2017 U.S. Open Tennis Central.

[Greenbacks]

Who's who in the bottom half of a wide open men's draw.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain. And for one of the eight players remaining in the bottom half of the men’s draw, a spot in the final of the US Open awaits.
While the top half of the draw features world 19-time Grand Slam men’s singles champion Roger and world No. 1 and 15-time champion Rafael Nadal, the bottom half of the draw is wide, wide open.
Those eight players – Sam Querrey, Mischa Zverev, Paolo Lorenzi, Kevin Anderson, Denis Shapovalov, Pablo Carreno Busta, Lucas Pouille and Diego Schwartzman – have just one career Grand Slam semifinal appearance and seven quarterfinal appearances combined. Federer has 50.
Only Anderson has ever been ranked inside the Top 10 – he peaked at No. 10 in October 2015 – and three of the eight are already in uncharted territory, having never reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam before.
Here’s a closer look at the eight players left in the bottom half of the draw, none of who are ranked higher than 19th in the world. One of them is guaranteed to make their first major final.

SAM QUERREY
Ranking: 21
Best Grand Slam Performance: Wimbledon semifinal (2017)
The 29-year-old American is coming off the best Grand Slam run of his career, and he’s hoping to replicate his trip to the final four of Wimbledon here in New York. He’s already matched his best US Open performance by making the fourth round – achieved twice, most recently in 2010 – and he’s primed to go even further. The No. 17 seed was originally in the top half of the draw, but he was repositioned in the bottom half when second-seeded Andy Murray’s withdrawal caused a shuffle in the draw two days before play began. He hasn’t reached the quarterfinal of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the level directly below the four majors, in five years, but he is one win away from getting to the last eight of a Grand Slam for the third time in 14 months.
“It's kind of an irrelevant stat. I made one semifinal. Yeah, I mean, the bottom half of the draw has opened up. There's no way to not see that. There's a chance for everyone there. It will be weird to have a guy in a final that has never been there before. Outside of that, that's really it. It's just a good opportunity for everyone.” – Querrey on being the only player left in the bottom half of the draw who has played a Grand Slam semifinal

MISCHA ZVEREV
Ranking: 27
Best Grand Slam Performance: Australian Open quarterfinal (2017)
Entering 2017, Zverev had won a total of one Grand Slam men’s singles main draw match in seven years. He’d lost in qualifying at 12 consecutive majors and had one Masters 1000 win – in Shanghai in 2016 – since 2010. The 30-year-old brother of world No. 6 Alexander Zverev has had a career renaissance as of late, shocking Andy Murray in the fourth round in Melbourne in January and beating Kei Nishikori to reach the final of the Geneva Open in May. Zverev had a 21-24 singles record for the year but is now one victory away from earning a guaranteed $470,000 as a US Open quarterfinalist.
“I try to not worry too much about my next opponent until I face him. But, you know what, someone that's going to be now in the quarters or semis at the US Open this year might be the next Top 5 player 14 months from now or something. Draw is one thing, but facing the next opponent can be something different.” – Zverev on his preference to not look at the draw

PAOLO LORENZI
Ranking: 40
Best Grand Slam Performance: US Open third round (2016)
The 35-year-old clay-courter has never been ranked inside the Top 32 in the world in his 10-year professional career, but he’s now in the final 16 of a major with the chance of advancing even further. Lorenzi came to New York having won seven Grand Slam main-draw matches in the past decade, with five of those coming in the past 12 months. Lorenzi has spent most of 2017 playing ATP World Tour 250 events, the fourth tier of tour events, and won his only title of the year at a clay-court Challenger-level event in Caltanissetta, Italy, in June, where he earned 125 points, €18,290 and did not play another player ranked inside the Top 100. Lorenzi has never beaten a Top 10 player and has just one win over a player ranked inside the Top 20 in the past three-and-a-half years.

KEVIN ANDERSON
Ranking: 32
Best Grand Slam Performance: US Open quarterfinal (2015)
Anderson is arguably playing the best tennis of any of the eight men left in the bottom half of the draw. The No. 28 seed has yet to drop a set in three matches in New York this year, and he’s only lost four games in two of the nine sets he’s contested. The South African made the fourth round of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year, and he advanced to the quarterfinals at the Rogers Cup for the third time in the past four years. Two years ago, Anderson, then the No. 15 seed, beat Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray in reaching the final eight before falling to Stan Wawrinka. He faces the unseeded Lorenzi in Round 4 and could get to final without facing a single player ranked higher that 19th.

DENIS SHAPOVALOV
Ranking: 69
Best Grand Slam Performance: Wimbledon first round (2017)
The 18-year-old Canadian is one of the biggest surprises of both the US Open and the 2017 tennis season as a whole. Before the French Open in May, he had never even played in the qualifying of a Grand Slam tournament. After losing in the first qualifying round in Paris and losing in the first round of Wimbledon as a wild card, Shapovalov came through three qualifying matches to make the main draw in Flushing Meadows. The teenager shined at the Masters 1000 event in Montreal last month, announcing himself to the tennis world with a win over Rafael Nadal. He started 2017 ranked No. 250 in the world and climbed from No. 143 to No. 67 based purely on his run in Canada. This time 12 months ago, Shapovalov was playing exclusively Challenger-level matches. On Sunday, he’ll play for a spot in the quarterfinals. Win or lose, he will earn more prize money this week than he has in the rest of his career combined.
“I think five out of the Top 10 guys were missing. It's pretty significant. I mean, it's happening for a reason. I feel like you don't just have five guys injured. It's got to be something with the scheduling, something I think the tour, the calendar might be a little bit too long. I don't know. I haven't played enough to say anything, but when you have so many guys hurt, it's not a coincidence.” – Shapovalov on one possible reason for so many top players pulling out of the US Open

PABLO CARRENO BUSTA
Ranking: 19
Best Grand Slam Performance: French Open quarterfinals (2017)
Last September, Carreno Busta and partner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez made it to the final of the US Open men’s doubles. Now he’s on the cusp of his best-ever run in singles play. The 26-year-old Spaniard has reached six singles finals over the past two years, picking up wins at a trio of lower-level 250 Series wins at the Winston-Salem Open, the Kremlin Cup and the Estoril Open. In addition to this year’s French Open, where he beat Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov before retiring against Rafael Nadal, Carreno Busta also made the semifinals in Indian Wells, his first-ever Masters 1000 appearance later than the third round.

LUCAS POUILLE
Ranking: 20
Best Grand Slam Performance: Wimbledon and US Open quarterfinals (2016)
At 23 years old, Pouille is the second-youngest of the eight players left in the bottom half of the draw. He has lost his first match in seven of 17 tournaments this year and largely failed to back up his impressive second half of 2016 where he made back-to-back major quarterfinals. He did reach the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, a clay-court event in spring in the build up to the French Open, but he has already been pushed twice in three matches in New York. He came within five points of losing to American Jared Donaldson in a three-and-a-half-hour five-set thriller on Wednesday, and he needed to rally back after dropping the first set to Mikhail Kukushkin in Round 3. Pouille has not won a hard-court match against a player ranked inside the top 14 in 2017. The highest-ranked player he could now face on his path to the final is No. 19 Carreno Busta, whom he would meet in the qaurters.

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN
Ranking: 33
Best Grand Slam Performance: French Open third round (2017)
The 5-foot-7 right-hander had two first-round exits and one second-round loss on his US Open resume coming into New York, and he had never won three consecutive singles matches in any of the 13 Grand Slam main draws in which he competed. Now in the fourth round for the first time, he is looking to build on his performance at the Rogers Cup last month where he reached the quarterfinals, just his second-ever appearance in the final eight of a Masters 1000 competition. He backed up his win over Thiem in Canada with an impressive four-set victory over 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic here in the third round. He will play Pouille on Sunday, the first meeting between the pair, for a place in the final eight of the championship.
“Sometimes if you [are] lucky in the draw and you can take the chances, it's always good for the new guys or for the guys who are out from the Top 10. Many players are injured this week. I think we are trying to take the chances and try to go forward in the tournament.” – Schwartzman on the opportunity for a deep run at the US Open

 

[Greenbacks]

U.S.Open.org Day 7 picks.

MEN

(16) Lucas Pouille vs. (29) Diego Schwartzman
Without a doubt, this is the must-see match of the day. But if you decide to take a seat in Grandstand on Sunday morning, make sure you are willing to dedicate at least three hours to this match because it has the potential go the distance. Frenchman Lucas Pouille has brought some serious drama to the Open during the first week, producing a five-set thriller over Jared Donaldson in the second round, followed by coming back from a set down against Mikhail Kukushkin to reach the round of 16. His high-voltage game will be quite a match for the ATP's leading returner, Diego Schwartzman. The 5-foot-7 Argentine uses an effective all-court game and speedy footwork to frustrate his opponents, just as he did when he toppled former champion Marin Cilic in the previous round. As long as both players feel fresh, this bout could go five rounds. And Pouille will have the edge.

Paolo Lorenzi vs. (28) Kevin Anderson
Kevin Anderson's serve has proven to be untouchable through three rounds at the US Open. Not only has he struck 52 aces, but his serve has not yet been broken all week. He's used this weapon to breeze through J.C. Aragone, Ernests Gulbis and Croatian upstart Borna Coric. And he's looking to add one more name to that list: round of 16 opponent Paolo Lorenzi. The Italian workhorse plays a vicious baseline game that defeated No. 19 seed Gilles Muller in the second round, then eased past compatriot Thomas Fabbiano to score his first-ever US Open fourth-round appearance. Though Lorenzi rarely lets anything get past him, the South African's serve might be too much to handle. Anderson advances in three.

WOMEN

(16) Anastasija Sevastova vs. (WC) Maria Sharapova
No. 16 seed Anastasija Sevastova has had a fairly favorable draw through her first three rounds at the US Open. Last year's quarterfinalist has faced three opponents ranked outside the Top 50, allowing her to advance without dropping a set. But reaching the quarters for a second consecutive year will be a tall order (no pun intended), as the 5-foot-7 Latvian takes on 6-foot-2 former champion Maria Sharapova. While Sharapova is technically also ranked outside the Top 50, at No. 146, her game is nearly back to No. 1 status, and she's proved that she belongs back at the top. In three, Sharapova with the win.

(30) Julia Goerges vs. Sloane Stephens
This matchup could be an interesting one, as the fiery Sloane Stephens aims for her first US Open quarterfinal berth. The American owns a 3-1 advantage over opponent Julia Goerges, all on hard courts, with Stephens taking their last meeting in the quarterfinal round of Cincinnati. Stephens has shown no signs of trouble from a recent foot injury that sidelined her for most of this season, and back-to-back semifinal finishes at US Open tune-ups in Toronto and Cincy have certainly given her the confidence she needs to secure a spot in the second week here.
But Goerges is no pushover, as she's reached three WTA finals this season, the latest in Washington this summer, and has not yet been tested in Flushing Meadows. After three rounds, she has dropped 10 games, and her highest ranked opponent was No. 78 Aleksandra Krunic. Goerges ranks 50 spots higher than Stephens and could pose a difficult challenge, but you have to give this one to Sloane on sheer grit. The American takes it in three.

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

Day 7 wraps a wild week.

There are probably quite a few adjectives you could use to describe the first week of the 2017 US Open. “Predictable” wouldn’t be one of them. Let’s be honest, there haven’t been this many ups and downs on these grounds since they dismantled the Ferris wheel from the 1965 World’s Fair. Through Week 1, we’ve seen heart-stopping performances and head-scratching upsets. We’ve witnessed inspiring entrances and inexplicable exits. At times, the great have looked ordinary and the ordinary, great. More seeds have been blown away here than in the “Grapes of Wrath.”
So as Day 7 brings Week 1 to a close, the day’s lineup features a fascinating mix of familiar faces and those less-so; some who are very familiar with this stage of a major, others who've never before been this far on a major stage. Venus Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Sam Querrey, Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova, Denis Shapovalov, Pablo Carreno Busta, Sloane Stephens, Mischa Zverev, Lucas Pouille, Diego Schwartzman and Kevin Anderson are the day’s headliners. After a wacky Week 1, we can only guess what Week 2 has in store. One thing’s for sure: Every one of these players wants to stick around to find out.
Williams, the No. 9 seed, is certainly no stranger to long stays at a Slam. Champion here in 2000 and 2001, the 37-year-old has won seven major titles and has appeared in 16 Slam finals, including two this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The 2017 US Open represents Williams’ 76th main-draw appearance in a major – an Open-era record among women. She’s into the fourth round here for the 15th time in her career and has dropped just one set so far in her advance.
Sunday, the former champ looks to further that advance as she takes on Carla Suarez Navarro, who’s into the fourth round here for the second consecutive year. The 28-year-old Spaniard is a five-time quarterfinalist at the Slams, including a run to the quarters here in 2013. This advance matches Suarez Navarros’s best showing at a major this year; she also reached the fourth round at Roland Garros. Williams owns a 4-3 edge in their career head-to-heads, including a 2-1 lead in their meetings at majors. This shapes up as a pretty even matchup, but Williams has a unique ability to uneven things quickly. In three, the American is on to the quarters.
If a vote was taken Sunday, women’s No. 3 seed Muguruza would probably be selected “most likely to succeed.” Of all the women who’ve reached this point of the tournament, the 23-year-old Spaniard looks like the leading contender to reach further, playing with a presence and purpose that suggest she’s got her sights firmly set on a second-Saturday showing. In three matches, Muguruza has lost a total of nine games, and her 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of No. 31 seed Magdalena Rybarikova in round three was the picture of perfection, the sort of clinic for which you’d normally have to pay $150 an hour. Already a two-time Grand Slam champ – winning the French last year and Wimbledon in 2017 – the Spaniard had never before been beyond the second round here in four previous tries.
Muguruza will look to better her best-ever Flushing finish today against another Slam champ, Kvitova, twice a Wimbledon titlist. In the fourth round here for the second consecutive year, the 27-year-old Czech has shown incredible heart and courage in playing her way back onto the tour after suffering a serious hand injury in a knife attack during a home intrusion last December. In just her second match back earlier this year, Kvitova won her 20th career singles title, taking the crown at the grass-court Birmingham event. She’s not fared as well at the Slams, losing in the second round of both the French and Wimbledon, but a win today would put her into the quarters, matching her best career US Open performance.
Kvitova leads their career meetings by a slim 2-1 margin, and the difference in this match should be equally slim, as neither woman has dropped a set to this point and both seem to be peaking at just the right point. This one goes three; Muguruza goes on.
Of the myriad storylines that have played out over this first week, maybe none are more fascinating than that of Shapovalov, the 18-year-old Canadian qualifier who seems determined to make the Maple Leaf a familiar fixture on the game’s greatest stages for years to come. Playing in the first major main draw of his young career, Shapovalov is now the youngest man to reach the fourth round of the Open since Michael Chang in 1989. The teen appears completely comfortable among the best in the sport, as he demonstrated so brilliantly in taking out Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal back-to-back to reach the semis of this summer’s US Open Series stop in Toronto.
Sunday, the Canadian takes on No. 12 seed Carreno Busta, who’s just one win away from matching his best-career Slam showing. The 26-year-old Spaniard reached the quarters at Roland Garros this spring but had never been beyond the third round here in three prior appearances. Carreno Busta’s one title this year came on clay in Estoril, but he’s also shown that he can handle the hard stuff, putting together an impressive run to the semis of Indian Wells in March. That said, it’s impossible at this point to pick against Shapovalov, who gets more impressive with each advance. In three, the cool Canadian is into the quarters.
The lone American remaining in the men’s draw, Querrey reached the semis of Wimbledon this year and seems in a great spot to at least match that showing here. The No. 17 seed is in the US Open’s fourth round for the first time since 2010, and he’s now 15-3 since the start of the All-England fortnight. Querrey, 29, has this year won two titles – both on hard courts – and has dropped just one set in reaching the fourth round.
To reach further, Querrey will need to get past Zverev, who’s enjoying his best-ever run in Flushing. A quarterfinalist at January’s Aussie Open – where he beat both John Isner and Andy Murray – the 30-year-old German plays a throwback serve-and-volley style with incredible precision. In his win Friday night over Isner, Zverev posted an impressive 34 winners against a ridiculously low seven unforced errors.
The two men have never met, but this first get-together should be a memorable one, with the serve-and-volleyer putting constant pressure on Querrey’s consistent ground game. Expect this one to go the distance; expect the American to move on.

 

[HarryCaray]

That ad court serve out wide for Shapo is going to be a massive weapon today when facing break point.

 

[HarryCaray]

Shapo +110
Stephens -200
Querry -240
Sevastova +250

Vamos

 

[HarryCaray]

Carreno now +200 live
Wow

 

[Greenbacks]

Sloane Stephens: Life is good.

She’s got a new attitude.
It may have to do with the fact that Sloane Stephens is back on a tennis court and not confined to a wheel chair. Earlier this year, Stephens graduated from sitting to, as she says, "walking around on that peg leg thing."
That is where the 24-year-old was just six months ago. As she sat out WTA action recovering from a severe stress fracture that required foot surgery and months of rehabilitation, the talented American’s ranking plummeted all the way to No. 957.
Now Stephens is back up and walking, running – as few can – and winning. She surged to consecutive semifinals at the prestigious Rogers Cup in Toronto and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati – only her third and fourth tournaments of the year – by upending the likes of Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber.
Her ranking shot up to 83.
After that serious foot injury that kept her off the tour for 11 months, Stephens has suddenly rebooted her career.
"I obviously wasn't happy to get injured," said Stephens. "But it was a good lesson for me. It was a good time to be able to take a break, get my health in order, then just kind of reevaluate my whole entire situation, come back a better player and better person."
On April 18, Stephens posted a short video of her taking baby steps in rehab on her Instagram account, where she has nearly 84,000 followers. The caption read: "Day 1 walking …. EXCITED!!!!!!!!"
Three days ago, just four months removed from those first steps and after beating Dominika Cibulkova in the second round, Stephens posted a pretty black-and-white photo. In it, she clutched her racquet in victory, her fists clenched, eyes closed and mouth in a wide smile. The caption said, simply: "MOOD."
In reaching the second week at the US Open – her first wins in Flushing since 2014 – Stephens defeated the 2015 finalist, Roberta Vinci, No. 11 seed Cibulkova and Ashleigh Barty, a young Aussie having her own breakthrough year.
Stephens has claimed victories over four players in the Top 20 in the past month alone.
The native Californian made a splash on tour as a 19-year-old. The youngster streaked to the semifinal of the Australian Open, defeating her idol Serena Williams in the quarters. That year, Stephens ascended to a ranking of No. 11 (finishing the year at No. 12).
Labeled the "new Cinderella" on straight-news broadcasts and featured in the likes of Vogue magazine, the teen was quickly anointed Serena’s successor.
Stephens was a phenomenal athlete with telegenic looks and a bubbly, voluble off-court personality. With her blinding smile, dimples and elegance on a tennis court, she was a marketer’s dream.
Yet Stephens didn’t win a WTA tournament until a full two years after her breakthrough. And her last appearance Round of 16 at her home major, the US Open, was in 2013 -- the year she reached her career-high ranking.
For three years, Stephens hovered in the Top 40 – even winning four smaller tournaments just last year – but she appeared to have peaked as a 20-year-old.
When the media and tennis insiders were quick to label her the Next Best Thing, a career in the Top 40, though, wasn’t exactly what was expected of the American.
The enormous expectations were understandable. Stephens possesses enviable gifts on a tennis court. Few players are as fluid. The American is exceptionally smooth but lightning quick. She has deceptive firepower. Her swings are relaxed, but the ball rockets off her racquet, a product of excellent timing and racquet-head speed.
Even with those natural gifts, Stephens suffered a rash of setbacks, and her upwards trajectory wasn’t as smooth as her entry into the big time. Stephens grew frustrated when things didn’t go her way. She had a disturbing tendency to get negative, translating into a less-than-sunny disposition on court.
"Before I was, like, so emotional," admitted Stephens. "Everything, like, always got to me."
Stephens often appeared desultory and complacent in matches, especially outside of the tour's biggest events.
"When you play week in and week out, a couple years in a row, there's a lot of ups and downs." said Stephens this week "I think it can wear you out a bit."
Commentators began to wonder whether she lacked the competitive fire required of champions, or whether she was content with merely decent results and a life in the limelight.
With such an effortless-looking game, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that Stephens wasn’t always putting in a full effort.
As the losses piled up, and Stephens found it difficult to return to the results she tasted as a teen, it seemed that the American didn’t trust her weapons. She backed off her shots, playing passive and middling tennis rather than the explosive, offensive game that brought her success.
That winning style of tennis has reappeared after her injury break from the tour. Stephens’s more aggressive game has accompanied a change in attitude.
"I play a sport for a living. I don't, like, operate on people," said Stephens last week. "This is not life or death. I think it's hard to realize that when you're out there playing, because there's a lot riding on it: prize money, points, so many things go into it."
"I think I have it pretty good," she added. "I think once I realized that, I was, like: Life is actually really very good."
"I think that's where I'm at now."

 

[Greenbacks]

This 18 year old non ranked player was favored over this ranked player.

 

[Greenbacks]

Nice break.....Might be the turning point of the match.

 

[HarryCaray]

This 18 year old non ranked player was favored over this ranked player.

I got him +110 but yeah he was a short favorite in most places. Mostly because he has been lights out and Carreno is primarily a clay courter. He needs this set badly.

Should have won the first.

 

[HarryCaray]

I added some Shapo +395, so now I am very invested here.

 

[HarryCaray]

Nice break.....Might be the turning point of the match.

He's been in every Carreno service game. Just needs to convert on his opportunities.

 

[Greenbacks]

He had momentum......The door was open.....Let it get away though.

 

[Greenbacks]

You never know.

Players can rip off 3 sets in a row.

 

[Greenbacks]

Carreno Busta now leading 7-6...7-6.

 

[HarryCaray]

You never know.

Players can rip off 3 sets in a row.

he won 3 straight against Tsonga

Kid feeds off momentum. Needs to get the crowd back behind him. Not worried about the physical with Denis, he's 18, should be able to run all day.

 

[HarryCaray]

Just need to stop fucking around with those tiebreakers.

 

[Greenbacks]

The magical run is over for the kid.....Remember his name.....Pablo marches into the quarters.....7-6...7-6...7-6.