6-3, 6-3, 6-2

An awesome Federer beat an under par Stepanek in straight sets yesterday in round 3 of the US Open, it was Federer's most convincing victory of the year where you saw him give his best performance since his ‘mono' illness last year.

This was very new to watch as in previous matches he was always struggling a little bit, always lacked that little bit of energy - which is strange as he still won nearly all his games, he just didn't have that extra bit. Yesterday though, he seemed the unstoppable player we all have come to love, just watching some of those backhands down the line, volleying, and precise serving - we got to see the pure instinctive Federer.

I felt quite sorry for Stepanek, I said he was under par but really had no chance, the game started full speed, Federer won the first game with 2 aces without dropping a point. He pushed Stepanek's serves in the first set and managed to get his break in the 4^th. After that is was bread and butter for Federer. The same happened in the second set. Please do remember Stephanek beat Federer in a recent masters series, and he is ranked 28^th in the world and was once amongst the top 10, so definitely not a player to just make up numbers.

The final set was a shock as Federer dropped his serve, he was serving into the wind and things got very gusty during his game and caused him to make a few errors. To show how Federer dictated the game, he was 0-2 down that set and won it 6-2. I have always said this, but when Federer plays at his best he always looks as though he can pick and choose which games he wants to win.

A fine victory for the world number 2, if he can take this form into every game I feel he can win this tournament and make it look easy! Unless Rafa has an answer to this performance, but I feel Nadal and only Nadal could have a chance to stop Federer in his finest form.

On the women's side, I have no clue. If this were just another tour event, I'd pick one of the Russians or one of the girls from an eastern European country with names that would cramp my fingers if I tried to spell them, but because this is a major, I'm leaning toward one of the Williams sisters. If I had to guess, I'd go with Serena. I don't think Venus can win back-to-back majors this year.

So, who's it going to be for the men's and women's championships?

The career-ruining, cradle-robbing, worm dancing Radek Stepanek was seen with Maria Sharapova on the Roland Garros practice courts before Maria's 4th round match. Just a casual conversation with him caused her to choke away match point against Safina. Coincidence? I think not. Camilla better tell him to back up off of her woman.

Endelig har teknogudene (og Lyses helpdesk) kommet meg i møte, og det resulterte i den første timen med levende tennis fra French Open for i år. Jeg har fått Eurosport 2 også! Halleluja!

Jeg kom inn på slutten av kampen Ferrer-Stepanek. Ferrer spilte stort i slutten av det fjerde settet, og brøt til 4-0 i det siste. Stepanek hadde krefter til en siste innsats, og kom tilbake til 3-4, samtidig som han pumpet seg kraftig opp. Da kunne han servet seg til 4-4, men i stedet brøt Ferrer, før han ristet av seg nervene fra midten av settet og tok siste sett hjem 6-3.

Kampen varte i underkant av tre timer, og det er ikke så lenge for en gruskamp som varer i tre timer. Både Ferrer og Stepanek spilte positiv tennis, hvor de prøvde å avgjøre poengene selv i stedet for å vente på feil. Med andre ord ikke den typiske "vent på en feil"-tennisen som blant andre (sorry, Tor Morten) Alex Corretja perfeksjonerte. Selv om han er spanjol, spiller Ferrer med relativt lite overskru. Det samme gjør Stepanek, som spiller på ganske små marginer.

Ferrer måtte spille fem sett i dag. Hans neste motstander er Mofils, som slo en sliten Ljubicic i fire. Vinneren av Ferrer-Monfils møter vinneren av Gonzalez-Federer. Kampen mellom Federer og Gonzalez blir en god pekepinn på hvor god Federer er akkurat nå. Gonzalez har vunnet to små grusturneringer i år. Jeg har likevel vanskelig for å se at han skal ta tre sett mot Federer i Paris.

Let's go to today's action and find the man of the day... IVAN LJUBICIC!!!

Why, you say? Firstly he was down 2-0 against the 4th best clay player, the robotic Davydenko. Second, he has fallen down from top 3-4 to #30 very fast and with no good results to show in recent time. Third, he is one of the BIG guys with the big serve as main weapon. History shows that these guys succeed more on hard courts and grass. Fact of the matter is Ljubi played great tennis, few errors and made Davydenko come up with the good stuff. He wasn't able anymore after the first two sets, and Ivan took over. Great match, great setting and a great result for the big guy from Croatia. Kinda the only surprise left, apart from Chardy in the last 16.

Gonzalez did the same thing today, but you would excpect him to play a lot better than what he showed during the first two sets. Gonzo is a rollercoaster of another dimension and needs stability to get a big title. Wawrinka playing his best is perhaps not as good as Gonzo playing his best. That's why Gonzo won, I think.

Ok, here's a breakdown of the remaining candidates:
Federer-Benneteau (Federer just torn Ancic apart, will do it to Benne as well)
Gonzo-Ginepri (is this for real?! If Gonzo loses this, shame on him!)
Ljubicic-Monfils (this could go either way, depending on mental strength+best tennis possible)
Stepanek-Ferrer (probably to of the biggest dark horses to win the entire thing, super match!)
Gulbis-Llodra (big chance for both of them, is Gulbis mature enough to take it? 50-50 IMO)
Mathieu-Djokovic (either Mathieu plays his best and has a chance, or plays poorly and gets humiliated at home)
Chardy-Almagro (bye bye Chardy, Almagro losing this would be a big upset! who knows?)
Verdasco-Nadal (bye bye Verdasco. never beaten him, never even close, except for once on grass..Nadal in 3 I'm afraid)

The United States lost 2-0 Thursday to Sweden, which advanced to the World Team Cup final in the Red Group.

James Blake lost 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 to undefeated Robin Soderling and Thomas Johansson stopped Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Also in the Red Group, Argentina and the Czech Republic are tied 1-1. In the Blue Group, Russia leads Germany 1-0 and Spain leads Italy 1-0.

The winner of the Blue Group will face Sweden in Saturday’s final.

Blake, ranked No. 8, tried to remain upbeat heading into the French Open, which starts Sunday.

“Hopefully this match will not affect me,” Blake said of his second loss in three matches. “I’ll put these last couple of sets out of my mind and get ready for Paris. Maybe it’s easier to go there that way, than going down with a real tight one and thinking I can’t close out matches.”

Tomas Berdych defeated Guillermo Canas 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to give the Czechs an early lead before Juan Ignacio Chela stopped Michal Tabara 6-0, 6-4.

Spain got its point from David Ferrer, who defeated Potito Starace of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Igor Andreev put Russia ahead of Germany by defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-3.