The Week Ahead: USO Men’s Draw
Posted by Brodie under: The Week Ahead, USO
(Women’s draw breakdown here).
Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Rafa, Fed, Nole, Muzz, Sod, Kolya, Berd, Nando
Rafa should more or less walk to the quarterfinals. Ljubs could be a threat but in 5 sets? Yeah, no.
The bottom quarter is hella juicy. Ferru/Dolg first round with Ernie, and then Fernando/Foghat first round with Nalby. Yikes. Your guess is as good as mine. 5 sets will be tough for Nalby, but I really think that he has been playing well enough to beat Nando and have a serious impact here.
Quarterfinal: Rafa vs. Headbandian
Some interesting match-ups here, as early in the first round (Jules/Steps, Youz/Golubev, Berd/Llodra) but at the end of the day, this quarter is all about Muzz and Berd.
A lot of people were jumping to conclusions about this half with Muzz and Rafa, but I say not so fast. First of all, Nalby has a legit shot against Rafa (hell, Ernie might too) and Berd is one hell of a problem for Muzz. Andy does love his beloved hard courts, but Berd has had some success on the surface this year with the Miami final, and of course has been delivering the goods in 5 set matches.
Muzz doesn’t love the big servers and can get far too passive against them at times. Did I mention that Berd has been dynamite in the past two slams?
Quarterfinal: Muzz vs. Berd
This is Nole’s quarter to lose, and in my eye, the weakest of the quarters.
The top half features Kolya and Dick, both of whom have been non-existent since… well, I don’t remember. Neither have had fantastic years, really. Gael remains the only real challenge to either of those.
The bottom half features Nole, Bags, and Fish. Nole gets lucky in that he’ll only have to face one of those. In 5 sets I kind of like Baggy, but Fish does have the home field advantage. Still think Nole will find his way past either of them regardless.
Quarterfinal: Dick vs. Nole
It’s not a cake draw for Fed, but it sure is pretty damn easy. Sod also faces a pretty easy draw, though if Marin decides to wake up, that could be tough.
Fed’s form of late has been pretty damn impressive. Sod’s has… not. He was cutting it close in 3 set matches in Toronto and Cincy, which is bad news for 5 sets. He’s probably ok to make it to the quarters, but unless he can find top form heading into a possible Fed match-up, he’s in trouble.
Quarterfinal:Sod vs. Fed
Semifinals: Rafa vs. Berd, Dick vs. Fed
Final: Rafa vs. Fed
Champion: Rafa
Good picks. I think it will be a Fed-Nadal final too, but I think if it does come to that that Fed will win. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.