Site: USTA Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, NY
Dates: Monday., August 30 – Sunday, September 12
Qualifying Matches: Begin Tuesday, Aug. 24
Main Draw: Thursday, August 26. Main Draw begins Monday, August 30
US Open official website: http://www.usopen.org/

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Tickets:
They can be purchased in person at any Ticketmaster outlet location or by visiting the Box Office located at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

They can also be purchased online via Stubhub:

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2008: Julie Coin def Ana Ivanovic
After surviving a scare in the first round against Vera Dushevina, number one seed Ana Ivanovic crashed in second round. She lost to french qualifier Julie Coin, ranked 188 and making her Grand Slam debut.
Ivanovic, who had been bothered by a thumb injury, cited fatigue and lack of preparation to explain the so-called “biggest upset in US Open history”.
Julie Coin’s magical run ended against former number one Amelie Mauresmo in the third round.
Until Coin’s win, the top seed at the US Open had not lost earlier than the third round when Billie Jean King was ousted in the 1973 tournament.

2005: Ekaterina Bychkova def Svetlana Kuznetsova
Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to number 97 Elena Bychkova in the first round, becoming the first female defending champion to lose in the first round.

I tried my best, it wasn’t my day. What do I do? Kill myself? No I don’t. Just take positive things out of this and maybe I’ll try to learn

Following the US Open, Kuznetsova played just 4 matches during the remainding of the year, winning 2 of them.
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Pete Sampras defeats Andre Agassi 6-4 6-3 6-2

First all american US Open final since 1979 between two young talents. First Grand Slam final for Sampras, second final for Agassi (beaten by unheralded veteran Gomez in Roland Garros)
In fact, Agassi shouldn’t have played this match: he should have been disqualified during his 2nd round match against Petr Korda for repeated obscenities and spitting at the umpire ( yep, most of you probably don’t remember that Agassi).
In semifinal, Agassi defeated defending champion Boris Becker in 4 sets to win a place in final.

As for Pete Sampras, he ended Ivan Lendl’s run of eight consecutive US Open finals. Ironically, Lendl was a kind of mentor for the young Sampras: the year before, he had invited Sampras to his Connecticut home to be a workout and hitting partner. In semies, the 19 yr old Californian overpowered 4 time champion John McEnroe.

Andre “the wig” Agassi was no match for Pistol Pete: Sampras completely dominated from first point on and Agassi looked like a lost puppy.

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- Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Andy Murray and Sam Querrey advance to round 2.
Viktoria Azarenka collapsed during her second round match against Gisela Dulko and was forced to retire.

- Andy Roddick’s best days seem definitely over: he was beaten by Janko Tipsarevic in 4 sets in the second round. Tipsarevic also eliminated Roddick in the second round of Wimbledon in 2008, handing the American his earliest defeat ever at the All England Club. Roddick’s chances to win another Grand Slam one day? Close to zero.

- Another disappointing performance for Melanie Oudin, who was a surprising quarterfinalist last year. She lost to Alona Bondarenko in the second round. Too much pressure for the young american?

- Upset of the day: Michael Llodra defeats Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-4, 6-4

- Seeds upsets: Azarenka (10), Bartoli (13), Jie Zheng (21), Pironkova (32), Berdych (7), Ljubicic (15)

- US player of the day: Ryan Harrison
18 years old Harrison made his US Open debut in style, as he beat veteran Ljubicic in 4 sets. He could be the next big thing in American men’s tennis.

- Pic of the day: Ana Ivanovic

Gabriela Sabatini defeats Steffi Graf 6-2 7-6(4)

Second Grand Slam final for Gaby Sabatini, who was beaten by Graf at the same stage in 1988. That year, Graf completed her famous “Golden Slam” defeating Sabatini in final at Flushing Meadows and at the Olympics.

But this time, the glamorous Argentine was ready to capture her first Slam. Sabatini had started to work with her new coach Carlos Kirmayr during the summer, she had improved her footwork, refocused on her game and efforts payed off.
Gaby raced to a 4-0 lead and took the first set easily 6-2. Steffi was twice one point away from taking the second set, but Sabatini kept fighting and attacking the net to claim her one and only major.

1990 was a tough year for Steffi: she claimed her third straight Oz Open title but lost to Monica Seles in the French Open final and more surprisingly to Zina Garrison in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Her controversial father, Peter Graf also made the headlines: german tabloïds carried allegations about his a relationship with a Playboy model.

Gaby faced Steffi in 91 Wimbledon final, she served twice for the match but Graf prevailed 6-4 3-6 8-6 after a dramatic third set.
Sabatini never completly fullfilled the expectations, and retired from WTA tour in 1996 at only 26.

More:
- Sabatini and Graf teamed up to win the Wimbledon doubles title in 1988
- Graf and Sabatini met 40 times in singles: 29-11 for Steffi.

Gaby’s run to the title:

Third and last part of our “Best of Marat Safin”: the best of Marat’s pics!

Just for the eyes pleasure. Enjoy!

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- Top seeds Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki win in straight sets and advance to the second round where they’ll meet (respectively) Denis Istomin and Kai-Chen Chang.
Things were much more complicated for Djokovic and Verdasco who endured 5 sets against Troicki and Fognini.
Number 4 seed Jelena Jankovic survive scare to beat number 96-ranked Romanian Simon Halep 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Like Jankovic, 2006 champion Maria Sharapova needed 3 sets to defeat Australian Jarmila Groth.

- Upset of the day: Arnaud Clément defeats Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2- 6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5
Baghadtis, who beat Nadal in Cincinnati was stunned by french veteran Clément in 5 sets. Both players are former Australian Open runner-ups.

- Seeds upsets: Na Li (8), Petrova (16), Safarova (26), Baghdatis (16), Gulbis (24), Monaco (30)

- US player of the day: James Blake
Blake, quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows in 2005 and 2006, is now ranked 108 and received a wild card to enter the tournament. He showed some of his past brilliance to secure a much needed victory against Kristof Vliegen.

- Stat of the day: 25.2 – Number in millions of dollars of the potential 2010 US Open payout, including Olympus US Open Series bonuses.

- Pic of the day: Rafael Nadal

He faced (and saved) only one break point in his first round match against Gabashvili. Nadal extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 15 matches, after his titles at the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July.

- Tough first round for French Open runner-up Sam Stosur who needs three sets to beat Elena Vesnina. No problem for Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, Francesca Schiavone and Elena Dementieva.

- Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick cruise through second round in straight sets.
Robin Soderling survives five set scare: the 5th seed overcame 215th ranked Andreas Haider-Maurer after an intense battle 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 5-7, 6-4. 17th seed Gael Monfils struggles and needs 5 sets to beat 30-year-old Floridian Robert Kendrick.

- Upset of the day: Ivan Dodig defeats Fernando Gonzalez 6-7, 6-1, 1-0 retired
Knee injury forced Gonzalez out in the first round of the US Open. It was only his second match since the French Open.

- US player of the day: Andy Roddick
2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick turned 28 and advanced to the second round where he’ll meet Janko Tipsarevic.

- Pic of the day: Dinara Safina
Last year, she was the number one seed and lost to Petra Kvitova in the third round. This year, ranked n°50, she was ousted by Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-4. Sad exit for Dinara, 10 years after his brother’s fantastic US Open victory.