TENNIS US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:THE LAND of the giants, or at least that corner of it occupied by the 6ft 6in Marin Cilic, has been a welcoming place for Andy Murray, who will continue his quest to win the 2009 US Open today against the number 16 seed, a player against whom he has an unblemished record.
“It is really just the serve you have got to get used to,” said the Scot yesterday when asked to detail the challenge presented by the Croat, one of the tallest players on the circuit.
“They can hit spots on the court that other players can’t because of their height and reach – where they are hitting it from, they’ve got more angles they can play with.”
Put like that, it is hard to believe that a player such as Cilic could ever lose a service game, never mind a match.
Yet Murray has beaten him on the three occasions they have met, with the most recent victory coming at Roland Garros earlier in the summer.
That three-set win might encourage a sense of complacency in some, although Murray, whose next boastful statement in public may well be his first, was almost resentful at the notion that the most troubling aspect of today’s contest may involve turning up at the appointed hour.
“If you don’t concentrate, the top guys lose. [Andy] Roddick lost a match [to John Isner] that no one probably would have expected.
“It happens sometimes in slams so you need to make sure you’re switched on right from the start and there’s no chance I’m going to look past someone like Cilic. It would be unbelievably stupid to do that.”
As if to prove a point, Murray was planning to spend part of his practice session yesterday returning balls hit by his coach Miles Maclagan from a spot halfway between the baseline and the service line.
“It makes it more realistic,” he said, which could be interpreted as smart piece of forward thinking or a cheeky dig at Maclagan’s normal serve. Either way, Murray will go into today’s match well prepared.
He will also face Cilic amid a growing sense around Flushing Meadows that he is the player to beat this week, with past champions queuing up in the temporary television studios dotted around the tennis complex to give him their endorsement.
No wonder. The cocky Taylor Dent arrived in a Porsche for his third-round match against Murray and was taken away in a wheelbarrow, as the old saying goes.
“I felt like I was serving underhand,” said the man who serves at 145mph. Likewise, Cilic spoke in almost reverential terms when asked about playing the number two seed.
“He always comes up with some unbelievable shots,” he said, reflecting on the match they played at the French Open.
“He broke me with incredible passing shots out of nowhere so you always have to pay attention.
“You can’t let any points get away from you because in the end those small points make the big picture. He [Murray] has more self-belief as a player in the past year. Even when he is not playing well, he believes in himself – and that is really helpful in tennis, that you don’t have any doubts about yourself.”
Yesterday Roland Garros runner-up Robin Soderling became the first man to reach the quarter-finals when his eighth-seeded opponent Nikolay Davydenko retired with a leg injury.
Russian Davydenko hobbled around the court with his left leg heavily strapped but after losing the third set, he shook his head and informed the umpire he could not continue. The retirement would also have been a relief for Soderling, who had suffered a dizzy spell during the 7-5 3-6 6-2 win.
The Swedish 12th seed’s victory also set the stage for a rematch with Roger Federer, the only man to have beaten Soderling in the last two grand slam events. Last night Federer moved closer to a sixth successive USOpen crown after stifling Spanish 14th seed Tommy Robredo 7-5 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
Kateryna Bondarenko reached her first grand slam singles quarter-final, annihilating Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-0 6-0 in the women’s singles fourth round.
Late arrivals on Arthur Ashe would have missed the Ukrainian’s 47-minute breeze against an error-strewn opponent who knocked out her seeded older sister Alona in round two.
“I just got some messages to do the revenge for my sister, so I start to think about it when I read the messages,” Bondarenko said. “I’m surprised that it’s 6-0 6-0, and I’m really happy that it went that way.”
American teenager Melanie Oudins run gathered momentum when she beat Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova 1-6 7-6 6-3 to also reach the quarter-finals.
MENS SINGLES:Fourth round: (12) Robin Soderling (Swe) bt (8) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 7-5 3-6 6-2 (Davydenko retired); (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (14) Tommy Robredo (Spa) 7-5 6-2 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES:Fourth round: Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Gisela Dulko (Arg) 6-0 6-0; Melanie Oudin (US) bt 13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 1-6 7-6 (2) 6-3; Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Petra Kvitova (Cze) 4-6 6-4 7-5.
