Oudin on to the Quarters

Melanie Oudin keeps her Cinderella story alive and advanced to the quarterfinals. On Arthur Ashe against 13th seeded Nadia Petrova, she was overpowered in the first set. Petrova won the first set 6-1. Petrova broke Oudin's serve but the young American fought back to break Petrova back and went on to win a second set tiebreaker 7-2. Oudin was up two breaks in the third, however Petrova managed to get one back but Oudin was not to be denied and went on to take the third set 6-3. She will await the winner of Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova who play tonight.

Cinderella Lives

Federer cruises to Quarters

Top Seeded, Roger Federer, was on the court against Tommy Robredo and had little opposition on Monday cruising to a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. The match, clearly a mismatch from the start may have been the defending Champions best effort thus far in the tournament. He will go on to face Robin Soderling of Sweden. Soderling moved on to the quarters after Nickolay Davydenko was forced to retire with a leg injury. Soderling was up two sets to one when Davydenko retired.

The defending Champ moves on

Isner Exits

The last American in the Men's draw, John Isner, was a eliminated on Monday. 10th see, Fernando Verdasco used his quickness and return of service to help catapult himself to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win. The loss ends one of two Cinderella stories in the tournament thus far. But Isner, made a name for himself in this tournament and will find himself climbing the rankings. Meanwhile, Verdasco will go on to face the winner of the Novak Djokovic-Radek Stepanek match later this evening.

Fernando Verdasco moves into the quarters

Wozniacki breaks through

In one of the most exciting Womens matches of the tournament, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced to the quarterfinals on Monday night defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-6, 7-6. It is the first time the 19 year old has ever reached a Grand Slam Quarterfinal. Wozniacki had a match point in the third set but Kuznetsova fought back and eventually forced a tiebreaker. But Wozniacki showed a lot of poise in closing out the veteran Russian. It sets up an all teenage quarterfinal as she will move on to face American Melanie Ouden in the next round.

Wozniacki moves on

Djokovic rolls

Novak Djokovic rolled into the quarterfinals with a straight set victory over Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. It was probably the best the fourth seed has played so far in this tournament. Djokovic had not looked sharp in his last match but seemed to be back on track Monday. He will move on to play 10th seeded Fernando Verdasco who is fresh off of his victory against John Isner.

Djokovic looked sharp on Monday

Kateryna Bondarenko cruised against Gisela Dulko, winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-0, earlier. Yanina Wickmayer defeated Petra Kvitova in three sets in Louis Armstrong Stadium. Wickmayer moves on with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory and will face Bondarenko in the next round.

**NOTE - For the first time in history, no American Men have reached the quarterfinal of the US Open

Courtesy of ITN News, Kim Clijsters speaks about her
victory against Venus Williams on Sunday

Taylor Dent after his loss to Andy Murray

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Serena Rolls

Serena Williams looks poised to defend her title as she took little time to dispose of Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0 . In a match that was over before it started, Williams overpowered and out hustled the Slovakian. Williams looks to be playing the best tennis out of all the women in the draw including her sister Venus. She goes on to face the winner of Vera Zvonareva and Flavia Pennetta, the 10th and 7th seed respectively.

Serena on to quarters

Nadal Cruises

Rafael Nadal continues his assault on the US Open field in his return to the majors with a straight set victory over fellow Countryman, Nicholas Almagro. Nadal has looked sharp thus far in the tournament but had to take a 10 minute injury timeout with an abdominal injury. The extent of it is unclear but it appeared to affect his play at times. Something to keep an eye on. He will face the winner of the Gael Monfils/Jose Acasuso match.

Nadal advances

Clijsters bumps out Venus

In what was a strange first and second set, Kim Clijsters broke Venus Williams and never gave it back to win the match 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. The first and second sets looked like two different matches before both players settled down and played a compelling third set. The victory knocked out another top seeded player in the Womens draw and puts Clijsters in the discussion as someone who could win the Championship. Clijsters, who has been out of action for around 2 1/2 years to start a family, picked up where she left off last time she played in the Open. She won the Championship last time she entered the event and never got a chance to defend her title. She will go on to play Na Li in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Kim Clijsters

Murray in peak form

You can certainly make the case that second seeded Andy Murray is playing the best tennis thus far in New York. On Sunday night, he put his excellent return game on display against Taylor Dent seemingly putting everything into play and going on to a straight set victory. Dent, making his return to the Open after a long hiatus due to injury, never was in the match and the Brit cruised into the quarterfinals.

Andy Murray

Other night action included Flavia Pennetta fighting off 6 match points against Vera Zvonareva, who was an assortment of emotions from crying, to yelling, to pouting, to cursing to downright acting like a baby. Pennetta fought to stay in the match and finally won the second set before going on to a 6-0 third set to advance

In other results, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gilles Simon finished the third set but unfortunately for Simon, he had to retire with continuing problems with his knee. So Ferrero advances to the quarterfinals and will face Juan Del Potro who moved on with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daniel Koellerer. So, the 6th seeded Man advanced. Other winners on Sunday were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 7th seed, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the 11th seeded Man. Na Li of China advanced and will face Clijsters, as previously mentioned. 13th seeded Gael Monfils of France and 16th seeded Marin Cilic advanced, as well..

Here are a few upcoming matches I am keeping an eye on:

Mens Draw

Roger Federer vs. Tommy Robredo
Fernando Verdasco vs. John Isner
Andy Murray def. Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Nikolay Davydenko vs. Robin Soderling

Women's Draw

Melanie Oudin vs. Nadia Petrova
Kim Clijsters def. Venus Williams 6-0, 0-6, 6-4
Serena Williams def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0
Flavia Pennetta def. Vera Zvonareva 3-6, 7-6, 6-0
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova

Check out this CBS News feature about "behind the scenes" at the US Open

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Oudin Again

Amazingly, 17 year old American Melanie Oudin, did it again! She is for real! On Saturday, she knocked off Maria Sharapova to advance to the 4th round against Nadia Petrova, the 13th seed. In a third set in which neither player could seemingly hold their serve, Oudin came up with a strong service game to close out the match by striking a strong cross court winner. Almost in shock, Oudin dropped her racket and came to tears after the victory and was finding it hard to come up with words to speak after the match. Oudin has become the story of the Open and will be a strong fan favorite throughout the rest of her tournament.

(photo courtesy of NY Daily News)
Melanie Oudin defeats Maria Sharapova

Roddick eliminated

Andy Roddick ran into a "giant" opponent on Saturday, losing to 6'9" John Isner from Greensboro, NC. It is an early elimination from the US Open again for Roddick who played a classic final against Roger Federer at Wimbledon in his last major. Many looked at the US Open for Roddick to pocket another Major Title but it was not to be as Isner served up 38 aces. The former University of Georgia star will go on to face 10th seeded Fernando Verdasco who pulled out a 5 set win against Tommy Haas on Saturday.

John Isner

Federer advances

Lleyton Hewitt won the first set against Number one seed and Number one player in the World, Roger Federer. But Federer came back to take the next three sets to defeat the Aussie Champion, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4. Federer appeared to wear down Hewitt in the last two sets but it has to be encouraging for the former Champion, who has struggled with injury, to be as competitive and move on the court as he showed Saturday. Federer awaits the winner of crowd favorite, James Blake and Tommy Robredo which could provide another test for Federer.

Roger Federer

Djokovic Wins

Upstart American, Jesse Witten (a qualifier) won the first set against 4th seeded Novak Djokovic, but like Federer, Djokovic took the next three sets to defeat the American in 4 sets. Djokovic will face Radek Stepanek, the 15th seed in the 4th round.

Jesse Witten fell to Novak Djokovic

Safina outed

Unlike the Mens side of the draw, the top womens seeds have taken a hit. That trend continued on Saturday as the number one seed, Dinara Safina was defeated in three sets by Petra Kvitova, an unseeded player. The match ended up with a third set tiebreak in which Kvitova won 7-5. All the losses at the top of the Womens draw certainly opens the door for the Williams sisters who can not meet in the Final as they are in the same side of the draw. Safina did not play well throughout her stay in New York barely getting by earlier matches. Her poor play caught up with her on Saturday night.

Blake bumped

14th seed, Tommy Robredo, played a solid match and defeated 21st seed, James Blake in straight sets. After a first set tiebeaker, Robredo had little problem winning 6-4 in the second and third sets.

In other action, American Sam Querrey fell to 12th seed, Robin Soderling in four sets. 6th seed Nikolay Davydenko advanced is straight sets.

Here is a report courtesy of Bloomberg television on the financial aspect and attendance of the US Open. By the way, Bloomberg is a great place to stay in tune with all things finanial and the markets.

(Courtesy of Bloomberg)

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Rafael Nadal and Nicholas Kiefer are battled in Arthur Ashe Stadiums, Nadal prevailed after four sets to advance to the next round.

In early play in the US Open on Friday, Andy Murray took care of Paul Capdeville in four sets and Serena Williams had no problems in getting by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets.

In night action, Taylor Dent, who hasn't played in the US Open since 2005, won a thrilling five set tiebreak to defeat Ivan Navarro. The fifth set tiebreak went 11-9 in favor of the American. Dent, happy to just be playing tennis again, took a victory lap after the match, slapping hands and hugging the crowd. He has the daunting task of facing Andy Murray in the next round but the crowd is certainly behind him. Other night action included Venus Williams defeating Magdalena Rybarikova in straight which creates a great 4th round match against Kim Clijsters.

Taylor Dent electrified the crowd on the
Grandstand Court

Earlier winners included seeded players Daniela Hantuchova, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone who upset the 8th seeded Victoria Azarenka in the Womens draw. On the Men's side, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils Fernando Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marin Cilic all seeded, advanced. With so many Men seeds advancing, it has the makings of great matchups in the rounds to come.

Andy Murray advances

Recap of Thursdays biggest upset, courtesy of the
Associated Press

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Top seeded Woman Dinara Safina advanced in three sets but 4th seeded Elena Dementieva was not so lucky. She fell to upstart American, Melanie Ouden in three sets. Dementieva is the highest seed, thus far, to exit the tournament. And on the same day that the number 4 seed fell, number five was right behind her as Jelena Yankovic fell in three sets to Yaroslava Shvedova in three sets. Bad day for top seeds in the Womens Draw. Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki, the 9th seeded Woman advanced against Petra Martic of Croatia 6-1 6-0. The 13th seed, Nadia Petrova moved on against Julie Coin of France. The early Men's matches went as projected with Sam Querrey, Tommy Haas, Jesse Witten and 10th seeded, Fernando Verdasco all advanced.

In night play, Maria Sharapova had no problems advancing and Andy Roddick is well on his way to the third round.

Elena Dementieva was defeated on Thursday

Jelena Yankovic fell in the second round

American, James Blake, played well in defeating Olivier Rochus in 4 sets. He advances to the third round.

A match to watch tomorrow, also a second round match is Rafael Nadal against Nicholas Keifer. Keifer is a solid veteran but could push Nadal in this match. Jury is still out on Nadal's knees given that this is his first Grand Slam since early in the year.

Courtesy of Sky Sports, Nadal after his return to the
US Open

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