it was a truly explosive first set, deservedly won in style by Delpo. But it's all very different now, and it could be that he has nothing more to give. If Rafa remains in this current zone, the match may effectively already be over as a competitive event.

In his post-match on-court interview, Nadal stated how he changed his approach to making DelPo move side-to-side and effectively took his FH advantage away. DelPo played a very poor second set to help Nadal mentally win the match effectively in second set.

So, despite a lot of promising signs from various youngsters, the final is between two 31 year olds (including one first time slam finalist!). Only one slam finalist under 30 this year.

The Retirement Homes have no room for 30+ year-olds.

Rafa now with a 1060 point lead in the race to year end number one. Which will extend if he wins the final.

Unbelievably quiet on the forum.

I'm sure there would be far more traffic if we were in the closing stages of a Slam.........

There should be much more traffic tomorrow when the Men's Finals is on.

I expect Keys to win the Women's title. Nike needs to come up with better apparel ideas then make many o them wear the same outfit. For example, Kvitova and Keys wore identical clothing, which confused me for quite a bit.

Caught the highlights of Nadal-Del Potro. Del Potro was clearly red lining from the outset as he was spent from the Thiem and Federer matches. Once he was out of gas, Nadal mercilessly tore the Argentine down