2012 U.S. Open Preview (Day Four)
Day Four of the 2012 U.S. Open will feature a number of top seeds still in the draw, as top-seeded Roger Federer will continue his quest for U.S. Open glory as he faces Germany’s Bjorn Phau under the lights at 7:00 p.m. EST at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Following Federer-Phau and closing out the nightcap, sixth-seeded German Angelique Kerber faces American Venus Williams. Kerber reached the semis at the Open last year, and has twice been a winner over Venus in 2012, at the Madrid Open and at the 2012 London Olympics.
Things kick off at Ashe at 11:00 a.m. as 12th seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic faces the unseeded Swede Sofia Arvidsson in second round women’s action. Arvidsson was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm Tuesday, while Ivanovic advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine. The men take Ashe immediately following, as Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko will take on American Mardy Fish. The Day Session closes at Ashe as the number four seeded Serena Williams looks to return to the finals as she faces Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
At Louis Armstrong Stadium, 14th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko begins play at 11:00 a.m. against Hungary’s Greta Arn. Less than a week ago, Kirilenko was defeated by Petra Kvitova in the finals of the New Haven Open, but rebounded nicely in round one with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over South African Chanelle Scheepers. Upstart American Sloane Stephens will continue her run on Thursday as she faces Germany’s Tatjana Malek. Stephens is fresh off her huge Tuesday upset over 22nd-seeded Francesca Schiavone and looks to continue her magical run at the Open. Men’s singles action will be played at Louis Armstrong as well as the number five seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on Martin Klizan of Slovakia, while American James Blake faces the 24th-seeded Marcel Granollers. Blake defeated Lukas Lacko in round one with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.
On the Grandstand, 11th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro will face Germany’s Philipp Petzschner, the number two-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska will face Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, American Sam Querrey faces Spain’s Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, and closing out things on the Grandstand will be 10th-seeded Italian Sara Errani facing Russian Vera Dushevina.
On Court 17, there will be an all-American vibe as Jack Sock, who was leading 6-3, 6-2, 3-2 over the 22nd seeded Florian Mayer before Mayer was forced to retire will face Italy’s Flavio Cipolla in men’s singles action, and return with his mixed-doubles teammate Melanie Oudin to defend their Mixed-Doubles title against the fifth-seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik (Slovakia) & Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia). Also on Court 17, 15th-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic takes on France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in men’s singles action, and 30th-seeded Jelena Jankovic takes on Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino.
And although the curtain may have dropped on the women’s singles career of Belgium’s Kim Clijsters after her 7-6, 7-6 loss to Great Britain’s Laura Robson Wednesday afternoon, she will join her doubles partner and fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens as they face Chia-Jung Chuang & Shuai Zhang on Court 4. She is also playing mixed-doubles with four-time U.S. Open mixed-doubles champion Bob Bryan. A victory in the first round (they have not yet been scheduled to play) by Clijsters & Bryan would set up a potential second round match against Lisa Raymond & Bob’s brother, Mike Bryan. In other doubles action today, Raymond and partner Liezel Huber begin the defense of their 2011 women’s
doubles title against Eleni Daniilidou & Casey Dellacqua, and the USTA Girls’ 18s champions Samantha Crawford & Alexandra Kiick will also be in action.
Celebrities expected to attend for Day Four of the U.S. Open include actress Vivica A. Fox, and actors Shea Wigham and Tyson Beckford. Celebrities in attendance yesterday included actresses Sofia Vergara and Rosie Perez, actor Sendhil Ramamurthy, New York Ranger Brad Richards and New York Met Dillon Gee.
Other highlighted matchups on the day include:
â–ºSlovakian Dominika Cibulkova, the number 13 seed, taking on Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski on Court 13
â–ºEstonian Jurgen Zopp taking on the sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych on Court 11
