For the second year in a row the weather has wreaked havoc on the final weekend.

Maybe the USTA might want to think about the possibilities of joining the other slams in getting a retractable roof. 

Nadal was extremely fortunate to get his match in before the rain came today. They resumed play at 7-6, 6-6(2) and Rafa didn’t drop a game, winning the tiebreaker and dropping a bagel on Gonzo in the third.  Maybe the day and a half off did some good for Rafa’s ailing abdomen. 

We are now down to the final four, and the men will play on Sunday.  Very unusual that Fed and the Djoker haven’t played since Wednesday. That’s four days off which is very unusual for a Slam.

I just get the feeling that Fed will be able to handle the time delay better than the Djoker, so I’m going Fed in 4.  And Nadal-Del Po is a very interesting semi. I think a lot depends on Rafa’s injury. But Del Po has beaten Rafa both times this year on hard court, and the win in Canada was convincing. Everything says that Del Po is the favorite to win this match, but I always find it tough to go against Rafa, plus I may be a little biased because I’d love to see anther Fed- Nadal final, so I’m gonna go with Rafa in 4! 

If the rain ever stops today we first have the battle of the two 19-year-olds Waza and Wickmayer. Talk about a Cinderella story! Wickmayer had never been past the second round of a major. The 6-foot Belgian has a huge game, but she will be severely tested against the solid Waza.

I’ll go with the much more experienced 19-year-old Wozniacki in straight sets. 

And the Serena vs. Clijsters match, we kind of saw this coming when the draw came out, but similarly to the Djoker and Fed Kim hasn’t played since Tuesday. But Serena has been able to play two doubles matches in that time period, so she should be a lot more prepared.

It’s not Kimpossible for an upset, but I think Serena, who is by far the best big-match player in the women’s game, will win in 3 sets.  The good news is that the weather is supposed to be much better for Sunday and Monday, it would be really weird if couldn’t finish until Tuesday.

Huge props to the young Croat Marin Cilic! 

He really took it to Murray, who looked extremely flat and was only able to muster nine games. Has to be one of the more disappointing losses for Andy in his career, especially coming off such a strong summer hard court season with such big expectations on his shoulders. 

Del Po looked very sharp in his drubbing of Juan Carlos Ferrero and I think he will be able to take advantage of Murray’s misstep and reach the semis. 

Gonzo also came up with a big win over Jo WIlly, and for the last three sets I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone hit more massive forehands. 

Rafa also looks to be getting very close to pre-injury form. He was very fast, fit and physical against an out-of-gas Gael Monfils in the last couple sets. I think that Rafa benefits a lot from playing Gonzo (he has beaten him 5 times in a row)it would have been a much trickier assignment against Tsonga. 

 Fed has just been rolling through the draw and shouldn’t had too much difficulty in dispatching Soderling, a guy he is 11-0 against and has beaten in the last two Slams. 

 I also think that the Djoker, who really has been playing well all tournament, should get past Verdasco. So I think we are looking at a Fed-Djoker and Rafa-Del Po semifinals.  And can you imagine if Fed and Nadal do both reach the final they will have met on the last Sunday of all four slams —  a feat by two players that we may never see again. 

On the women’s side the anticipation is building up for the Oudin and Wozniacki quarters. Oudin has shown so much heart throughout the event. Incredibly all fourplayers that she has beaten have been Russian power players. But Wozniacki plays a counter-punching style that is more similar to Oudin’s, and I give Waza the edge in that matchup.

Serena is really looking good and astonishingly about a month ago she said she was focusing on peaking for the second week of the Open. I thought it was funny at the time but it turns out she knew exactly what she was talking about.  And lastly the dream run of Kim Clijsters goes on and I think she is the only woman left in the draw with a legitimate chance to beat Serena.  Can’t wait to see what happens in the upcoming matches, I think we’re in for some unbelievable tennis.

An absolutely amazing run for Melanie Oudin!!!

The 17 year old from Marietta, Georgia — she’s scrappy and feisty and kind of reminds me of a cross between Amanda Coetzer and Justine Henin. Melanie set the Open ablaze for her second straight upset, first against Elena Dementieva and today against Shaza 7-5 in the third.

I didn’t think that Oudin could tough out Shaza in todays match, especially after losing the first set, but for someone that is 17 it is incredible that she is 16-4 in 3 set matches this year.  And she now plays Nadia Petrova in the round of 16 and the way Melanie is playing right now all matches are winnable. And again, Shaza was done in by 21 double faults, it’s incredible that she is able to hang in there considering she gave away 5+ games of double faults alone.

There have been so many upsets in the ladies it has gotten contagious, I almost feel like at this point the underdogs should be the favorites on the ladies side.

Huge match today between Venus and Clijsters — we will really have a good idea of where Kim is at after this match — but I have a feeling that Kim is going to continue the upset trend and take out Venus in a tight 3 setter.

And I think Serena will send a message to the field today against Hantuchova. She is without question still the player to beat. But talk about someone flying under the radar, Kuzzi should take advantage of her section of the draw. She is a former champion here and she won the French this year — and is look ing in very good form.

The men’s side had been dominated by the top players until tonight, for the first time all of the top 16 reached the round of 32. How about 3 incredible American stories in the last 2 days?

 First Taylor Dent winning that epic 5 setter against Navarro. It’s a fantastic story of a guy who was out for 2 years because of injury and after the match he did something that I have never seen before — he grabbed the umpires microphone and thanked all the fans in attendance. It was a really nice touch and a great moment for the sport. Taylor should have his work cut out for him though as he has the rough assignment of Andy Murray in the next round.

Earlier,  the 26-year-old Jesse Witten, ranked 270, pushed Djokovic to the limit. A performance like that gives a lot of hope for all the journeyman out there. If Witten can keep up this high level of play week in and week out he will certainly not be on the future and challenger circuit for much longer.

And last but definitely not least, what a big time win for John Isner!  In the first big upset on the mens side, he showed tremendous guts and determination in his 7-6 in the 5th win against Roddick and I think this win just propelled his career to the next level. And for Andy, just another extremely tough loss to swallow. Hopefully he will be able to rebound from these string of heartbreakers and keep moving in the right direction. 

We also got one more big upset in the night sess ion as world number 72 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic took out Dinara Safina in an extremely tight match. Call it the Oudin Effect — these upsets are contagious!

Well the first round is in the books for the men. It always moves kind of slow in the first week here at the Open, but the top players all look in excellent form, and I’m expecting them to all move forward considering they are very well rested.

Most of the top players only played Montreal and Cincy, which gives them very fresh legs and that plays a huge role in making a deep run.  I was impressed with Rafa today — he looked a lot more offensive minded. He served bigger and played more aggressive, which should help to put a little less stress on his body.  He had no problem dispatching Dicky Gasquet, who hadn’t played in over four months and it really showed.  

Roger Federer is the only top player who has advanced to the third round, and he looks to be on cruise control. He now plays Rusty Hewitt, whom he absolutely owns. I’m sure Rusty wasn’t too pleased when he saw that third round draw. I also give Fed an A+ for his black gear with a touch of red — it looked extremely sharp.

I had a feeling that the quick courts would help the American men, and it definitely has with 10 advancing to the second round. And props to long shot 26-year-old Jesse Witten, who at No. 270 qualified and then dropped a beat down on Igor Andreev in the first round. He also has a very winnable second round against Maximo Gonzalez — these are the types of stories that make the Slams a lot more fun.

On the women’s side we have already had some big scares, Safina and Venus both struggled mightily to get through. This shows that there is a lot more depth in the women’s game now, definitely not as many easy matches to be had in the first week like in the past. 

Ivanovic also went down early for the second straight year here, and since obtaining that number one ranking she has really been heading in the wrong direction.

Kim Clijsters had an impressive win against Marion Bartoli, and she looks to be on a collision course with Venus in the round of 16.  Serena Williams has had a 20-9 record in WTA tour events with no titles, but when it comes to the Slams its a whole other story. She is 18-1 in a Grand Slam play with wins at the Aussie Open and Wimbledon. She is somehow able to find an extra gear when it comes Slam time and she looks to be continuing that pattern hear at the Open.

Fed and Serena are still the players to beat and my two runner-up favorites are Del Po and Clijsters, who I both expect to be in the mix for the title.