US Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 02 September 2008 /

Sean Calvert was at Flushing Meadows again to see Nadal being tested by big-serving Sam Querrey and Murray breeze past Wawrinka. Plus the best of the rest.

Anxious to avoid another session in the sweat pits of Armstrong and Grandstand, I arrived fashionably late for Day Eight of the US Open - six hours late to be precise.

The ticket check guy at the East Gate of the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre couldn't quite understand why I had turned up at 5pm with a day pass, but he clearly hasn't been toughing it in insufferable heat for the last few days. Well not on court anyway.

The early Labor Day schedule looked eminently missable with only the likes of Mardy Fish, Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo on display early on, so I opted to spend my bank holiday morning in the more relaxed surroundings of some 5th Avenue air conditioned stores instead.

Just as I strolled through the gates I saw the muscular figure of Rafa Nadal revelling in a surprisingly hard fought victory over home favourite Sam Querrey and thus far the Spaniard has looked a touch vulnerable on these courts for my money.

Next up on Ashe was scheduled to be Venus Williams v Agnieszka Radwanska, so I suffered a set of that before losing interest in what was another routine straight sets victory for Venus, so I thought I'd have a wander round to see what else was on offer.

It was still well into the 80's even after 5pm, but Grandstand always offers a break from the sun, so I went courtside for a men's doubles clash between Dmitry Tursunov/Igor Kunitsyn and Bruno Soares/Dusan Vemic.

Not exactly household names those, but it was infinitely preferable to the excruciating chants of "USA, USA (etc etc ad nauseum)" that were emanating from next door as the Bryan brothers were on Armstrong.

I'm not much of a doubles man, but it did give me the chance to see just how hard Tursunov hits the ball from very close range and he does give it a fair old thump.

The other reason for nabbing a courtside seat was that Juan Martin Del Potro v Kei Nishikori was scheduled next and I thought it would pay to suffer a quick doubles two or three setter if it meant keeping great seats for the next match.

All I had to do was sit and wait, right? Wrong. The match went long - very long and it was switched to Armstrong where seating was very much at a premium and because I was courtside I had to wait until Soares and Vemic won the breaker before moving.

After Nishikori downed my bet the other day and also because the court was swamped with suddenly-interested-in-tennis Japanese fans, which I found annoying, I was firmly in the lanky Argentine's camp.

Del Potro started very nervously though, using up two challenges in his first game and going 3-0 down quickly to the delight of a large proportion of Armstrong.

He soon got into his stride though and won seven straight games to take a stranglehold on the match that he did not relinquish.

Best moment in this one came when Nishikori skied a forehand off the frame and a Japanese guy in a wheelchair stretched out an arm and took a great catch in the disabled section just behind courtside. Both he and the crowd loved that one.

It was my final night on Ashe though and as soon as Serena Williams eased through her match I headed there for Andy Murray v Stan Wawrinka.

I was expecting the usual shocking order on Ashe with people having lengthy and boring conversations on mobiles and shouting at inappropriate moments, not to mention the obligatory and tedious 'lets all see if we can get on the big screen' moment during the changeovers, but it didn't really happen.

The big screen nonsense did of course and I wondered what would happen if these fans were transported to say Lord's and made to watch sport without a television inspired break every five seconds. I believe they would struggle.

What we were treated to pre-match this time was some actors from a tv show I've never heard of called Entourage attempting to hit some balls into the crowd.

Brilliant. Their technique didn't quite allow these guys to get the ball higher than roughly courtside, but people seemed to enjoy it for reasons best known to themselves.

It turned out to be rather more of a challenge than the match was for Murray, as Wawrinka was unable to produce anything like his best form.

The Scot breezed through the first set and there was a distinctly subdued atmosphere on Ashe as the crowd felt a bit sorry for the Swiss number two, who incidentally is the spitting image of my brother-in-law.

Sadly for Wawrinka he played like him tonight and Murray was never in trouble in a comfortable victory to set up a match with Del Potro in the quarters.

The highlight of the match as far as the spectators were concerned was a half-hearted Mexican wave, which the umpire put a stop to in no uncertain terms.

Even a gang of Murray fans situated just in front of me sloped off after the second set with the job pretty much done.

I soon did the same and my last night session was over rather quickly. I'll be back on Ashe tomorrow though for the final time for Tommy Robredo v Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer v Igor Andreev and yes I will be packing the factor 50 and a sunhat.

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