US Open: Men's Quarterfinalists

Five of the top eight women’s seeds are through to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows, which is fewer than what many expected. Nadal has managed to get a pretty easy draw to the final with only one top 10 player standing in his way (Verdasco). Federer has Soderling and possibly Djokovic so a Federer-Nadal final is assured quite yet though it is likely.


Here are your men's 2010 US Open quarterfinalists:
1) Rafael Nadal (ESP): 17th slam quarterfinal (4th at US Open), 13-3 record (2-1), last ’10 Wimbledon
2) Roger Federer (SUI): 30th slam quarterfinal (7th at US Open), 25-4 record (6-0), last ’10 Wimbledon
3) Novak Djokovic (SRB): 14th slam quarterfinal (4th at US Open), 8-5 record (3-0), last ’10 Wimbledon
5) Robin Soderling (SWE): 5th slam quarterfinal (2nd at US Open), 2-2 record (0-1), last ’10 Wimbledon
8) Fernando Verdasco (ESP): 3rd slam quarterfinal (2nd at US Open), 1-1 record (0-1), last ’09 US Open
12) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS): 4th slam quarterfinal (2nd at US Open), 1-2 record (1-0), last ’10 French Open
17) Gael Monfils (FRA): 3rd slam quarterfinal (1st at US Open), 1-1 record, last '09 French Open
25) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI): 1st slam quarterfinal

Switzerland has two players in the last eight of a slam for the first time ever.  Wawrinka is the only player (men's or women's) still alive without a slam quarterfinal.  Six different countries represented in the quarters (Spain and Switzerland have two), but no Americans, second time ever.  Five of these players were in the quarters in 2009. Federer and Nadal have yet to drop a set. David Ferrer, with his fourth round appearance, is into the top 10.  One more win for Youzhny would put him there too at the expense of Roddick.  Wawrinka is up to #20 in the world, while the top 8 are currently unchanged after the Verdasco win.  One more win for Soderling would move him past Murray while Verdasco would need to make the final to get past Berdych.

Today and tomorrow’s quarterfinal matchups:
Nadal vs Verdasco
Youzhny vs Wawrinka
Djokovic vs Monfils
Federer vs Soderling

Now to catch up with some rankings items from the last couple rounds, since I like this stuff:

Top 50 players successfully defending 3rd round points (or adding more by now): Nicolas Almagro (ESP), Sam Querrey (USA), and Gilles Simon (FRA).

Top 50 players failing to defend 3rd round points (round lost after the hyphen): Tomas Berdych (CZE)-1, Andy Roddick (USA)-2, Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)-2, Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)-1, Julien Benneteau (FRA)-2, Denis Istomin (UZB)-2

Top 50 players successfully defending 4th round points (or adding more by now): Gael Monfils (FRA) and Tommy Robredo (ESP).

Top 50 players failing to defend 4th round points: Andy Murray (GBR)-3, Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)-2, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)-injured, John Isner (USA)-3, Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)-3, Radek Stepanek (CZE)-1

Top 50 players successfully defending quarterfinal points: Robin Soderling (SWE) and Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

Top 50 players failing to defend quarterfinal points: Marin Cilic (CRO)-2, Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)-1