US Open Day 8

Labor Day is one of the biggest days of the U.S. Open, both in terms of attendance and television viewership. There were some blockbuster matches lined up for today, but now that they've been played, did they live up to their billing?

In short, it's probably the case that the matches weren't quite what one might have hoped for, in terms of the excitement provided. There were some tight matches, but the losing player only won two sets in eight matches. One of which was a bagel - I'm amazed that Yanina Wickmayer could win the first set 6-0, lose the second set in a tiebreak, then lose the third set 6-1. That's almost like the match that Vera Zvonareva lost last year, although this year the Russian's venture onto center court was much more successful. She blasted Petkovic off the court. Her compatriot and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was not quite so lucky, as she fell to Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. The young Slovakian player didn't have to do much but keep the ball in court, as Kuznetsova committed 42 unforced errors and 10 double faults.

The two headlining matches in the day session didn't quite provide as much drama as one might have hoped, either. It seems like all the tennis that Mardy Fish has been playing recently finally caught up to him, as he looked a bit flat against Novak Djokovic, who on the other hand was quite sharp. What could have been (and what the tournament organizers and promoters were certainly hoping would be) a stunning upset turned out to be a by-the-books beatdown by a higher-ranked player. And on the subject of those sorts of matches, Jurgen Melzer put up a great fight against Roger Federer, but it simply wasn't enough. As if talent and experience weren't enough, Federer benefited from two net cord winners during the second set tiebreak. That was plenty to stop Melzer's pushback.

The real headliner match was between Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova. It was a pretty good match, no question, but once again - the organizers were disappointed in the result. Wozniacki is a talented young player, but the fact is she's not as much of a draw as a player like Sharapova, yet. She probably never will be. Her game is less exciting to watch, but that doesn't mean it's less effective. Today, the returning power of Caroline Wozniacki was better than Sharapova's attacking game. And her course through the rest of the draw is almost comically clear. It will be a shock at this point if we don't have a rematch of last year's final, or at least half of one.

Kim Clijsters still has Venus Williams to contend with in the bottom half of the draw. They're each one win away from facing each other in the semifinals, but those wins are by no means guaranteed. Tomorrow, Venus has to face French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, while Clijsters has to play Sam Stosur, who just beat Elena Dementieva last night - well, technically, earlier this morning. Neither of those matches are guaranteed wins for Clijsters and Venus. This half of the draw has the stronger remaining field, no question. The only interesting question remaining in the tournament on the women's side might just be if these four players beat up on each other so much that whoever faces off against Wozniacki in the final will be too tired to put up enough of a fight.

Meanwhile, we have to determine the second half of the men's quarterfinals. There are five Spaniards playing in four matches, so we'll have at least two in the quarters. Nadal takes on Feliciano Lopez in one of the all-Spanish match-ups. F-Lo beat Nadal on grass at Queens this year, but this is a different situation. Nadal can pass like nobody else, with his high-topspin forehands, and Lopez will make a great target up at net. The much more interesting match is between Verdasco and Ferrer. The pair has played ten times, but only once on hard courts. They're 6-4 overall, which Verdasco leading, and 1-1 on the year. But Ferrer has their only victory on hard courts - albeit that was six years ago. This one is pretty much a pick-em.

The other two matches are also interesting, since with Murray out of that quarter, the semifinal spot is pretty much wide open. Querrey gets Stan Wawrinka, who will be tough to beat if he plays as well as he did against Murray. Querrey is the only player left carrying the U.S. hopes for the men's side after today, but we'll see if that inspires him or if he collapses under the weight. The other side will feature Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Robredo - an interesting match, as Robredo has benefited from some soft draws and retirements to get this far. Assuming that the Russian doesn't injure himself (or hasn't already) I think he'll be able to oust Robredo, who doesn't really have the weapons to do much against someone who has as much firepower as Youzhny. Youzhny made the semifinals here in 2006, while the other three players in this section have never been that far. Querrey and Wawrinka have never even been past this round at a grand slam, while Robredo is possibly the best active player never to have made it past a GS quarterfinal (he's fighting James Blake for that honor). So here's a lot of guys who have a big chance this week.