US 6- Cutting a Path to Next Saturday

There'll be a Tina Fey look-alike with a chance to be Vice President of the United States in the fall, but there are actually sixteen women legitimately qualified to become U.S. Open champion one week from tonight.

*THE SAFINA SECTION*
...even though Ana Ivanovic was in this part of the draw at the start of the tournament, Dinara Safina has always been the favorite to emerge from it and reach the SF. So far, so good. Tonight against Timea Bacinszky, Safina proved she's either on the verge of something great or has managed to learn to do a pretty good impersonation of a player who is. The way she slowly battled her way back from losing the 1st set, then nearly squandering the 2nd, as well, to scrape and claw her way to a three-set win was exactly how a multiple slam winner would look when she manages to find a way to win even though she's not playing her best tennis. Thing is, Safina has looked that way a few times this tournament (of course, she survived match points in two matches in Paris, too, but still reached the final). She'll probably win this section with relative ease, but she'll have to come up with something more if she faces a Williams in the semis. But Amelie Mauresmo, who next faces Flavia Pennetta, shouldn't be overlooked. She's gotten this far very quietly, but that she's still here says something good about her form that we haven't been able to say for most of the last year or more. Anna-Lena Groenefeld is an intriguing possibility that I wish would be able to make her way even deeper into this event, but it just seems so unlikely. PICK: SAFINA

*THE WILLIAMS SECTION*
...Venus and Serena have been so dominant thus far in this tournament it's like it's 2002 all over again. Today, they wiped out their opponents by identical 6-2/6-1 scores. Pity poor Severine Bremond, Serena's next opponent. As for '07 Sharapova Slayer Agnieszka Radwanska, who'll get Venus, it's probably not a good thing that Venus actually remembers that A-Rad defeated her in Luxembourg in their only career meeting in '06. In the end, this section will come down to which sister wants this title the most when they meet in the QF... and I still can't get past the feeling I had after Wimbledon that Serena had that air of determination that said she was going to get a slam this year even if she had to cut somebody to do it. PICK: S.WILLIAMS

*THE DEMENTIEVA SECTION*
...Li Na might pose a threat to Dementieva emerging from the 4th Round, but it'd be hard to see either Patty Schnyder or Katarina Srebotnik keeping her from the SF if they meet in the QF. Srebotnik hasn't been able to put together multiple upsets in a slam, and Schnyder has done well to make it this far in a slam near the end of a lackluster season. PICK: DEMENTIEVA

*THE JANKOVIC SECTION*
...hmmm, Sybille Bammer? No. Marion Bartoli? Maybe. Caroline Wozniacki? Possibly, but she's close to unchartered territory in her slam career at this Open. Bartoli is the only player in this section to have ever reached a slam final, but Jelena Jankovic is the only one who's been continually finding a way to win matches in ways that want you to see her have as many days of life as possible at this tournament. Yeah, Queen Chaos has allowed her matches to become "novel length" (not "War and Peace," mind you, but the quick-read, "The Da Vinci Code" style) rather than the "short stories" they could have been, but a case could be made that she's playing her way into match shape along the way after not getting as much preparation as she'd have wished since Wimbledon. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking? Who knows, but it'll be fun finding out. PICK: WOZNIACKI... though I'll only believe it when I see it.

You know, three of my four "Bizarro Semifinals" picks -- Mauresmo, A-Rad and Li -- are actually still alive... but probably not for much longer.



=DAY 6 NOTES=
Anna-Lena Groenefeld, the "Last Qualifier Standing" and "Comeback Player" for this Open, nearly threw away a 6-4/5-0 advantage (I don't even want to think about what it would have done to her psyche had she lost) against #17-seed Alize Cornet, but ultimately prevailed 6-4/7-5. It's her best slam result since reaching the QF in Paris in 2006, before all the off-court nonsense began with her ex-coach. She'll next face Dinara Safina. Obviously, the Russian is the heavy favorite... but she hasn't yet faced anyone with the serving potential of Girl Friday in this tournament. Nothing wild will probably happen, but it'll be worth keeping an eye on.

...alas, poor Nadia, a Petrovian run deep into this tournament was not meant to be, thanks to Flavia Pennetta.

...ditto for James Blake. But what else is new?

...as if often the case after a lower-ranked player pulls off a big upset, #188 Julie Coin couldn't follow up her win over AnaIvo with one over fellow Pastry Amelie Mauresmo. But at least she didn't fail to show up, losing "well" 6-4/6-4.

...in the Men's 3rd Round, 18-year old Kei Nishikori upset #4-seed David Ferrer (who knocked off Rafa Nadal and reached the SF a year ago) in five sets, becoming the youngest man to reach the Open 4th Round since Marat Safin in 1998 and the first Japanese man to ever make the Round of 16 in this tournament. He'll next face #17 Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated #16 Gilles Simon to run his winning streak to twenty-two matches.

...and, finally, the Open schedulers have finally thrown Novak Djokovic a bone (it only took a whole week), giving him the clean-up position on Night Seven with his "please make sure the Serbs and Croats in the stands are on opposite sides of the stadium" match against Marin Cilic following Dementieva/Li, the Beijing Gold Medal Match that almost happened, but didn't.



*LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING - 2008*
AO: Marta Domachowska & Hsieh Su-Wei (4th Rd.)
RG: Carla Suarez-Navarro (QF)
WI: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (3rd Rd.)
US: ANNA-LENA GROENEFELD (TO 4TH RD.)

*SLAM "COMEBACK PLAYERS"*
=2007=
AO: Serena Williams, USA
RG: Patty Schnyder, SUI
WI: Venus Williams, USA
US: Vera Zvonareva, RUS
=2008=
AO: Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN
RG: Elena Dementieva, RUS
WI: Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
US: ANNA-LENA GROENEFELD, GER

*WOMEN'S FINAL 16*
[By Nation]
3...France (Bartoli-Bremond-Mauresmo)
2...Russia (Dementieva-Safina)
2...USA (Williams-Williams)
1...Austria (Bammer)
1...China (Li)
1...Denmark (Wozniacki)
1...Germany (Groenefeld)
1...Italy (Pennetta)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
1...Serbia (Jankovic)
1...Slovenia (Srebotnik)
1...Switzerland (Schnyder)
[By Age]
29...Patty Schnyder
29...Amelie Mauresmo
29...Severine Bremond
28...Sybille Bammer
28...Venus Williams
27...Katarina Srebotink
26...Serena Williams
26...Elena Dementieva
26...Flavia Pennetta
26...Li Na
23...Marion Bartoli
23...Jelena Jankovic
23...Anna-Lena Groenefeld
22...Dinara Safina
19...Agnieszka Radwanska
18...Caroline Wozniacki
[By Rank]
#2 - Jelena Jankovic
#3 - Serena Williams
#6 - Elena Dementieva
#7 - Dinara Safina
#8 - Venus Williams
#11 - Agnieszka Radwanska
#13 - Marion Bartoli
#15 - Patty Schnyder
#18 - Caroline Wozniacki
#19 - Flavia Pennetta
#28 - Katarina Srebotnik
#29 - Amelie Mauresmo
#30 - Sybille Bammer
#36 - Li Na
#121 - Severine Bremond
#141 - Anna-Lena Groenefeld



*WOMEN'S ROUND OF 16*
#32 Mauresmo/FRA v.s #16 Pennetta/ITA
(Q) Groenefeld/GER vs. #6 Safina/RUS
#4 S.Williams/USA vs. (WC) Bremond/FRA
#9 A. Radwanska/POL vs. #7 V.Williams/USA
#5 Dementieva/RUS vs. Li/CHN
#15 Schnyder/SUI vs. #28 Srebotnik/SLO
#29 Bammer/AUT vs. #12 Bartoli/FRA
#21 Wozniacki/DEN vs. #2 Jankovic/SRB

*MEN'S ROUND OF 16*
[Top Half]
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. Querrey/USA
Fish/USA vs. #32 Monfils/FRA
Nishikori/JPN vs. #17 del Potro/ARG
#10 Wawrinka/SUI vs. #6 Murray/GBR




*WOMEN'S 4th ROUND*
Mauresmo def. Pennetta in 3
Safina def. Groenefeld in 3 (she needs to save a MP sometime, too)
S.Williams def. Bremond in 2 (1 and love?)
V.Williams def. A.Radwanska in 2
Dementieva def. Li in 2
Schnyder def. Srebotnik in 2
Bartoli def. Bammer in 2
Wozniacki def. Jankovic in 3... no wait, make that Jankovic def. Wozniacki in 2... no wait, make it... hmmm, how about I pick Wozniacki to be safe, but root for Jankovic?




TOP QUALIFIERS: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #15 Olaru/ROU def. #22 Larcher de Brito/POR 6-2/6-3
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd. - #2 Jankovic/SRB def. Arvidsson/SWE 6-3/6-7/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #24 Shahar Peer/ISR (1st Rd.-Li Na)
UPSET QUEENS: Chinese
REVELATION LADIES: Slovaks
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Anna-Lena Groenefeld/GER (xx)
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Anna-Lena Groenefeld/GER
CRASH & BURN: #1 Ana Ivanovic/SRB (lost 2nd Rd to #188 Coin)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST AMERICAN STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 6. More tomorrow.



TUESDAY: Backspin Time Capsule: 1991 U.S. Open