Quality Tennis Discussion / US Open Contest 2018

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 8/25/2018 11:10 am

I will remember to get the rules up this time.

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 20 points for each correct champion. Both champions are worth full points because it seems open at this point.

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.

EXTRAS

BONUS CATEGORY: American tennis is just fine...for the women. Pick the US man who will go furthest in the single's draw. 5 points if you get him right, 3 points if the last men go out in the same round and you picked one of them, 2 points if you do better than everyone else. In the event of a tie between picks but not making a correct pick, 1 point will be awarded.

Unseeded players that make the quarterfinals are worth an extra half-point for each seed they take out en route.

Deadline for entry is whenever you enter. With only two of us in the competition, the rules have to be lax.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 8/25/2018 11:11 am

I feel that Djokovic is a minor favorite since he backed up Wimbledon with Cincy, but I'm not sure I'd pick him to win the US Open.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 8/26/2018 3:48 pm

Men's quarterfinals

Nadal v. Anderson
Murray (Del Potro) v. Wawrinka
Cilic v. A. Zverev
Djokovic v. Federer

Semifinals
Nadal v. Murray
A. Zverev v. Federer

Final
Federer d. Murray 6-3, 6-2, 7-6

BL: Dimitrov

American man of the hour: Isner

Women's quarterfinals

Serena (Halep) v. Ka. Pliskova
Azarenka v. Svitolina
Sharapova v. Kerber
Kvitova v. Buzarenescu

Semifinals
Serena v. Azarenka
Kerber v. Kvitova

Final
Kerber d. Serena 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

BL: Garcia

**Posted by funches** 8/26/2018 11:17 pm

ATP

Quarterfinals

Nadal over Anderson
Raonic over Del Potro (Medvedev)
Zverev over Goffin
Djokovic over Federer

Semifinals

Nadal over Raonic
Djokovic over Zverev

Final

Djokovic over Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6

Biggest Loser: Cilic
American man the farthest: Isner

WTA

Quarterfinals

Halep over Barty
Stephens over Liu
Keys (Kerber) over Sharapova
Bertens over Kasatkina

Semifinals

Halep over Stephens
Keys over Bertens

Final

Halep over Keys 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Biggest Loser: Garcia

**Posted by funches** 8/27/2018 5:33 pm

It makes me sick to the stomach, but I'm actually not shocked that Halep lost to Kanepi. Kanepi's game is a lot like Lucic, who is 2-0 v. Halep in slams, and the one time they played previously, Halep won in a third-set tiebreaker.

Halep was flat today, which is understandable given she already accomplished her career goal of winning Roland Garros and had played her butt off in the two summer tournaments before the U.S. Open.

It's incredibly disappointing she did not find a way to win after erasing an 0-3, two-break deficit in the second set to make it 4-4, 40-15, but if Kanepi keeps playing like that, she can beat anyone. She hit the ball flat, deep and within a foot from the baseline from start to finish and only had the one bad patch of missing/choking along the way. Halep always will be vulnerable to players like that.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 9/10/2018 9:59 pm

Well, that's the end of the tournament. Unfortunately, it's getting press for all the wrong reasons.

I think it's time for Serena to fire Patrick Mouratoglou. He did amazing things for Serena's game, but when you get caught cheating, admit that you were cheating on TV, and then try claiming that everyone does it, that is some weak-ass justification. He very well could have lost this slam for Serena; she might have been able to turn things around.

I'll get the final standings up later this week. I think it might be close, you have the only winner, but I have two finalists.

**Posted by Forehand_lob** 9/17/2018 9:14 pm

It was very, very close. I had an extra quarterfinalist and two finalists with the correct choice of Dimitrov losing. However, you had Djokovic winning.

The final score:

funches: 77.5
Forehand_lob: 75

Had I picked Halep for biggest loser like I was leaning towards, I would have won, but I didn't. Neither of us did particularly well, you had 5 quarterfinalists, and I had 6. But congratulations on the win!

**Posted by funches** 1/11/2019 5:02 pm

Halep still has not won a match since August.

Not the optimal way to enter the Australian Open, but if she can get by her first few matches, she should be OK.