U.S. Open Scoops & Observations: Thursday

There’s Rafa again on Armstrong from 11 am to 1 with Feliciano Lopez. Nadal is hitting much better today, it’s the old Rafa, and back on the scene is Uncle Toni. Nadal and Lopez do a drill where they play points off of the first ball feed deep, but not hard, to the backhand of the other, then they play it out. F-Lo screams in agony twice after misses. F-Lo also is embarrassed when he hits the simple feed into the net one time.

Rafa and F-Lo take breaks and sit on chairs next to each other, chatting away. They are great friends. Nadal looks really strong today, close to the form even where I’m starting to believe this will be his tournament.

On grandstand, it’s Ferrer and Lu, the guy who beat Roddick at Wimbledon.

There are some impressive performances in qualifying matches. Laura Robson of England dominates Jelena Dokic 61 62 which is hard to watch as everyone has to love Dokic, especially after her amazing semifinal run in Melbourne in 2009. Dokic has struggled ever since that phenomenal surge. Teenager lefty Robson looks taller and stronger now than she did in Hopman Cup in January and it looks like she has tinkered some with her service motion. An interested spectator who stopped by to see some points of this match was fellow teen prospect Michelle Larcher De Brito.

Bernard Tomic of Australia knocked off the #1 seed Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 60 26 63. Tomic showed a very good, hard to read serve with pinpoint placement. His backhand is also very solid. Tomic plays a unique game in that he hits every ball differently, using different speeds and spins. He may not be the best athlete, but he is a very smart and talented player. He has a softness and grace about his movements, especially for a bigger player.

Mirjana Lukic – remember her? – was Superwoman today. I saw her hold serve to force a third set tiebreak, which she fell behind quickly 0-4. An untouchable Lucic rocket backhand crosscourt winner then ignited her to claw back to 3-4 but Ekaterina Dzehalevich stung the Croatian veteran with another drop shot and forced another error to reach 6-3. Amazingly, Lucic saved three match points. She had to save another at 6-7 but won three points in a row to win the match. Lucic was absolutely ecstatic – you could tell how much this meant to her – and hugged her coach and family and friends before sitting down. Lucic played with an intensity that seemed like her life was on the line. It was beautiful to see such heart and joy on the court.

Josselin Ouanna defeated Jarmere Jenkins on Court 7, 67 62 63 with a large audience which included Donald Young, Robin Givens and Lori McNeil.

The match of the day, pardon me, night, had to be Ryan Harrison vs. Rui Machado on Court 4. Harrison was up early 3-1 but then squandered the set 5-7 to the feisty and lightning quick welterweight from Portugal. It was a packed house, with Larcher De Brito – she’s still here? She was at the Robson match in the morning. And younger brother Christian Harrison is standing near us watching the action behind rows of fans. Ryan Harrison pulled out the second set in a tight tiebreak but then fell behind 0-3 in the third. I left in the second set but a friend texted me that Harrison was cramping and serving underhand. The next time I look at the score, astoundingly I see that Harrison wins four games in a row. It’s 4-3 Harrison. Then it’s over, 6-3 for Harrison. Talk about a performer. Are we about to see the breakout U.S. Open for Ryan Harrison? If you haven’t seen Harrison, he looks headed to the big time. Big serve, tremendous defense, big hitter from the baseline, steady, smart. I really like his athleticism, intelligence, poise and intensity.

From a friend: “Wacky match. I left after second set but got play-by-play from friends who stayed. First set Harrison up 5-2 and loses 7-5. Going nuts and cursing, throwing racquet. Goes up 5-3 second set with multiple set points. Set gets tied at 5-5, Harrison ends up winning. Third set as you know Harrison down 0-3 starts cramping and hopping on one leg. Can only serve underhand. The underhand serve is wicked with low slicing spin. Machado can’t handle it and match is tied at 3-3. Machado starts cramping and Harrison with more underhand serves wins 6-3.”

Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania was down a break early 2-3 but I come back later and he’s doing a TV interview on the side. He closed out Juan Sebastien Cabal of Colombia, 75 63.

On Armstrong, we see Hewitt with Melzer. With the early afternoon sun high in the sky, Hewitt’s serve is looking unreliable and inconsistent – with one misfire landing in the bottom of the net. Minus ex-coach Nathan Healey, Hewitt has a friend with him today but he looks like a shell of his once-great self. He’s not as quick now, too many backhands – once his vaunted weapon – hit net, however his volleys are still crisp and sharp. During one changeover, Hewitt is reading what appears to be a copy of the just released draw sheet. Who ever said players don’t look at the draws? Hewitt shows no visible reaction like kicking his chair when he finds yet again, he has to player that guy Federer in the third round of a slam.

Later we see Verdasco hit with Giraldo of Colombia on Armstrong, before Djokovic and Tipsarevic take over. Djokovic is such a magnificent player but he appears flat, his serve still looks wrong, you can just see his once mighty confidence is lost. I really hope he can find it and get back to the spectacular level he showed us years ago.

Davydenko is with Soderling on grandstand.

Another player who impressed was Jerzy Janowicz of Poland who blasted Frederic Nielsen with huge Karlovic-like serves to win 64 63. JJ also has a solid baseline game, good movement for a big man – he has to be about 6-7 or 6-8. If you’re a fan of the Karlovic-Isner style, you will like Janowicz. Both Radwanska sisters came out to support Jerzy-J.

Other winners today were Blake Strode, Kevin Kim, Irini Falconi and Nicolas Mahut.

Lucic saves four MPs

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