The First week of the US Open is now complete and on the men’s side most of the main challengers are still standing at the fourth round stage. Reigning champion and top seed Nadal, second seed Federer, third seed Del Potro, sixth seed Djokovic, seventh seed Cilic, ninth seed Thiem, tenth seed Goffin and eleventh seed Isner were all due to play their fourth matches at the time of writing.
Top-seed Nadal and ninth seed Thiem were the first players to make the quarter finals; Thiem impressed thrashing a fatigued Anderson in straight sets, Nadal had to work hard again for his win beating the unseeded Basilashvili in four sets and they will now face each other for one of the four coveted semi-final spots tomorrow. I think Thiem will be far more competitive in this one as the quicker conditions play more to his strengths compared to when they play on clay and if he can get his tactics right and be as consistently aggressive as possible, he should at least be able to push Nadal close and if Thiem wins the first set and/or it goes to five sets I see Thiem edging this one.
The other fourth round matches played last night/early hours of this morning included third seed Del Potro against twentieth seed Coric and the clash between two of the game’s biggest servers, Isner (Advised 10/1 To Win 2nd Quarter) and twenty fifth seed Raonic (advised 50/1).
This one has the potential to be a five set classic but, with many of the tournament results and score lines so far being so unpredictable, one of the two will probably go and win in straight sets! The winner of the above two matches will face each other in tomorrow’s quarter finals and we will at least have a chance of landing a 10/1 winner if Isner progresses to the semi-finals, or a 50/1 winner if Raonic can win four more matches and win his first Grand Slam.
Tonight’s action includes tournament favourite and sixth seed Djokovic and third favourite Federer and both have a great chance of meeting each other in the quarter finals as they face unseeded players Sousa and Millman respectively. The other two fourth round matches are between Cilic (Advised 20/1) and Nishikori and fourth seed Sascha Zverev’s conqueror veteran and compatriot Kohlschreiber.
Selections:
Goffin Win vs Cilic (25/12)
Thiem Win vs Nadal (price tbc)
