TENNIS US OPEN – All week long, the women have had to answer questions regarding the numerous upsets taking place within their draw. As of today, only 4 of the top 10 seeded women remain in the draw and all 4th round matches have not been completed. However, today, the men’s draw has suffered its first major casualty. Ferrer was dismissed by Simon. From New York, Cordell Hackshaw
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All week long, the women have had to answer questions regarding the numerous upsets taking place within their draw. As of today, only 4 of the top 10 seeded women remain in the draw and all 4th round matches have not been completed. However, today, the men’s draw has suffered its first major casualty. David Ferrer (4) was dismissed by Gilles Simon (26) 3-6 6-3 1-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 48 minutes. Simon will take on in the 4th round the ever rising star, Marin Cilic (14) who knocked out Kevin Anderson (18) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Coming into this match, Ferrer had a 5-1 lead head to head over Simon. However, four of those victories came on clay where Ferrer’s one of the world’s best. On hardcourts however, the record is 1-1 so this encounter had the potential to be an interesting matchup especially when coupled with the very hot and humid conditions. Both Ferrer and Simon were holding serve with relative ease in the opening set. At 3-3, Simon made a huge push to break Ferrer and was rewarded for his efforts with a 4-3 lead. Ferrer quickly tried to get back on levelled terms but he could not convert on the two break points in the 8th game. Simon extended the lead to 5-3. Serving to stay in the set, Ferrer began to leak errors giving Simon set points. On his first, Simon unleashed a forehand winner to take the set.
Simon extended his lead early in the 2nd set by breaking Ferrer and went up 2-0. Ferrer broke back in the 4th game to level the set. They remained on serve through to the 7th game when Ferrer broke Simon for 4-3. Ferrer then took the set 6-3 to level the match. At this point, one expected Ferrer to take control of this match and Simon to wilt under the pressure of trying to beat a top seed in a major. However, it was Ferrer who went flat in the 3rd set. He won his opening service game but Simon simply raised his play level to something just short of amazing. He was making incredible shots inch perfect on the line. The crowd was with him every step of the way and in about half an hour’s time, Simon won the set for a 2-1 sets lead; 6-3 3-6 6-1.
In the 4th set, it was very clear that the conditions were severely affecting Ferrer. His shorts were soaked through and he had them tucked into the sides of his underwear. “[I]t was a tough match today. There is a lot of humidity, very sun and it was not easy for me. I was not good with my fitness,” Ferrer said after the match. He attempted to get something going on his end but after he was broken in the 6th game to give Simon a 4-2 lead, Ferrer looked like he had had enough. Simon served for the match 5-3 and looked rather tentative in the process but he closed it out for the win. Ferrer had a staggering 52 errors in the match compared to 30 from Simon. Simon had this to say after the match, “I feel it was one of the hardest days for me on the court because it was hot and it was so humid … [T]o play David in this condition is really demanding physically … But then I had more energy; I felt he was in trouble also.”
Simon next plays Cilic, a player who he has never lost to in his career. Cilic came through a tough battle of serves contest against Anderson. With both players relying heavily on his respective serve, this match was not about rallies but about who can be most effective with the serve in these conditions. With the conditions being so humid, it made matters difficult for the server. There were 10 breaks of serves in the match and no tiebreaks. Anderson broke first in the opening set for a 3-2 lead but he could not consolidate the break and it was back even at 3-3. Cilic continued with the momentum to take the set 6-3. Anderson quickly turned things around as he edged out to 5-2 in the 2nd set and ended any hope of Cilic getting back into the set with two monster aces for 6-3.
With the match levelled at a set a piece, Cilic quickly gained a 2-0 lead in the 3rd set but he was unable to maintain this advantage as Anderson broke back for 2-2. Cilic seized the opportunity to break again in the 8th game for a 5-3 lead and served it out for a 2-1 sets lead. In the 4th set, both players remained on serve till the 9th game when Cilic broke for 5-4. He then closed out the match 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 in 3 hours. After the match, Cilic noted that the conditions definitely made things difficult for him as well as the missed opportunities he had in the 2nd set to get an early break. There were only 25 aces in the match between the two players. However, Cilic was just a bit more solid on the serve and total game. Cilic won 82% of the points behind his 1st serve compared to Anderson with 65%. Anderson was also making far too many errors in keys moments totalling 53 for the entire match as opposed to Cilic with only 34.
