8 Americans in the 2nd Round; US Open Day 3 Recap

Not feeling well last night and with rain delays, I was only able to cover 2 matches. And today might be similar as I am attending the Fall Out Boy concert at the Maryland State Fair.

Anyways, a match I wasn't able to cover between American James Blake and Croatian Ivo Karlovic went the distance, as Karlovic won the 5th set 7-6 (2). This was Blake's last singles match on the ATP World Tour since this is his last US Open. Blake will be teaming up with fellow American Jack Sock tonight in the first round of the Men's Doubles, in hopes Blake will not be officially retired after that match is said and done. Good luck tonight James.

My featured match of yesterday was Indian Somdev Devvarman and Lukas Lacko from Slovakia. Going into the match, my belief was it could go either way. I happen to be a fan of Somdev Devvarman, but his recent struggles at the tour level had me picking Lacko to win this match. Throughout the 5-set battle, both players were playing very steady from the baseline. Throughout the whole match though, Lacko seemed very uncomfortable playing steady tennis (instead of attacking). After being down 2 sets to 1 and a lengthy rain delay, Lacko starting building momentum, as he looked very comfortable taking the 4th set 6-4. But after that, Lacko looked back to being uncomfortable, tightening up when he tried to go for his shots instead of being defensive. After Devvarman got the break he needed in the 5th set, he went onto win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The qualifier Devvarman will play 20th seed Andreas Seppi from Italy in the 2nd round.

I also briefly watched Tim Smyczek (USA) play James Duckworth (AUS). The young Aussie seemed to be in control after taking the first set 6-3. From there, the match was all Tim Smyczek. Smyczek was playing the steady tennis he needed and Duckworth started spraying errors all over the place. It was obvious the frustration was building, and Duckworth couldn't handle it from there, as wildcard Tim Smyczek went onto win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. He will play Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the second round.

Although I didn't see it, a tip of the hat goes to the American wildcard Rajeev Ram for downing the Italian 16 seed Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. He will play Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the second round.

I went 10-8 Wednesday and am now 39-24 with my picks. Here are my picks for Thursday:
Federer vs. Berlocq
Dutra Silva vs. Nadal
Ferrer vs. Bautista Agut
Isner vs. Monfils
Mannarino vs. Querrey
Andujar vs. Raonic
Tomic vs. Evans
Lopez vs. Klahn
Gasquet vs. Robert
Roger-Vasselin vs. Kohlschreiber
Sock vs. Gonzalez
Robredo vs. Devancic
Sela vs. Tipsarevic
Haider-Mauer vs. Kukushkin
Dodig vs. Davydenko
Rufin vs. Tursonov

Have a Great Day,
Fry That Chicken