2019 US OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships.  I have also predicted the women's quarterfinals. Last year I predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly. 

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [23] vs Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5].  The World #1 and defending champion had made his way through the draw rather uneventfully until he ran into a diesel truck named Stan. The 3-time champion who is on his way back up the charts after  very serious knee surgeries basically bullied Djokovic around the court for two and a half sets until the 16-time major champion retired from the match, citing a shoulder injury. Medvedev is the latest of the #NextGen players to break through, having won his first Masters series shield in Montreal during his red-hot summer.  The two have only played only once before, in 2017 on grass (Wawrinka's worst surface), with Medevedev winning. The Russian has been making it through matches by will (fueled by the vocal opposition of the New York City crowds). This scenario should repeat itself again, but this time he'll be facing someone who can take advantage of it. Mad Professah's pick: Wawrinka.

Roger Federer (SUI) [3] vs Grigor Dimitrov (BLR). Formerly known as "Baby Fed," Dimitrov has had a horrendous year and a half since he reached his career-high ranking of World #3 after winning the ATP's Year-End Championships (over Davis Goffin). His ranking had fallen out of the Top 50 before this tournament, so it is miraculous that he was able to reach his first quarterfinal in New York this year. Hopefully this will turn his season around because he is too talented to not be "in the mix" on tour although at 28 he is part of the Lost Generation that the Big 4 denied tennis' biggest prizes. Unfortunately for Grigor he faces Federer, whom he has played 7 times and only won 1 set in the 18 the two have played. Hopefully he will do better than Goffin did in Federer's previous round, who only managed to win 4 games in a best-of-five match. Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

Matteo Berretini (ITA) [24] vs Gael Monfils (FRA) [13]. This is a first-time meeting between these players. Berretini is one of the breakout players of 2019, having already won two tour titles this year. The 23-year-old is listed at 6-foot-5 and 198 pounds while 32-year-old Monfils is "only" 6-foot-4 and 187 pounds. This is an incredibly important match for both players, as every major quarterfinal is. It's Berretini's first but Monfils' 9th. Oftentimes, the older player suffers in this situation with the knowledge of how rare these opportunities are but it can also happen that the younger player is overwhelmed by the occasion. This is basically a "call-em" match and that situation I go with the better athlete. Mad Professah's pick: Monfils.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] vs Diego Schwartzman (ARG) [20] Alexander Zverev (GER) [6]. Diminutive Diego took out Sascha Zverev in four sets the round before, despite playing on the German's best surface and his worst. He has reached 2 other quarterfinals before, but it probably won't matter. He faces Nadal, whom he has played 7 times and only won 2 sets (not in the same match), losing every time. Nadal is playing in devastating form and unless an injury shows up, should make it to another US Open final. Will Federer be waiting for him there?  Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

TENNIS TUESDAYY: Medevedev Beats Djokovic, Goffin to Win First Masters Shield; Keys Wins Biggest Title

Daniil Medvedev is the hottest player in tour this summer. He made his third consecutive final in a row in the U.S. Open series (l. Nick Kyrgios in Washington, DC; l. Rafael Nadal in Montreal). He won the Cincinnati Masters title by defeating David Goffin 7-6(3) 6-4. The 6-foot-6 Russian next generation player has the most wins on tour this year (44!) and jumped from #8 to #5 in the rankings, surpassing his countryman Karen Khachanov at #9. Medvedev beat World #1 Novak Djokovic for the second time this year, coming back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Cincy semifinals.

Madison Keys won her biggest title of her career by beating a resurgent Sveta Kuzetsova 7-5 7-6(5) in Cincinnati. Keys victory will power her back into the Top 10 for the first time since June 2018. Kuznetsova prevented Ash Barty from resuming the World #1 ranking by beating her in the Cincy semifinals, so defending champions Naomi Osaka will be ranked #1 at the 2019 US Open when it starts next Monday. Kuznetsovam returning from injury was languishing in the low 100s and was unable to defend her 2018 Citi Open title due to visa issues. Her finals appearance will get her direct entry into the 2019 US Open with a ranking of #62.

2019 CANADA: Rafa Wins 35th Masters Title; Bianca Wins Canada As Serena Sobs

19-year-old Bianca Andreescu became the first Canadian woman in 50 years to win her country's Canadian Open tennis championship when Serena Williams retired down 1-3 in the championship match on Sunday. Williams said she had had back spasms the night before and that "she couldn't move" and started sobbing on the court. Later, she went to Cincinnati for the Western & Southern Financial Open tournament but withdrew from her match there. Presumably the next time we will see Serena will be at the 2019 S Open which starts August 26. Andreescu is now #14 in the rankings, achieving the amazing feat of having her ranking be less than her age in record fashion. he has won her first 7 matches against Top 10 opponents. Many expect her to be in the Top 10 soon herself, and she is considered (by some) to be "in the mix" for the US Open. Naomi Osaka (despite losing in straight sets to Serena) regained the World #1 ranking due to Karolina Pliskova's loss to Andreescu early in the tournament.

Rafael Nadal won his 5th Rogers Cup title in Montreal, demolishing Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-0 in about 70 minutes. Amazingly, it was the first time in his career that Nadal had defended a hard-court (non-clay court) title, since he had won the 2018 Rogers Cup in Toronto last year. It's Nadal's 35th Masters series shield, increasing his lead over his rivals (Novak Djokovic has 33 and Roger Federer has 28). Nadal is the first player to win 2 Masters titles this year (having also won in Rome), while Federer won Miami and Djokovic won Madrid.

2018 CINCY: Djokovic Beats Federer To Complete Masters Set, Bertens Saves MP To Beat Halep

Novak Djokovic won his first ATP Cincinnati Masters title in his 6th final, beating Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 on Sunday. It means that the 13-time major champion has now won all of the biggest tournaments in tennis (all 4 majors, the World Tour final and all 9 ATP Masters shields) at least once, something Rafael Nadal and Federer have not done. The fact that the 2018 Wimbledon champion won this important US Open series event means that Djokovic is one of the favorites for the 2018 US Open, which starts on Monday August 27. Also, with Djokovic's return to firm and his head-to-head leads (27-25 versus Nadal, 24-22 versus Federer and 25-11 versus Andy Murray) against all his rivals in the Big Four is rekindling the G.O.A.T discussion. Djokovic is back to World #6.

On the women's side Simona Halep was playing for history as well on Sunday, trying to become the first woman to pull off the Canada-Cincinnati double. However, despite having a match point against Kiki Bertens, the World #1 lost 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2. She is still the #1 seed for the upcoming US Open, while Bertens reached her career high ranking of World #13 after the biggest win of her career.

Sadly, I went 0-for-2 in my predictions of the Cincinnati men's and women's finals. Hopefully I have a return to form at the US Open!

2018 CINCY: Finals are Halep-Bertens, Federer-Djokovic XLVI

The finals of the 2018 Western and Southern Financial Open in Cincinnati are set. The ATP Masters  tournament has two players remaining: 2018 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic and 2018 Australian Open champion Roger Federer. This is an epic showdown that is occurring for the 46th time in their careers (with Djokovic leading their head-to-head 23-22) and for the fourth time in the Cincy final. Federer won the three previous meetings which have occurred like clockwork every 3 years since 2009. Djokovic has won all of the other 8 ATP Masters tournaments and would become the first man to win all 9 ATP Masters shields in his career (Miami, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Paris, Shanghai). Both Nadal and Federer have only won 7 of the 9. Nadal is 0-5 in Miami finals and Djokovic is 0-5 at Cincinnati finals. Nadal has the record for the most ATP Masters shields with 33 (Djokovic has 32), and won one last week when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals of Canada's Rogers Cup in Toronto.

On the women's side, Simona Halep is facing Kiki Bertens in the Cincy Open final, one week after she outlasted Sloane Stephens in a thrilling 3-set reprise of the 2018 French Open final. If Halep wins today, then the 2018 French Open champion would become the first woman to win the Canada/Cincinnati double. She is currently on a 9 match winning streak. Bertens is having a remarkable 2018, having already beaten 9 Top 10 players, including Venus Williams at Wimbledon and Petra Kvitova yesterday in Cincinnati and last week in Montreal, Canada. The Dutch player had been known as a "clay court specialist" but has been having remarkable results on grass and hard courts this year.

MADPROFESSAH'S PREDICTIONS

Federer d. Djokovic.
Halep d. Bertens.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Cilic Wins Cincy; Serena Will Tie Graf's #1 Record; Stevie Is A Top; #Santina Splits

MARIN CILIC WINS FIRST MASTERS SHIELD BY BEATING ANDY MURRAY IN CINCINNATI
2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic became only the fifth player since 2010 other than the Big Four (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal) to win an ATP Masters shield event by beating Murray 7-5 6-4. The other four are Robin Soderling (Paris 2010),  David Ferrer (Paris 2012), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Toronto 2014), Stan Wawrinka (Monte-Carlo 2014). Murray was hoping to continue his 22-match winning streak after triumphing at the 2016 Wimbledon championships and 2016  Rio Olympics this summer. Not only was this Cilic's first Masters 1000 win, it was the first time he had even reached the semifinal of a masters in 8 previous tries.

SERENA WILLIAMS WILL TIE STEFFI GRAF'S RECORD OF 186 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT #1 BUT FOUR PLAYERS WILL VIE FOR #1 IN NEW YORK
By Angelique Kerber losing in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova in the Cincinnati Final, World #1 Serena Williams will remain at #1 for three more weeks and tie Steffi Graf's record of 186 consecutive weeks at #1. However, to break the record Serena will probably need to win the 2016 US Open (which would also simultaneously surpass Graf's major singles title haul of 22) because she is defending semifinal points from the 2015 US Open and none of her rivals: Garbine Muguruza, Agnieska Radwanska or Kerber have very many points to defend. Theoretically any of these four could conceivably be #1 on Monday September 12th. The most exciting scenario would have Serena and Kerber facing off for the #1 ranking in the final.

STEVIE JOHNSON IS THE NEW #1 AMERICAN MALE PLAYER
Fresh off of winning the Men's Doubles Bronze medal with partner Jack Sock (who also won the Mixed Doubles Gold with Bethanie Mattek-Sands) Stevie Johnson is now the highest ranked male American player by reaching the #21 spot on the ATP rankings while John Isner (who had been the top-ranked American since July 2013) fell to #22 with Sock at #28 and Giant-Killer Sam Querrey at #31.  This also means that there i no American male in the Top 20 of the ATP World rankings while on the women's side there are three American women in the Top 10: Serena (#1), Venus Williams (#6), Madison Keys (#9).

MARTINA HINGIS AND SANIA MIRZA SPLIT UP, FACED EACH OTHER IN CINCY
During the Rio Olympics it was confirmed that despite winning 3 grand slam titles, the 2015 Year-end championships and a 41-match winning streak in the last 18 month, the doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have decided to split up. (They have agreed to play the 2016 year-end championships together, having already qualified!) Awkwardly, the two former partners faced each other in the very first tournament after the Olympics in the Cincinnati finals, and the team of Mirza and Coco Vandeweghe defeated Hingis with Barbora Strycova.

US OPEN SEEDS REVEALED: WILLIAMS, DJOKOVIC SEEDED #1 
The seeds for the U.S. OPEN have been revealed, and the only notable absences are 2015 Champion Flavia Pennetta who retired soon afterwards, Victoria Azarenka who is pregnant. On the men's side Roger Federer (is missing the rest of 2016 with injury) and Tomas Berdych has appendicitis.

2015 CINCY: Federer Claims 87th ATP Title; 7th Here; Reclaims World #2 Ranking

As I predicted yesterday, Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic to win the 2015 Cincinnati Masters. Federer won his 87th career ATP title, 7th in Cincinnati and 24th ATP Masters title of his career. Federer won 7-6(1) 6-3, never getting his serve broken for the entire tournament.

TUESDAY TENNIS: Stephens Wins 1st Title; Venus Bageled In TO; Kei Gets Revenge; Kerber Streak Continues

Sloane Breaks Through With Maiden Title At D.C. Hard Court Tournament
American Sloane Stephens was the only player in the WTA Top 40 (currently ranked #29) not to have reached a tour final. That is no longer true because not only did Stephens reach her first WTA final at the Citi Open in Washington, DC by defeating Samantha Stosur in the semifinal, she was cool and calm in a straightforward 6-1 6-2 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final the next day.

Kerber Continues Streak With 4th Title Of The Year By Winning in Stanford
Angelique Kerber began 2015 with more losses than wins until March but since winning in Charleston on (green) clay she has won 30 of her 35 matches, and notched up three more titles, on three different surfaces (Stuttgart on red clay, Birmingham on grass and Stanford on outdoor hard courts). Kerber played one of the best matches of the year in the Bank of the West quarterfinals by outlasting Aggie Radwanska 6-4 4-6 6-4 and K3rb3r won the title match over Karolina Pliskova in another 3-set match. The German has now won all 4 finals she has reached in 2015 after going 0-4 in finals last year.

Venus Plays First Set Since Wimbledon, Gets Bageled And Loses
Since losing to her sister Serena Williams in the 3rd round of Wimbledon, Venus Williams has not played a WTA tour-level match. She returned to the court after 10pm in Toronto on Monday to face Sabine Lisicki following a near 9-hour rain delay and promptly lost the first 6 games in 24 minutes. Things got a little better after that but Venus still lost 6-0 6-3 to the hard-hitting German. Since she had reached the final at the Canadian tournament last year (beating Serena in the semifinals) her ranking will plummet to the mid-20s and if she doesn't do well in Cincinnati she might not be seeded for the 2015 U.S. Open.

Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic Face Each Other On U.S. Hard Court With Different Result
Last year Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic played the first grand slam final in over a decade that did not include a former Grand Slam champion at the 2014 U.S. Open. Cilic won that match but in Washington, D.C. the two met in the semifinals of the Citi Open but this time Nishikori was the victor 3-6 6-1 6-4. The Japanese player went on to defeat John Isner 4-6 6-4 6-4 to win the title.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Murray Is British Again; Serena Sabbatical; Federer in Africa, Venus Loses

Andy Murray Wins Three Matches In Davis Cup Tie With France
Andy Murray continues his excellent 2015 season by almost single-handedly lifting Great Britain to the semifinals of the annual Davis Cup team tennis competition by defeating two former Top 10 players from France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon in singles and then teaming up with brother Jamie to win the doubles match in order to advance past France for the right to face Australia the weekend of September 20th (with home court advantage).

Serena Pulls Out of Bastad and World Team Tennis To Rest Before US Open
Despite going to Sweden immediately after winning her 6th Wimbledon title, World #1 Serena Williams withdrew after winning her first match and then promptly pulled out of World Team Tennis as well. She is still scheduled to play Stanford, Cincinnati and Toronto but if I was the tournament director at any of those tournaments I would start to sweat: I doubt she'll play all three.

Roger Federer Goes To Africa (To Open A School)
The President of the Roger Federer Foundation, i.e. the World #2 player, went to Malawi to open a school.

Venus Should Have Stayed Home; Loses 1st Round In Istanbul
Meanwhile Venus Williams maybe should have taken a page out of her sister's book and taken a sabbatical after Wimbledon. Instead she went to Istanbul as the top seed and lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko!

2014 US OPEN: Serena Wins 18th Major, 3rd Consecutive U.S. Open

As I predicted, Serena Williams defeated her good friend Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the 2014 U.S. Open, winning her 18th major championship, 3rd consecutive in New York City. Serena won in dominant fashion, 6-3 6-3, despite a nervous first set that saw her barely making more than 1-in-3 first serves and featured 5 breaks of serve in the first 6 games. After that, both players settled down, and once Serena's service percentage went up, she concentrated on maintaining her early break advantage in the final set by serving powerfully and pushing her opponent all over the court,, eventually ending the match on another service break two points after a thrilling 26-stroke rally that the American also won.

Serena's win was the 5th time that she has won a major title without dropping a set--in fact no player won more than 3 games in a single set with her all tournament long. Winning 18 majors means that she will go down in history as a legendary American tennis player, currently tied with the great Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and could possibly catch up to Steffi Graf's 22 before she retires. At age 32 (just a few weeks before her 33rd birthday) Serena is the oldest major champion since Navratilova won her ninth(!) Wimbledon title at age 33 in 1990.

Currently ranked #1 and threatening to play until at least the Rio Olympics in 2016, Serena has a decent chance of reaching at least 20 titles.

2014 CINCINNATI: Serena Defeats Ivanovic To Win 5th Title of 2014

As expected, World #1 Serena Williams defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-1 to win the final of the Western & Southern Open, her 5th title of 2014, the 62nd WTA tour title of her career but her first in Cincinnati after 6 appearances. Just by reaching the final, Serena clinched the title of the 2014 US Open Series and will have the opportunity to win a record $4 million if she defends her 2013 US Open championship.

2014 ROGERS CUP: Tsonga and Radwanska Win Titles

Much to my surprise, at the 2014 Rogers Cup both Agnieska Radwanska and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were able to win their respective finals against their older and more venerable opponents, Venus Williams and Roger Federer. Tsonga beat Federr 7-5 7-6(3) to win his 11th career title. He has now beaten Federer 3 times  at the Rogers Cup in Canada, despite having a 5-11 record overall againt the Swiss great.

Radwnska similarly dismissed Venus in straight sets 6-4 6-2, with Venus appearing not as sharp as she was in her surprising3-set  semifinal win over her sister, World #1 Serena Williams. At this point in her career, wins over the World #1 are probably more important than titles to Venus anyway.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena Ready To Play Stanford, Tiafoe Loses In ATP Debut

Serena Williams is scheduled to return to the WTA Tour today, almost 4 weeks after she was last seen on a tennis court barely able to hit a tennis ball during her ill-fated doubles match with sister Venus at Wimbledon.

Serena has been spending time in Croatia with her hitting partner Sasha and doing some training as well as enjoying herself on vacation.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Serena has not stopped working with her coach Patrick Moutaoglou and even though she pulled out of the Swedish Open (on clay) she is fulfilling her commitment to the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, which the World #1 won in 2012 over fellow American Coco Vandeweghe the reigning champion.

Sister Venus, Angelique Kerber, Agnieska Radwanska and former World #1 Vika Azarenka are also in the draw.

On the other side of the country future American #1 Francis Tiafoe made his ATP Tour debut at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. in front of his hometown crowd and although he won his first ever professional point with an ace, he lost the match 4-6 4-6 to Evgeny Donskoy.

Tiafoe is just 16 years old, but it one of the top
juniors in the world, having won the two most important junior tournaments in the world (the prestigious Orange Bowl and the Easter Bowl) in the same season. The last American to do that was named John McEnroe, and he turned out pretty well as a pro.

Tiafoe is under extreme scrutiny as America hungers for a male player with the ability to win majors and dominate the game as the Williams sisters have on the women's side. So far that pressure has not helped Tiafoe's results but realistically he is at least 4 to 5 years before he will be making any kind of significant impact on the men's tour.

Serena Williams Named AP Female Athlete of the Year (for 3rd time)

Serena Williams was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for her amazing 2013 season where she won her 16th and 17th major titles (2013 French Open, 2013 U.S. Open), 9 other WTA tour titles and lost only four times (compared to 78 wins).

It was the 3rd time that Serena won the AP award, following excellent seasons in 2009 and 2002 (both of which were years she also ended the season ranked #1.

According to the WTA, Serena also set two important all-time records in 2013: becoming the oldest #1 ranked player and the single-season prize money total of $12,385,572.

The only question now is will Serena be able to repeat her success in 2014? I would not be surprised if she wins another 2 majors in 2014, and possibly more.

2013 US OPEN: Tournament Review

Now that the 2013 US Open has been concluded and some time has passed I would like to take some time to review the tournament as a whole. The winners were Rafael Nadal (men's single title) and Serena Williams (women's singles title). The two have a lot in common, since they both also won the French Open this year (in a strange quirk, they each defeated the reigning Australian Open champion in their respective championship matches) and they are leading their tours in matches won and titles claimed. They each won several warm-up tournaments going into the US Open, and thus earned an extra $1 million bonus check for leading the US Open Series. Williams, 32, now has 17 major titles (21 finals) and she is being acknowledged as the greatest of all-time (G.O.A.T.), while Nadal, 27, with 13 major titles (18 finals) is being mentioned more frequently in that context as the current G.O.A.T. Roger Federer's abilities appear to be slowly diminishing with age.

However, here are my Top 5 Memorable Moments from the 2013 US Open:

5. Carla Suarez Navarro Outlasts Angelique Kerber In A Tough 4th Round 3-Set Match. On the middle Sunday of the tournament I attended the US Open in person and was treated to a surprisingly thrilling women's match between World #8 Angelique Kerber and Carla Suarez Navarro on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Although it was scheduled at the same time as the most hyped match of the tournament (the rematch between the two top Americans Sloane Stephens and Serena Williams) was going on it ended up being the more compelling contest. The Suarez Navarro-Kerber match was a slug fest with ricocheting momentum shifts over nearly three hours, culminating in a final set tiebreak that was eventually won by the more fearless, aggressive player, which (and this was the main surprise) was the lower ranked Spaniard, not the higher ranked German.
4. Richard Gasquet beats Milos Raonic and David Ferrer to reach his second major semifinal.Frenchman Richard Gasquet is not known for his steely competitive spirit despite his excessive talent. He has long been heralded as the future of tennis (on the cover of tennis magazine well before puberty!) and his lack of major success at the major events is a major disappointment for French tennis. But more recently Gasquet has been showing a lot more resolve of late, and his ascendance into the Top 10 of men's tennis is the result. But even with that background, no one would have expected Gasquet to win back-to-back 5-set matches against two players he had 1 win against out of 10 matches (huge-serving Milos Raonic of Canada and fatigue-inducing David Ferrer). But Gasquet showed that he is fit enough to stay out on court long enough with anybody and has the firepower on both wings (including the too hastily dismissed one-handed backhand) to trouble most residents of the Top 10.
3. Stanislas Wawrinka takes out Andy Murray and throws a scare into Novak Djokovic.The player who had the most impact on the men's side of the draw, besides the eventual champion Rafael Nadal was the Swiss #2 Stanislas Wawrinka. Wawrinka ended the run of World #5 Tomas Berdych in the 4th round despite the fact that the Czech champ was playing excellent tennis. He followed up that improbable result by handily dismissing the defending champion and World #3 Andy Murray in straight sets in the very next round. Then, most improbably, he took on World #1 Novak Djokovic and showed that he truly believed he could win that match, and was up 2 sets to 1 at one point before he succumbed in the end. We know now that there was basically no one who could have defeated Nadal the way he was playing, but in some respects I would have liked to have seen Wawrinka give it a try!
2. Tommy Robredo confirms the diminution of Roger Federer by handing him a straight sets 4th round loss.This was the most heartbreaking moment of the tournament for me. It was the best of times, because I was able to finally see Roger Federer compete on a big stage, close up. It was the worst of times, because Federer proceeded to lose in straight sets to an opponent he had beaten ten consecutive times before. This was the match that confirmed for most people that the end of the "Federer era" had indeed been reached, and that the Swiss Great's best tennis was clearly in his past and not his future. This was not only a moment that impacted this major, but its significance will reverberate through every major played for the next few years in which Federer appears.
1. Serena Williams wins her 2nd major final of the year despite blowing huge lead in 2nd set.In some respects the women's side of the draw was uninteresting because from the very beginning of the tournament everyone expected the top 2 seeds to be playing in the final and that is precisely what happened. And then, despite horrific playing conditions, we ended up getting one of the most dramatic women's finals ever, even more dramatic than last year's final, but with a similar result: Serena Williams settling down and reeling off a consecutive string of games to win the set and the championship match. Last year Serena was down 3-5 when she was able to win 4 games in a row and win 7-5 in the 3rd while this year she won the last 5 games of the match, running away with it after 1-all in the 3rd set. This happened despite the fact that she was up a set and 4-1 (double break!) and had somehow managed to blow a huge lead and actually lose the second set by having her serve broken twice in succession. When Serena lost the 2nd set tiebreaker I was convinced that she would not be able to win the match if Azarenka was able to keep the match close like she had in the first two sets. However, it turned out that Azarenka was unable to maintain her high level of play and this helped Serena be disrupted out of her low level of play, which ultimately resulted in her winning her 17th major title.

Now that the major tennis tournaments of the year are completed the only important question is who will be the year-end #1 players on the tour and in both cases it is clear that that will be Nadal and Serena as well. However, the rest of the year is also an opportunity for other players to make their moves up the rankings to set themselves up for increased success in 2014 and beyond.

2013 US OPEN: Serena Defeats Vika To Win 17th Major Title

As I predicted earlier today, World #1 Serena Williams outlasted World #2 Victoria Azarenka to win her 17th major title and 5th U.S. Open women's singles championship. The final score was 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 and at 2 hours and 45 minutes is the longest women's final since 1980, when duration records started being kept.

The win puts her major title total at seventeen, just one behind fellow all-time great American players Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and resulted in one-day payday of $3.6 million, $2.6 million for winning the US Open women's singles championship itself and an extra $1 million bonus for winning the US Open Series. That is the single largest payday in women's tennis history and is larger than the career earnings of every single active American male player.

In addition, Serena now has 67 wins and 4 losses (2 to her final opponent  Azarenka) on the year, including 9 WTA tour titles to add to her career haul of 55. The win also cements her World #1 ranking and assures she will end the year as #1, having won two majors in a calendar year for the 6th time and defending a major title for only the 4th time.

2013 US OPEN: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the 2013 US Open. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs. Na Li (CHN) [5]. This should be the better of the two semifinal matches since the Chinese champion possesses enough power to not be blown off the court against the defending champion who has been doing exactly that through her first 5 rounds including a frankly embarrassing 6-0 6-0 win in the quarterfinals against Carla Suarez Navarro, who is a good player. Williams has dropped an astonishing 13 games over 5 rounds to reach this major semifinal and on only 3 occasions has she lost in this round, winning on 20 other occasions. Serena very rarely loses semifinals in majors. However, in 2009 she did lose in the U.S. Open semifinal to Kim Clijsters when she was defaulted in a bizarre incident sparked by a questionable (and unfortunately unappealable) foot fault call. The two have met 9 times before and Serena has only lost once, including two close straight sets wins this year on hard courts in Cincinnati and Miami. Li Na is currently being coached by Carlos Rodriguez, who was the longtime coach of Serena's nemesis Justine Henin. However, although has the physical prowess to do better than she has in the past, she has yet to demonstrate that she has the mental fortitude to do so. In fact, this match could either be  a blowout (by Serena) or a taut, see-saw affair. Regardless, I would be very surprised if Serena did not figure out a way to win this match. Mad Professah's Pick: Serena.

Flavia Pennetta (ITA)  vs. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [2].  This is Pennetta's first major semifinal of her rather long career while Azarenka is playing in her seventh. Interestingly, the two have a very close 1-1 head-to-head record, with Pennetta having won their last meeting, which was on hard courts, in 2011. However, Azarenka after having won the last two Australian Open titles is not the same player that she was. She has not actually been playing her best tennis in New York, but has managed to not panic despite losing the first set against Alize Cornet and Ana Ivanovic, confident that her game is steady enough to pull out the win in the end. There is basically nothing that the Italian does on the court that is better than what the Belarussian does on the court. The result will be that we will get a blockbuster final on Sunday, a reprise of last year's match up between the Top 2 players in the world. Mad Professah's pick: Azarenka.

2013 US OPEN: (Women's Draw Analyzed) Azarenka-Serena Final Likely

Serena Williams is the World #1, the #1 seed and the defending champion as the 2013 US Open approaches. The last time Serena defended a major title was in 2010, when she did it at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Neither time was she the #1 player in the world. The last (first, and only) time she defended a title while being World #1 was in 2003 when she defended her 2002 Wimbledon title (beating sister Venus in both final matches).

So, although she is the prohibitive favorite to win in New York on Sunday September 8th, there is a fairly good chance that she won't. In terms of hard court records this year, 2013 Australian Open champion and #2 seed Victoria Azarenka has the better win-loss percentage, with 25-1, while Serena is at 29-3 (with two of those losses coming to Vika, in tough 3-setters in the finals of Doha and Cincinnati and the third loss coming to Sloane Stephens in the Australian Open quarterfinals). The only player to beat the Belarussian on  a hard court this year is 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur, who did it in Carlsbad.

Vika and Serena and a reprise of last year's final is the generally expected result. However, if form holds, the draw indicates that the quarterfinal match-ups would be: Williams versus Angelique Kerber, Agnieska Radwanska versus Li Na, Caroline Wozniacki versus Sara Errani and Petra Kvitova versus Azarenka. However, Williams starts off her title defense playing a fellow grand slam champion in Francesca Schiavone and could also face Magdalena Rybarikova in the 3rd round and Stephens in the 4th. If she gets through those contests I think she will most definitely make it to the final for the 3rd consecutive year.

Azarenka, on the other hand, has a much easier draw and really only has to worry about either Kvitova or Stosur in her quarter and  in the unlikely event that Wozniacki or Errani make it that far, her semifinal should be relatively easy. The only other potential big hitter that could have caused her trouble is Maria Sharapova, who withdrew with a shoulder injury. That section of the draw will almost certainly have a surprise semifinalist, who should end up being dismissed by Azarenka.

First round matches to watch: Heather Watson versus red-hot Simona Halep, Madison Keys versus Jelena Jankovic, Monica Puig versus Alisa Kleybanova, Sabine Lisicki versus Vera Dushevina, and Kirsten Flipkens versus 7-time major champion Venus Williams.

Tennis Tuesday: Rafael Nadal Favorite For 2013 US Open!?

Rafael Nadal won the 2013 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday by defeating John Isner 7-6(8) 7-6(3), extending his hard court winning streak to 15-0 and establishing his status as the favorite to win the 2013 US Open which starts next Monday. Nadal has now won an astonishing five ATP Masters series tournaments this year (Indian Wells, Rome, Madrid, Montreal and Cincinnati.)

Nadal defeated Roger Federer in one of the better hard court tussles in the 31st match in their rivalry on Friday evening 5-7 6-4 6-3. In his run on hard courts this year he has beaten World #1 Novak Djokovic, Federer (twice!), Juan Martin del Potro (in the Indian Wells final) and Tomas Berdych (twice: Indian Wells semifinal and Cincinnati semifinal) but surprisingly, he has not had to face 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray. Murray is the winner of the one ATP Masters Series 1000 that Nadal did not play (and therefor did not win) and has to be considered the second favorite to win the last major tournament of the year.

Murray and Nadal have not played each other since 2011 so it will be very interesting to see this year's draw and where they could potentially meet. With his amazing 50-3 record for the year Nadal has now risen to World #2 and will almost certainly become the year end #1 and would grab the top spot  from Djokovic if he does significantly better in the US Open than last year's finalist. With Murray seeded at #3 the two could only either meet in the semifinal or final. Nadal has beaten Murray in the semifinals of majors four times (including three times in 2011!) but the one time Murray won was in the semifinals of the US Open (way back in 2008) and although Nadal leads their overall head-to-head 13-5, all five of Murray's wins over Nadal have come on hard courts.

There is no question that Nadal is the most successful hard court player of the year so far. He has won the US Open series and is eligible for a $1 million bonus prize if he wins the 2013 US Open. The only player who has done that since the US Open series has been in existence is Federer (in 2007). Additionally, Nadal has achieved the rare double ATP Canadian Masters-ATP Cincinnati Masters. The last person who did that (Andy Roddick in 2003) went on to win the Open, and every one who has done so has reached the final of the US hard court major (Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter), so history is also on Nadal's side as the favorite to win his 2nd US Open title this year.

2013 CINCY: Azarenka Wins Title As Serena Falters At End

To the surprise of many, including yours truly, Victoria Azarenka was able to outlast Serena Williams in the deciding portions of the the third set and win the 2013 Western & Southern Open 2-6 6-2 7-6(6). For only the third time in fifteen meetings, Vika was able to defeat Serena, ending a 14-match winning streak. Serena dropped to 50-4 for the season with 8 titles, while Azarenka won her 3rd. However, she has now beaten Serena in 2 title matches in 2013 and is 3-all in career finals against her.

The match was  a seesaw affair with Serena running away with the first set in 26 minutes and then making over 2 dozen errors in the second set to lose it by an identical score. In the third set Azarenka broke first and held to go up 4-2 and led 30-0 on her own serve when Serena turned things around and won 3 consecutive games to serve for the match at 5-4. Almost everyone expected the 16-time major champion to close out the match at that point but she got broken relatively easily (failing to make crucial first serves) and the deciding tiebreak was the result. In the tiebreak Azarenka was ahead 2-0 and 4-2 but then Serena was up to 5-4 on her own serve. In a significant exchange Azarenka hit a running forehand down the line and was pulled way off court so that all Serena had to do was bunt the ball on the backhand side into the court to go up 6-4 and she hit it four feet long. She double faulted at 5-all to give Azarenka championship point and then hit a service return winner to save championship point but after a good first serve Azarenka had a second championship point, which she won when an errant Serena backhand hit the top of the tape.

It will be interesting to see if they both get to the finals of the US Open final in 3 weeks what will happen. It is clear that Azarenka is not intimidated by Serena and her recent results indicate that she shouldn't be!