Site: Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
Dates: Saturday, November 6 – Sunday, November 14
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: € 2,227,500
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The BNP Paribas Masters is the ninth and final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. It’s one of the only Masters neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal ever won. Rafa’s best result is a defeat in final in 2007 (beaten by Nalbandian), and Federer surprisingly never did better than the quarterfinals (in 2002, 2003 and 2008).
Although all the big names of tennis won the Paris Bercy Masters (Becker, Edberg, Sampras, Agassi…), Bercy’s tournament has been pretty disappointing in recent years with late withdrawals and top players early exits, like last year’s Federer stunning first round defeat to Julien Benneteau.
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- Nadal cruises to final with a straight sets win over Mikhail Youzhny.

World number one Rafael Nadal was just too good for Youzhny. After two defeats in semifinals the past two years (he lost to Andy Murray in 2008 and to Juan Martin Del Potro in 2009), the 24 year old Spaniard advanced to his first US Open final. With a win tonight, Nadal would become the seventh man in tennis history to complete a career Grand Slam.

- Djokovic stuns Federer in a five set thriller

Novak Djokovic saved 2 match points a 4-5 in the fifth, and after a grueling 3h 44 min match, he defeated Roger Federer to prevent the Nadal-Federer final everyone was hoping for.

To be honest, I was just closing my eyes and hitting forehands as fast as I can on match point. If it goes in, it goes in. If it goes out, just another loss to Federer in the U.S. Open. I managed to come back. I was very lucky.

- Kim Clijsters’ love story with New York continues

Kim Clijsters dismantled Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 to win her third US Open trophy. She became the first woman to retain her title since Venus Williams in 2001.

Clijsters won her 21st consecutive match here and her third title in her past three tries. Zvonareva, as predicted, lost her nerve.
Kim:

A little bit of experience definitely helps. I told her it’s tough. It took me six or seven finals before I finally got one. ‘Vera, keep it going. It will happen.

- Top seeds Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki storm into quarterfinal. Novak Djokovic, Gael Monfils and Vera Zvonareva also advanced in straight sets.
2 surprises in the women’s draw: Dominika Cibulkova defeats 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kaia Kanepi beats last year’s semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer.

Day 8 complete results

- US player of the day: Bob Bryan
Bob Bryan advanced to quarterfinals with his brother Mike in doubles, and qualified for the mixed doubles semifinals (with Liezel Huber).

- Stat of the day: 25
Six of the eight women in the US Open quarterfinals are age 25 or older, with Venus Williams and Francesca Schiavone both 30.

- Pic of the day: Robin Soderling
Big hitter Robin Soderling downed Albert Montanes in 4 sets and set up a clash with Roger Federer.

- Matches to follow on day 9:
Samantha Stosur(AUS)[5] vs. Kim Clijsters(BEL)[2]
Francesca Schiavone(ITA)[6] vs. Venus Williams(USA)[3]

- Top stars Federer, Djokovic, Wozniacki and Sharapova breeze into fourth round. Only semi-surprise: 2008 runner-up Jelena Jankovic was ousted was 31th seed Kaia Kanepi.

- US player of the day: Mardy Fish
It took him 3 1/2 hours and five sets, but Mardy Fish managed to advance to fouth round with his win over Arnaud Clément. It’s an awesome summer for him: he won in Newport (grass) and Atlanta (hard) and reached the final in Cincinnati (lost to Federer). Fish’s next opponent: Novak Djokovic.

- Stat of the day: 3
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki only lost 3 games in 3 matches. The task should be harder in the 4th round where she’ll meet 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova.

- Player of the day: Maria Sharapova
Sharapova double-bageled young american Beatrice Capra to advance to round 4.

- Matches to follow on day 7:
4th round:
Ana Ivanovic(SRB) vs. Kim Clijsters(BEL)[2]
Samantha Stosur(AUS)[5] vs. Elena Dementieva(RUS)[12]
3rd round:
Mikhail Youzhny(RUS)[12] vs. John Isner(USA)[18]
Sam Querrey(USA)[20] vs. Nicolas Almagro(ESP)[14]
Andy Murray(GBR)[4] vs. Stanislas Wawrinka(SUI)[25]

- 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.

N: Nadal Rafael

2009 was a tough year for Rafa. Beaten for the first time in Roland Garros and unable to compete at Wimbledon, he suffered the hardest loss of his career in the 09 US Open semies. Bothered by an abdominal injury, he was ousted by JMDP 2-6 2-6 2-6.
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O: Oudin Melanie

American fans have been waiting for years for a young US player capable of taking the torch from the Williams sisters. Melanie Oudin seems to be the one, she won the hearts of tennis fans with her gutsy wins over Pavlyuchenkova, Dementieva, Sharapova and Petrova. Wozniacki ended her run in quarter finals.
Will she follow Chris Evert’s or a Jennifer Capriati’s footsteps?
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P: Pancho Gonzales
Pancho Gonzales, the first hispanic man to win the US Open, was honored in an on-court ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his second consecutive US Open win. In addition to his 2 US Open wins as an amateur, Gonzales also won 12 major professional tournaments. He died at the age of 67 in 1995, in penury and almost friendless.
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Q: Querrey Sam
The 21 yr old Californian made it to the final in his first three tournaments of the 09 summer, coming up short in Newport and Indianopolis before winning in Los Angeles. It enabled Querrey to win the US Open Series and reach a career high 26 ranking. His US Open run ended in the third round against French Open finalist Robin Soderling.
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R: Roger Federer
And so after five years, Federer’s reign in New York is over. It was time for something different, something new. “Maybe I look back and have some regrets about it. But you know, you can’t always play your best.”
First defeat in a majors final against someone else than Rafael Nadal for Roger Federer. “Don’t know how much more I want,” Federer said afterwards. “This one I think is easy to get over just because I’ve had the most amazing summer.”
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S: Safin Marat

No regrets for Marat, beaten by journeyman Melzer in the first round. “Whatever I said, whatever I did, it was a good ride”.
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T: Twitter

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U: US players
With Isner’s loss against Verdasco, it marked the first time in US Open history that no american player reached the men’s quarter finals. On the women’s side, Melanie Oudin reached the quarter finals and Serena Williams the semies.
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V: Verdasco Fernando
While battling a stomach-muscle injury, Verdaso beat Tommy Haas and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the quarterfinals, where fourth-seed Novak Djokovic ended his run.
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W: Williams Venus
Venus is just a pale version of the dominant champion she once was. After early exits at the Australian Open (2nd round) and Roland Garros (3rd round), she lost to Kim Clijsters in the fourth round in Flushing. It seems the only major she can be a contender is Wimbledon. Venus teamed up with her sister to clinch their third major doubles titles of the year.
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Xtreme: Xtreme reaction

We all know the story: 09 US Open semi final 6-4 6-5 40-15 for Clijsters. Serena Williams serves, foot faults, threatens the line judge to stick “this **** ball down her *** throat”. She receives a point penalty and loses the match.

So, the WTA has a number one who can’t win anything and a number two who threatens line judge and opponents. Welcome to the wonderful world of womens tennis!
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Y: Yanina Wickmayer
The 19 yr old Belgian, who had advanced past the first round of a Grand Slam only once before, reached the semi finals. To get to this point, she benefited the most from the upsets at the top of the women’s draw. She had to face only one seed: Virginie Razzano in the first round.
One time wonder or the future of belgian tennis, what do you think?
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Z: Zero
For the first time since 2001 there were no female Russian players in the quarters finals at the US Open. Petrova and Kuznetsova were defeated by Oudin and Wozniacki in the fourth round, whereas cry baby Zvonareva once again imploded on the court as she couldn’t put away any of six match points against Flavia Pennetta.
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