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I'm fairly confident that Roger Federer is going to dominate the men's side but it's almost a complete toss-up as to who's winning the female version. I'm quite the tennis hooligan, but I'm curious as to what the rest of you think. My predictions:

Men's:
(Semi) Roger Federer over Andy Roddick - Roddick has a home crowd advantage as well as a wicked serve that will only get hotter on the fast courts in Queens, but Federer's too good.
(Semi) Rafeal Nadal over Andre Agassi - Agassi has been looking very good and basically every tennis fan in the US has the utmost respect for him, but the long haul of two weeks of intense tennis will be very rough for a thirty-five year old. The aged former hero will fall to the sport's brightest young (and absurdly talented) star.
(Final) Roger Federer over Rafeal Nadal - I hate to be a tool for pitting the top two seeds against each other, but Federer's too good and Nadal's too talented. In this rematch of the French it's going the other way, but it will be mega-intense.

Women's:
(Semi) Lindsay Davenport over Amelie Mauresmo - I absolutely adore Mauresmo's game, but Davenport can overpower just about any woman in the game save Sharapova and the Williams sisters. Mauresmo isn't lacking in finesse, but she doesn't have any huge shots that can blow past Davenport.
(Semi) Kim Clijsters over Maria Sharapova - Sharapova has huge potential, but awkwardness due to her recent growth spurt (something like two inches taller since winning Wimbledon last year) and erratic game are going to hold her back. Look for her to win two or three of the Slam tourneys in '06. Clijsters is a very poised player who can take advantage of any of Sharapova's mistakes and should flourish on the hard courts. Again, I do sort of feel like a tool for picking the top four seeds and ignoring the Williams sisters, but this is just what I believe will happen.
(Final) Lindsay Davenport over Kim Clijsters - Davenport ressurected her game last year, with longtime rivals Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis out of the picture, and shows the teenagers that 29 is still young enough. In a rematch of a semifinal in the French Open where she sustained her back injury (I think 2001 or 2000....), Davenport proves to be the more determined of the two veterans and America rejoices at the sight of an American winning the U.S. Open.

Edit

Fluoride is u-o, Flourish is o-u...

This post has been edited by laszlow on 29th August 2005 19:55

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Your predictions on the men's side seem to be hurting so far.

I'm a casual fan, not huge. I went to the Open for a night last year, but didn't get free tickets this time around, unfortunately. Saw V. Williams dismantle someone I'd not heard of, after losing the first set.

Anyway, this year, with Roddick and Nadal out, I think Federer will cruise. Unfortunate, as I've always liked Agassi and would like to see him pull something out of thin air at what looks to be his last Open, but I think Federer's too much for the remaining field. I think I agree with your women's singles choices, though.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I love how everyone on ESPN just assumed Roddick would win. But truth to be told, Roddick came up very short when it mattered the most. An unheard of 3 set tie-breakers and he just seemed to get worse and worse in each one. He really didn't show any resolve at all in his match.
And with this loss, I have to start questioning Roddick. I mean, I love the guy. He is a great tennis player and still has the future of the greatest American player since Sampras. But that's all it is is potential. He hasn't lived up to that potential he has in his career. So much so that his biggest feet has been dating Mandy Moore and more recently, Maria Sharapova (She's been in the league a third of the time he has and she's already more successful. How about that). I think Roddick is due for a nice shot at redemption, though it won't happen this year.
As for the rest of the field, like Josh said, with Roddick knocked out, and Agassi half the player he once was, Federer will breeze into the US Open title. The most trouble that Federer will encounter will be if he faces Leyton Hewitt or Rapheal Nadal, though I've seen enough of Nikolai Davydenko to know how tough of a match he can put up. Still, Federer will be champ again.

As for the women's bracket, I could easily see a huge upset in the works. I'm calling that, not one, but BOTH Williams sisters will get knocked out by Maria Kirilinko. Speaking of the Williams sisters, I honestly think neither of them will win a title again. They're too distracted with their appeal in modeling, art, reality tv shows. They aren't focused enough on their game to win again. Certainly not focused enough to beat an up-and-comer like Kirilinko. I look at Serena like the Manny Ramirez of tennis. She's good, but too much of a distraction. The first round highlights on Sportscenter wanted to focus more on the fact she wore $40,000 earrings, and that one of them fell out. There was not even one shot of her opponent, which to me is completely disrespectful, no matter how much that opponent may suck.
Anyway, back to the bracket, my Final 4 looks like Sharapova, Clijsters, Henin-Herdenne, and Davenport. A Sharapova-Davenport final in my book with Davenport taking it in straight sets.

This post has been edited by Sabin on 31st August 2005 17:24

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

Wow, folks, it's pretty windy over there right now (jest reported over 30 mph). If these conditions continue today, I wonder how that'll screw with the players playing today.

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Console RPG Cliches

Seeing Set 2 and most of Set 3, I thought Agassi had a chance at something quite storybook. Ah, well, he's still a god in my book.

And if anyone watched the Women's Doubles final today, have you actually seen a more interesting doubles match in quite a while? I was really impressed with the action.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Andre ran out of gas in that third set. He was cruising along, but hit a wall when he was up 4-2, and it was all downhill from there. I would've loved to see Agassi win it, but it was a nice run for him.

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear