Cyclone Igor

I would love to gloat about how Novak Djokovic got taken to five by Tommy Robredo, who is definitely not one of the king of hard courts, and barely scraped out of it alive, but then, in the interests of my pretended fairness, I would have to say the same thing about Federer, and I don't want to. So I'll say this instead: both Federer and Djokovic got taken to five sets by lower-ranked but dangerous opponents, and both played well to dig themselves out of trouble and asserted themselves when it counted.

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Well, except for Djokovic.

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Let's start with the Federer match. He didn't play his best tennis EVER, but he didn't suck - it wasn't one of those times when the wheels just fall off one of the aspects of his game or anything. Everything was working, firing mostly. Andreev just played really, really well. He has a very high risk game - he rips that ball from the baseline like nobody's business and his serve has major pop on it. He's one of the closest things tennis has to a force of nature - he's Cyclone Igor. If it works, it's deadly. If it doesn't, it's painful to watch. He certainly came out hard, and credit to Federer for hanging with him, because ain't just anyone can do that. Even though Federer got the break back, Andreev really did deserve that first set, so perhaps it was sort of justice that he won it. But good on Roger for hanging tough and doing what he does best. I breathed a sigh of relief when he got that breaker and brought it to one set all.

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The third set had some vintage Fed moments, as did the fifth - the fourth was a bit of an anomaly. However, I don't think that's the fourth set Roger would have played if he were down two sets to one instead of being up. Remember the Tipsarevic match? Federer was down, and then stamped his authority all over the fourth. He eased his foot off the accelerator a bit and paid the price. Against most opponents he could probably afford to do it, but Andreev proved his quality by not being one of those guys.

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The fifth was the real thriller, with all those deuces, but from the get go it had Federer stamped all over it. That game where he got the break to go up 2-0 after was really a microcosm of the match. Andreev was close to him, really, really close, but Roger came through when it counted. Major credit as well for saving all the break points that he did - the story of a match is often told in the break point conversion rate, and Roger's percentage was not brilliant, but it was better than Igor's.

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If I hadn't been so nervous, I think I would have thoroughly enjoyed that match. I was, am and always will be going for Federer, but I like Andreev, and I was glad he could make a good account of himself. Has he ever won a tournament title? If not, he should have. He had a couple of near misses earlier - I think he lost one final to del Potro - but I don't know if he's ever actually won a title. I could go and find out, but that would just be too easy.

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Over to Djokovic, and if it was Federer looking like he is at the moment, I'd be worried. Robredo is a good player and all - he's ranked higher than Andreev is - but hard courts are not his thing, and really, he shouldn't be able to press Djokovic this much. Robredo is clearly in excellent form - Marat Safin and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are not cakewalk matches - but Djokovic is obviously not. He managed to pull the win out of somewhere, but I would be seriously surprised to see him make it through the quarter final if he plays at this level. Matt Cronin said in his pre match analysis that Djokovic should be bouncing Robredo off the walls, and there was nothing like that happening. He's whinging about injuries and being sick, and all those things just spell two sets down and retiring to me.

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He'll meet Roddick in the next round, and disenchanted though I am with A-Rod, I think he'll beat the Djoker. He really surprised me today with his win over Gonzalez - I thought Gonzalez was going to demolish him, but instead it was the other way round. On the men's side, Roddick had by far the easiest win today. Djokovic/Roddick will be an intriguing match, and whoever wins it will provide an intriguing semifinal, which will probably be against Federer - fun and exciting as Gilles Muller's run has been (good on the boy from Luxembourg for taking out Kolya the Whinger!) I don't think it can withstand the Mighty Fed... and besides, his legs have to give out sometime. He's played so many hours of tennis that I'm amazed he can still walk.

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Meanwhile, Jelena Jankovic is looking surprisingly good. I keep waiting for her to injure herself and crash and burn, but it hasn't happened yet, and her win over Sybille Bammer today was very convincing. That said, Sybille Bammer is hardly one of the top players on tour right now, but still, a quarter final is a quarter final, and you don't get there by being a schlep. Jankovic will meet Dementieva in the semi, who took out Schnyder, and that should be a very intriguing match. I'm not sure which way to call it. I'm pretty sure Jankovic is guaranteed to be #1 if she makes the final, and I want Dinara to get it, so I might be going for Dementieva... but Dementieva's serve REALLY ANNOYS ME.

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Today's Results

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US Open (Flushing Meadows)

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Igor Andreev, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 3-6 6-3

Novak Djokovic def. Tommy Robredo, 4-6 6-2 6-3 57 6-3

Andy Roddick def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-2 6-4 6-1

Gilles Muller def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-4 4-6 6-3 7-6 (12-10)

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Sybille Bammer, 6-1 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Patty Schnyder, 6-2 6-3