US Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 05 September 2008 / Leave a comment

Sean Calvert was at Flushing Meadows as usual last night to watch Federer and Djokovic book their way into the semis and old timers Michael Chang and Todd Martin dust away the cobwebs on their rackets.

Day 11 of the 2008 US Open and time for the remaining men's quarter final matches to be completed. Would it lead to a repeat of last year's final between Djokovic and Federer?

The formbook and the odds suggested so, but first up on Ashe was Gilles Muller, hoping to continue his giant-killing run from the qualifiers to the semis and he started confidently against the Swiss number one, taking it to a breaker.

Federer wasn't about to let a qualifer take the lead though and he closed it out by seven points to five to take control of the match early on.

Muller wasn't going to let all his hard work go to waste though and he won three straight games on serve in the second set without dropping a point, until he came a cropper in game nine when Federer broke and had the chance to serve for the set at 5-4.

It was an opportunity that Fed was never likely to pass up and he duly converted his first set point to take a surely unassailable two sets to love lead over the giant from Luxembourg.

This was only mildly satisfying though, as the wildcard has cost me enough times in this event for his defeat not to matter too much now - notably during his win over an incredulous Davydenko.

Veteran commentator Bill Macatee and John McEnroe were trying to think of things to say and were running out of topics by this stage, so their researchers came up with some handy facts about Luxembourg.

For instance, did you know that Luxembourg has less than 500,000 residents, which is apparently less than Rhode Island? No, neither did I, but I do now.

Slightly more interesting is the fact that according to Mac, Muller didn't even bother to book a hotel room because he didn't expect to make it through qualifying and his surprise success has meant that he's had to keep switching hotel rooms.

I'm sure he's got a place to stay tonight though before presumably heading back to central Europe with some well earned ranking points in the bag.

It was far from a full house on Ashe, which is disappointing for a grand slam quarter final involving the four time defending champion and the atmosphere was a touch flat once Federer had taken a firm grip on the game.

I know that there were still tickets available for the day sessions this week and the night sessions were a sell-out, but you would have expected a better turn out for one of the greatest players ever to grace the game. Can you imagine seats for a Wimbledon quarter final on Centre Court remaining unsold at face value?

Muller was still hanging on in there and he served well enough again to take the third set to a breaker and he had his chances in it too, being 5-3 ahead at one stage before Federer closed it out in clinical fashion.

It was another patchy performance from Federer and another which was filled with emotion. At one point I distinctly heard a Lleyton Hewitt-style "Come On!!" emerge from the number two seed's lips after hitting a winner, which shows how much this year's title means to him.

There was a long wait between Federer's victory and the appearance of Novak Djokovic and opponent Andy Roddick, but this being America the fans were blessed with an exhibition match between - yes you've guessed it - two Americans.

Two very old Americans in Michael Chang and Todd Martin who were wheeled out in the best traditions of Americans revering their former 'greats'. At least Chang won a grand slam, which is more than can be said for serve and volley journeyman Martin.

It filled a slot anyway and for the record, Martin advanced to the final by eight games to four.

It was the one the home crowd had been waiting for next, however Mr Roddick did not make the most confident of starts, as he lost his serve immediately.

In fact, the Nebraskan was broken three times in all during the first set, which Djokovic took 6-2 and Roddick's racquet went in first game of 2nd set as a visible sign of his frustration.

Things didn't get much better for Roddick as the set went on because Djokovic, who was unwisely persisting with this year's lime green clothing look, increased his lead to two sets.

It looked grim for Roddick and I was becoming increasingly annoyed with the blatantly biased commentary from former doubles weirdo Luke Jensen and his summariser counterpart, who were clearly both rooting for A-Rod.

Sadly I was stuck with it, as John McEnroe was nowhere to be found and I was in danger of nodding off at this point in time, as it was approaching 3 am.

The number eight seed wasn't done though and with nothing to lose he opted for an all-out attack policy for the next two sets that perhaps he would have been well advised to utilise from the beginning.

Roddick cranked up the pace of his serve and the 140 mph big guns were wheeled out, along with the all or nothing forehands which used to be his stock-in trade when he blasted his way to the title here in days gone by.

He broke Djokovic early and eased through his remaining service games to take the set 6-3 and when Roddick broke in game seven of the fourth set, it looked like an unlikely fifth set was imminent. Djokovic was suddenly on the ropes.

The American was 5-4 and 30-0 ahead on serve and had just blasted down a 142 mph bomb followed by another one mph faster, but then he lost it and double faulted twice, giving the Serbian the chance he needed and a neat lob levelled it at 5-5.

It went to a breaker and when a Roddick drop shot found the net it gave Djokovic the opportunity to complete the win and set up a mouth-watering clash with Federer in the semi finals.

There was a bit of needle out there between the two players after Roddick's barely disguised comments about Djokovic's constant moaning about injury and illness and intimation that he calls the trainer onto court unnecessarily.

The crowd didn't like it too much and Djokovic could have his work cut out against Federer in the next game as far as support goes, but quite frankly I'm sure the Serbian couldn't care less. He's into the semis and he has a day off to recover as attention turns to the women's semi' this evening and I can look forward to having some decent sleep - there's no night session tonight thankfully.