US Open: Men's Preview

Last year's champion Juan Martin Del Potro is unfortunately not in the draw this year as he is still recovering from surgery earlier this year. But the man he beat, the 5-time US Open champion and 2nd seed Roger Federer is here and he is yet again the man to beat having great results this summer on hard courts. He has possible third round match with 2001 US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, but should be able to reach at least the quarterfinals with little problem. There though he could face Fernando Gonzalez, Marin Cilic, or most likely 5th seed Robin Soderling. Soderling snapped Federer's semifinal streak at majors during this year's French Open.

Third seed and former US Open finalist Novak Djokovic is in the bottom half of the draw with Federer. He has a tricky first round match with fellow Serbian Victor Troiki, but if the New York heat doesn't get to him (which it very well could), he should at least reach the fourth round. He'll face the winner of Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish who both had phenomenal results this summer leading to the US Open. Waiting in the quarterfinals for the winner of that fourth round match could be 6th seed Nikolay Davydenko or most likely 9th seed and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick.

Top seed and last year's semifinalist Rafael Nadal lead the men in the top half of the draw. He is looking to win the only major tournament missing from his already storied career. He should be able to get through the early rounds without too much drama, though his 2nd round match with Denis Istomin may be of note since Istomin seriously challenged Nadal at this year's Queen's event on grass. It's likely Nadal could face a couple of fellow top Spaniards in the second week with Feliciano Lopez lurking in the fourth round and either 10th seed David Ferrer or 8th seed Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. Verdasco will first have to worry about in-form David Nalbandian as a possible fourth round opponent.

Finally, US Open series champion and fourth seed Andy Murray is on the same side as Nadal. With his solid results this summer, he's probably the second favorite to win after Federer. He has a possibly interesting third round match with another Swiss, Stan Wawrinka. Doesn't get any easier after that with Sam Querrey waiting in the fourth round. His most likely quarterfinal opponent is either John Isner or 7th seed Tomas Berdych who both had phenomenal results at the last major tournament, Wimbledon, with Isner winning the longest tennis match in history and Berdych reaching his first major final beating Federer on the way.

Quarterfinals:
Rafael Nadal d. David Nalbandian
Andy Murray d. Tomas Berdych
Andy Roddick d. Mardy Fish
Roger Federer d. Robin Soderling

Semifinals:
Andy Murray d. Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

Finals:
Roger Federer d. Andy Murray