Quarterfinals:

Wozniacki-Petkovic

Pavlyuchenkova-Williams
With her 7-5 6-1 victory over Pavlyuchenkova, Serena moved two wins away from her 14th Grand Slam title.

Kerber-Pennetta
Big disappointment for Pennetta who could have reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time of her career.

Stosur-Zvonareva
No drama this time for Sam Stosur, who dispatches number 2 seed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. First semifinal at the US Open for the Australian, who’ll be the favorite against Kerber.

Djokovic-Tipsarevic
And another retirement.
Between rain delays, erratic schedule and retirements, this US Open has become a big joke. Djokovic will meet Federer for a rematch of this year’s Roland Garros semifinal.

Federer-Tsonga
Tsonga came back from 2 sets down to clinch a 5 sets victory over Federer at Wimbledon this year, but this time the Swiss Maestro dispatched Tsonga 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his 8th consecutive US Open semifinal.
Lendl did even better back in the days with 9 finals in a row.

Isner-Murray

Roddick-Nadal
Nadal trashed 2003 champion Roddick 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in less than 2 hours. 4th straight US Open semifinal for Nadal. Who said he couldn’t play on hard courts?

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Fourth round:

41 winners with 9 aces for Flavia Pennetta who qualifies for the quarterfinals after her 6-4 7-6 win over Shuai Peng. In the last 8, she will face the surprising German player, Angelique Kerber, ranked 92.
Another day another marathon match for Sam Stosur. She outlasted 25th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-7(15) 6-3 in two hours and 37 minutes. Stosur had five match points in an epic second set tiebreaker, the longest in women’s singles Grand Slam history, won by Kirilenko 17-15.

Easy win for Serena over Ana Ivanovic 6-3 6-4. She next plays Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

After two days of rain, play finally resumes on Thursday! Nadal defeats Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in straight sets 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-2. And Murray sails over Donald Young into quarterfinals.
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Third round:

Another big surprise with Sharapova’s defeat. The 2006 US Open champion was knocked out of the US Open on Friday in a shock third round loss to Flavia Pennetta. Semifinalist at Roland Garros, finalist at Wimbledon, Sharapova seemed ready to win her first Slam since the 2008 Australian Open. But she had once again problems with her serve, committing 12 double faults (and 60 unforced errors!).

And the most exciting match so far, the three set thriller between Nadia Petrova and Sam Stosur. The Australian, runner-up at Roland Garros a year ago, outlasted No. 24 seed Nadia Petrova 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5 in 3 hours and 16 minutes to win the longest US Open women’s match of the tie-break era.

Andy Murray came back from two sets to love, to clinch a 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, 6-4 victory over Dutchman Robin Haase, who needed regular treatment on a back injury.

Novak Djokovic cruised to fourth round with a straight sets victory over former top 5 Nikolay Davydenko.

On Sunday, Rafael Nadal downed David Nalbandian in straight sets to move into the fourth round. His next opponent: Gilles Muller.
No problem either for Andy Murray who dismantled Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
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Second round:

10 years ago, Venus Williams wrote tennis history by winning the first final contested by two sisters during the open era. On Wednesday, she pulled out of her second-round match due to Sjögren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease.

Seeds keep falling in the women’s draw as Marion Bartoli, Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova and Yanina Wickmayer were ousted at the second round of the 2011 US Open.
Bartoli and Cibulkova were outgunned by rising american Christina McHale and Irina Falconi. (Check out our US players preview here).

Big surprise in the men’s draw, seed Gael Monfils lost to former number one and semi-retired Juan Carlos Ferrero. At times, Ferrero looked like the Mosquito who reached the final at Flushing Meadows in 2003.
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First round:

The women’s draw is as unpredictable as ever, but one thing is sure, there will be a fourth champion in as many Grand Slam tournaments this year: Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova lost to Dulgheru, Roland Garros champion Li Na lost to (2011 Australian Open champion, Kim Clijsters withdrew from the US Open with a stomach muscle injury).
5th seed Kvitova committed 52 unforced errors and was bounced on day one by Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru. Li Na was sent home on day two by Romania’s Simona Halep in straight sets.

Maria Sharapova was almost upset by big British hope Heather Watson who lead by one set and a break.

Victor Troicki was the first seeded man to fall as he lost a five set thriller to Alejandro Falla. 2010 semifinalist Mikhail Youhzny was beaten in straight sets by headcase Ernests Gulbis. It was the first Grand Slam match victory in more than two years for Gulbis, who was once seen as a future star of the circuit.

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Find out what the adidas players will wear at Roland Garros this year:

Ana Ivanovic:

Fernando Verdasco:

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Really colorful adidas outfits for the Australian Open. I like Pennetta‘s and Ivanovic‘s but Henin‘s outfit is UGLY!

As expected (read our Fed Cup final preview here), Italy successfully defended its Fed Cup title on Sunday by beating USA 3-1.
The only surprise of the week end was Mary Joe Fernandez decision to choose Coco Vandeweghe over Melanie Oudin to play singles on Saturday. A pretty bad coaching decision as Vandeweghe looked like a fish out of the water and lost her 2 matches against Schiavone and Pennetta in straight sets.
It is Italy’s third Fed Cup trophy in five years. Congrats to Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani.

The women’s season is definitely over: Ana Ivanovic captured the last tournament of the year in Bali. And she’s finally back in the top 20.
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Italy and USA will meet in San Diego this week end for a rematch of last year’s Fed Cup final, won by Pennetta and co 4-0 in Reggio Calabria.
Even though USA lead their head-to-head 9 to 1, italian players are the big favorites in the absence of Serena and Venus Williams. All 4 members of the italian team (Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani) are better ranked than the best US player: Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Hard courts are obviously not Francesca’s and Flavia’s best surface, but they will be both boosted by their recent good results: Schiavone qualified for the first time for the WTA championships whereas Pennetta captured the doubles WTA Championships with partner Gisela Dulko last week.
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A: Andy Murray
After his semi at Wimbledon and his impressive win in Montreal, Andy Murray seemed ready to win his elusive maiden Grand Slam. Ousted by big server Marin Cilic in the fourth round, Murray has perhaps finally learned that to win a major one must act more than react.
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B: Bernard Tomic
Australia’s hottest tennis prospect won his second junior GS title, defeating Chase Buchanan in finals. At just 15 years and three months, Tomic became the youngest junior GS winner in history in Melbourne in 2008. He has now decided to shift his focus on his professional ranking.
Do you think he will emulate Andy Roddick, winner in juniors in 2000 and in seniors in 2003?
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C: Caroline Wozniacki

First major final for the 19yr old Dane, who had to face only one seed to reach the final: in the fourth round against reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Wozniacki rallied a break down in the third set to win 2–6, 7–6(5), 7–6(3). But she couldn’t put an end to Clijsters’ fairytale comeback.
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D: Djokovic Novak
In his semi against Federer, he never acted like he could win. He tried to revamp his image following his 08 US Open faux-pas but it’s perhaps time for him to revamp his game.
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E: Esther Vergeer
Forget Sampras, Federer and Lendl, Esther Vergeer is the most dominant player ever, and you probably never heard of her.
Unbeaten since January 2003, the 28 yr old wheelchair tennis player won her 8th US Open title, her 139th singles titles.
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F: Flavia Pennetta
The 27 yr old italian had a terrific summer with wins in Palermo on clay, in Los Angeles on hard court, and an entry in the top 10 ranking. Flavia lost only 6 games in her first three rounds at the US Open but saved six match points against Zvonareva to reach the quarter finals, where Serena defeated her in straight sets.
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G: Gonzalez Fernando

The hard hiting Chilean made it through to the quarter finals for the second time of his career, beating 7th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round. He then played two close sets to Rafael Nadal, before falling in 3 sets in an empty Arthur Ashe stadium.
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H: Henin Justine
“I do think that [Henin] is planning something” Clijsters said. “She’s always been very competitive as well, and the way she ended her career still seems strange to me. I do think that she will come back.”
She was right indeed. Two weeks after Clijsters’ triumph at Flushing, Henin announced her comeback.
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I: Isner John
Isner, the giant turned giant killer was the last American standing in the men’s singles draw at the U.S. Open. The Georgia University graduate stuned Roddick in the thid round in a five set thriller: 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5). He then bowed out to Spain’s Verdasco in four sets in the next round.
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J: Juan Martin Del Potro

Juan Martin Del Potro ended Federer’s five year unbeaten streak at the US Open to win his first Grand Slam title.
“I had two dreams this week” said Del Potro during the trophy ceremony: “One was to win the US Open and the other is to be like Roger”. “One is done, but I need to improve a lot to be like you”.
With a monster forehand and a consistent backhand, the Argentine possesses all the weapons to become the next number one.
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K: Kim Clijsters

“I am looking at this as a second career, not as a comeback, as I am now in a situation where not everything revolves around tennis 24h a day.”
In only her third tournament since her come back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first mom to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
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L: a little LOVE for Safina?
Dismissed by her peers and the media for her Grand Slam collapses, Dinara Safina was furious at the organisers for shifting her 3rd round match from Arthur Ashe to Louis Armstrong stadium. But no matter the stadium, a loss is still a loss: she was defeated by Petra Kvitova, ranked 72.
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M: Marin Cilic
Marin Cilic scored the biggest upset of US Open 2009, defeating Andy Murray in the fourth round 7-5 6-2 6-2. Despite a set and a break up, he lost against eventual winner Juan Martin Del Potro in quarter finals.
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