Day two at the U.S. Open

My second day at the tournament proper was a bit less frenzied, and much more focused. I started the day with a gameplan, and with very few exceptions, I accomplished everything I wanted to do. It was a pretty ordinary day, as far as the big names are concerned - after I'd gone home for the night, Ana Ivanovic lost in a third-set tiebreaker.

The other biggest upsets were the elder Lapentti (Nicolas) over Stan "the Man" Wawrinka in five. I had Stan going far in this tournament, so that is quite a surprise. I caught a bit of the match, and saw that Wawrinka's backhand, while still gorgeous (I mean wow, what a wonderful shot to see) was not quite firing as consistently as it usually is. Still, to lose the third and fourth sets in tiebreaks had to be tough. And to think, he was top ten just a year ago.

And the other upset on the men's side was one that a lot of people (players and fans included) were not going to get too peeved about - "Dr." Ivo Karlovic going down in straights to an inspired Ivan Navarro. They had never played before, but Navarro was ranked 91 places lower than the tallest man on the ATP tour. But Navarro played great attacking tennis and came up with some marvelous shoestring volleys. I can't say whether Karlovic's serve was off since this was the first time I'd seen him live. It was a thing to behold - too bad he wasn't on a court with a speed gun, by the way. But he served 22 aces and 71% first serves, better than his average for the year. However, he only won 45% of his second serve points, and he's usually better than that. Andy Murray (in his section of the draw) must be glad to see him gone.

The Dr. lost two tiebreaks, just like Wawrinka, but that's not as bad as one of my sentimental favorites, the hard-luck Seriban Janko "Tipsy" Tipsarevic, who lost three straight tiebreaks. He actually won one more point in the match than his opponent, Florent Serra, but still lost in straights. That's tough. Janko's fortunes are heading south, and I'd like to see him turn it around, because he is a fun player to watch - and he has "Beauty will save the world" tattooed on his arm. It's a Dostoevsky line, by the way. Who doesn't love that?

A match that I really enjoyed watching even though it didn't even come close to a tiebreak was J.W. Tsonga against the youngest player in the men's draw, 18-year old Chase Buchanan. I really hope that Chase doesn't get discouraged by the loss, though, because he played very well and could easily be a top 100 or top 50 player, based on what I saw today. Unfortunately, he came up against one of the most in-form players on tour on his favorite surface and got demolished.

Another player who got beaten pretty badly was Igor Andreev, the seed who lost to American Jesse Witten. I tried to see that match, but the stands were packed with fans rooting for Jesse. Which is why I was so surprised that there was nobody there to support Rajeev Ram while he was getting beaten in a tight match by French hopeful Josselin Ouanna. Ram's more of a prospect than Witten is, but no love for Rajeev, I guess. There was plenty of support for Kevin Kim, another American who rode it to beat an out-of-sorts Dudi Sela today in four sets. Sela is another one that's fun to watch, but I won't be watching him any more this year.

Taylor Dent also pulled off an upset against Feliciano Lopez, but good luck trying to get to see that match. If there's three things that U.S. Open grounds pass fans love, they are: 1 - Americans (natch) 2 - Veterans (good luck seeing Tommy Haas on the outer courts) and 3 - Comeback Stories. Guess how many of these Taylor Dent happens to be. I really wanted to watch him play... maybe he'll be on the grandstand later and I'll be able to get a seat.

I also watched Carsten Ball for a while as he beat Brzezicki (that Aussie's an up-and-comer!) and Victor Troicki as he almost managed to find a way to lose to 30-year old Peter Luczak. Troicki's ranking is moving in rather the opposite direction to Carsten's, at the moment.

The only women's match that I caught much of (not a lot of female players that I knew too well were on the outer courts today) was Carlos Suarez-Navarro, who is not quite following up her breakout year last year the way some people would have hoped. She looked pretty strong, and her backhand is just as pretty as Wawrinka's, but fortunately, she won her match.

Tomorrow, the first match on grandstand is Gael Monfils against Jeremy Chardy. Do you think I'm going to be courtside for that match? You bet I am. After that, I'll try to see Ferrer, Almagro, Guccione, Kiefer-Llodra (that could be a tough one), Ferrero-Santoro (I'll never be able to get a seat for that one, alas), and maybe Bellucci-Lu, Na Li against serial grunter Larcher De Brito, and crazycakes Koellerer is out there, too. I'd also like to see Acasuso and Gilles Simon, if I can get on that court. There's no way I'll get all that accomplished, though.

I'm actually sort of looking forward to later in the week when I can just camp out on the Grandstand or Armstrong and watch entire matches, rather than trying to run around and see everything. On the other hand, I also love the chance to see all these players. I would have really been upset if I hadn't seen Karlovic, Wawrinka, Tipsarevic, or Sela, and they all lost today, so I wouldn't have gotten another chance.

Until next year's open, that is...