2012 U.S. Open Preview (Day 11)

After two days of threatening skies over Flushing Meadows, Day 11 of the 2012 U.S. Open is expected to be played under sunny skies with some cloud cover and nearly no chance of precipitation as action gets underway at 11:00 a.m. EST at Louis Armstrong Stadium with men’s singles quarterfinals, doubles action, the stars of tomorrow in junior action and a nighttime celebrity exhibition under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

With the women’s Final Four already set, the men’s field will be narrowed even further as at Arthur Ashe this afternoon, match number one in men’s quarterfinals will feature the eighth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic taking on the number four seed, David Ferrer of Spain. Tipsarevic defeated the 19th seed, Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 7-6(7-5), 6-2 for his spot in the quarters, but has been stirring up controversy via Twitter while at the Open, questioning the value of women’s tennis. He fired off the Tweet: "I really wouldn’t care at all if girls earn the same as guys if the same amount of effort is applied.#bestoffivesets," on Tuesday and has been met with criticism ever since. He didn’t make much of an effort at damage control either by following up that remark with: "Ok, so how many idiot do we have here thinking that, Wiliams, Stosur, Kirilenko, Li, Sharapova..ets(who are fitter then most of us guys)." We’ll see just how well he is received before the New York crowd today.

In the other men’s quarterfinal action, it will be number two-seeded and defending U.S. Open champ Novak Djokovic taking on the seventh-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Djokovic was leading the number 18 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 6-1, 3-1 yesterday before Wawrinka was forced to retire due to injury. And less than 24 hours ago, del Potro closed out the career of American Andy Roddick with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory on Ashe. In seven career matches, Djokovic holds a 5-2 edge, including a victory just last month in the Cincinnati Masters semifinals.

Before all that, things get started at 11:00 a.m. at Armstrong with the women’s doubles semifinals as the second-seeded Italian team of Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci face the number eight seeds, Nuria Llagostera Vives & Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez from Spain. Errani & Vinci, just yesterday, were on opposite sides of the net in the women’s quarterfinals action, as Errani defeated her doubles partner 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the women’s semis. Today, the duo regroup as they seek a shot at U.S. Open glory Saturday in the women’s doubles finals. Also at Armstrong, the second women’s semifinals match will feature the 16th-seeded team of Su-Wei Hsieh from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) teaming with Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues to take on the third-seeded Czech team of Andrea Hlavackova & Lucie Hradecka.

Men’s doubles action also takes the court at Armstrong on Thursday, as semifinal play sees the sixth-seeded Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez take on India’s Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, the fifth-seeded men’s team. The other semifinal match features the second-seeded Bryan Brothers seeking another trip to the finals as they face the number nine seeds, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan & Jean-Julien Rojer of The Netherlands.

Kicking off the Day Session at Ashe at noon, a new mixed-doubles champion will be crowned as the unseeded pairing of Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova & Brazil’s Bruno Soares face the fourth-seeded team of Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic & Marcin Matkowski of Poland.

Under the lights tonight at Ashe at 7:00 p.m., two of comedy’s reigning kings and New York natives, Kevin James and Adam Sandler, will pair up with former pros Jim Courier and John McEnroe for what is sure to be a night of fun and laughs. Expect the participants to be mic’d up as Sandler teams with McEnroe and James is paired up with Courier.

Second and third round junior action also takes place on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday as the next generation of the sport sees second and third round action. At 11:00 a.m. on Court 17, top-seeded American Taylor Townsend faces Elise Mertens of Belarus. The winner advances to face the winner of the match between Ossing, N.Y.’s Jamie Loeb and the 16th-seeded junior Marcela Zacarias of Mexico. Loeb and Zacarias will meet at 11:00 a.m. on Court 8. On Court 11 at 11:00 a.m., Victoria Duval, who has seen action in the main draw this year in the opening round against Kim Clijsters, will face the number three seed, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

Click here to view the full schedule for Day 11 of the 2012 U.S. Open.