U.S. Open tourney: Day 8 Matchup Odds and Picks
By Charles Bricker
(13) Nadia Petrova (+105) vs. Melanie Oudin (-114)
A great run by the 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., but it has to end some time. Petrova has quietly buzzed through the draw without losing a set while Oudin has been gritty and very competitive.
She's had to do a lot of struggling. Rarely does anyone reduce Maria Sharapova to a pile of nerves. Oudin did it near the end of her three-set win on Saturday, after she took advantage of a load of Sharapova double faults.
Petrova, however, will be much tougher and has one of the best serves in the women's game.
Pick: Petrova
(6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (-101) vs. (9) Caroline Wozniacki (-107)
Two more players who haven't lost sets yet. The 19-year-old Dane has been flirting all year with the upper echelon of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (and that means top 5) and she's nearly there.
She's got a cracker of a serve and strong baseline ground strokes, but has gotten into trouble with the steady-at-the-baseline Flavia Pennetta-type players because she's often lacked patience in the long rallies.
Fortunately, this won't be one of those matches because Kuznetsova is going to try to muscle the ball as much as Wozniacki. I like the teenager because she's been broken only once in her last two matches, and that's rare for women's tennis.
Pick: Wozniacki
(8) Nicolay Davydenko (+132) vs. (12) Robin Soderling (-143)
The little Russian has played, in order, opponents ranked 222, 70 and 161. The picnic is over and so is his U.S. Open.
Like Fernando Verdasco, Soderling seemed to be in a bit of a swoon in the lead-up to the Open, but has turned on the juice since he arrived in New York. He profited a lot by getting a very early second-round retirement, then came back Saturday and served brilliantly against Sam Querrey, winning 56 of his 64 first-serve points.
His first-serve winning percentage for the two full matches he's played is 87 percent. Davydenko is a great counter puncher, but on these fast courts he's going to be at big disadvantage.
Pick: Soderling
(10) Fernando Verdasco (-203) vs. John Isner (+186)
Few would have figured the 6-foot-9 former collegian to get this far, but his 38-ace win over Andy Roddick in the third round was his watershed. He and Melanie Oudin have given some real hope that U.S. tennis is rebounding.
I can't see him, however, getting past Verdasco, who has exceeded expectations at the Open.
Verdasco, who spent last off-season training with Andre Agassi guru Gil Reyes, got off to a great season start, then began to fade. He's been reborn in New York. Both men have some resting to do after winning five-setters in the third round. Verdasco had a long gripper with Tommy Haas.
Pick: Verdasco
Yesterday's record: 3-1
Tourney record: 15-8