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8/21/2014 9:17 am  #1


U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

By which I mean, will Federer and Serena end up winning.

THE RULES

1. Pick quarterfinalists, semifinalists, finalists, and champions for both ATP and WTA draws. You will receive 7.5 points for each correct quarterfinalist, 5 points for each correct semifinalist and finalist, and 20 points for each correct champion.

2. SUBSTITUTE PICK: Pick a player from each draw to replace one of your quarterfinalists. If this player makes the quarters, they will take the place of whomever you picked in that section of the draw

3. BIGGEST LOSER: pick the highest seed that will lose in the earliest round from each draw. The player must be a top-16 seed. You get 5 points if your seed is the highest to lose and 2 points if your seed falls in the same round as the highest seed to lose.

BONUS PICKS

1. MAYBE I NEED TO IMPROVE MY RETURN GAME: How many tiebreakers will Milos Raonic and John Isner play in all of their singles matches?  5 points if you get it correct, or 2 points if you're the closest to the right number.

EXTRAS

***Unseeded quarterfinalists are worth an extra half point for every seed they take out en route.

***WTF bonus: if you have a pick that makes it to the quarterfinals that no one else made (not even as a substitute pick), you'll gain an extra 5 points for it.  If there are only two contestants, then the WTF bonus is not in effect.

 

8/21/2014 12:48 pm  #2


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

Draws are out.  My first thought is that it is very, very kind to Federer, Tsonga and Murray are in Djokovic's quarter.

That's said...

Men

Quarterfinals
Djokovic d. Murray
Wawrinka (Pospisil) d. Raonic
Ferrer d. Gulbis
Federer d. Dimitrov

Semis
Wawrinka d. Djokovic
Federer d. Ferrer

Final
Federer d. Wawrinka 6-2,6-7(4),7-5,6-3

BL: Nishikori

Women

Quarterfinals
Serena d. Ivanovic
Kuznetsova (Kvitova) d. Bouchard
Radwanska d. Jankovic
Sharapova d. Halep

Semis
Kuznetsova d. Serena
Sharapova d. Radwanska

Final
Kuznetsova d. Sharapova
7-5, 6-4

BL: Serena (1st round against Townsend, Serena's normally shaky in the early rounds)

Return game: 22 (12 Isner, 10 Raonic)
 

     Thread Starter
 

8/23/2014 10:36 am  #3


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

I saw your men's picks before I made my selections but am not intentionally copying. Since Wawrinka has taken Djokovic to the brink in their last three slam matches and beat him in Melbourne, there's no reason he can't do it again with Djokovic's shaky form, and I'm even including Wimbledon, when the Djoker won with his B game. Wawrinka looked quite at Wimbledon, too. 

EDIT: I had not looked at your women's picks, but I see we both have Kvitova winning the tournament (you as a substitute). If there were 100 entrants instead of two, ours almost certainly would be the most similar. 

ATP

Quarterfinals

Djokovic over Tsonga (Murray)
Wawrinka over Raonic
Ferrer over Johnson
Federer over Dimitrov

Semifinals

Wawrinka over Djokovic
Federer over Ferrer

Final

Federer over Wawrinka 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4

Biggest Loser: Gasquet
MINTIMRG: 10

WTA

Quarterfinals

Serena (Stosur) over Ivanovic
Kvitova over Makarova
Kerber over Safarova
Halep over Wozniacki

Semifinals

Kvitova over Serena 
Halep over Kerber 

Final

Kvitova over Halep 6-4, 6-4

Biggest Loser: Errani 











 

Last edited by funches (8/23/2014 10:39 am)

 

8/28/2014 8:13 am  #4


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

In 2005, Peng Shuai beat Clijsters 6-4-6-4 in Los Angeles in a summer when Clijsters won her other four hard court tournaments, including the U.S. Open, and did not drop a set in any of her warm-up tournaments before the Open other than her loss to Peng.At the time, I remember thinking Peng could be No. 1 in the world if she kept playing like that, and she backed it up with … nothing for nine years until yesterday.History says no, but if she plays like she did against Radwanska in the next few rounds, Peng will reach the semifinals and finally live up to the promise she showed that day against Clijsters. After that match, Clijsters said she had done nothing wrong, that Peng had just outplayed her, and that’s the way it looked when I watched that match.

 

8/28/2014 8:19 am  #5


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

No men's top 16 seed lost in the first round. Can't remember the last time that happened. Cibulkova was the only top 16 seed to lose for the women, and the player who beat her is outside the top 1,200. I don't know if you've heard about CiCi Bellis. Of course that would require you to live in a cave. I sure hope Bellis doesn't lose 6-1, 6-1 today after the hype machine has gone into overdrive for her. 

 

9/04/2014 10:10 am  #6


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

14 tiebreaks by Raonic and Isner in 7 matches (8 Raonic, 6 Isner).  If they had survived another round each, I'm pretty sure I would have managed to win that one.

In watching Wozniacki d. Errani, I was struck by the fact that Wozniacki was actually hitting winners.  Sure, the conditions were terrible, but it seems that she was finally doing everything that people said she should be doing, only 3-4 years later.

Gulbis and Cibulkova are the biggest losers.

     Thread Starter
 

9/05/2014 2:23 pm  #7


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

So I went back to the Tennis-X message board today and dredged up my post about Peng Shuai after she beat Clijsters in San Diego in 2005. Wozniacki just took the first set after Peng served for it, so she probably won't win, but it's inexplicable that she's done nothing in her career. 

My post from 2005: 

Players don't play the same way every match, so I'm not sure about Peng being in the top three down the road, but after watching every point of yesterday's match, I'll go even further than Clijsters (who said Peng would be in the top three by the end of the year).  

If Peng plays consistently like she did yesterday (which isn't likely), she will be No. 1 in the world in the next few years. I'd barely heard of that girl when the match started, but she's the second coming of Monica Seles (minus the grunt). The incredible power from both sides. The beautiful angles. The toughness on big points. 

Clijsters backed up because the ferociity of Peng's shots made her back up. It's not like Clijsters forgot how to play suddenly after winning 26 consecutive hard-court matches. She's never had much variety (although she hit some excellent drop shots in the first set) or come to the net much, so there was no reason for her to start trying to come to the net last night. 

Peng's only weakness is a powder puff second serve that goes up before it comes down. Clijsters did not take as much advantage of it as Davenport would or Pierce will today, but at 5-8, Peng should be able to improve that serve down the road. 

I'm not sure I've ever seen an unknown woman (to me) play as well as Peng did last night.

 

9/19/2014 10:54 am  #8


Re: U.S. Open Contest 2014: Is it 2008 all over again?

In one of the lowest scoring contests of all time (and one that's really late), we have a winner!

funches: 69.5
Forehand_lob: 52.5

Just going to say that in the heady days of Tennis-X, di's bizarre picks would probably have kicked both of our butts for this tournament.

     Thread Starter
 

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