Day 1 U.S. Open Matches

Max Mirnyi over Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6)
Baghdatis just hasn't had as good of a year in 2007 as he did in 2006, although he started playing better during the U.S. Open Series. Mirnyi hasn't had great singles results in quite some time, though, so Bagman was the favorite in this one. But when Mirnyi comes to the net so often (I think he approached 140 times this match) against who player whose confidence isn't completely stable,the it can put overwhelming pressure on the opponent. Even though Max has long been more of a doubles star, he always seems to still be around in singles when I'm at the Open over Labor Day weekend. Hopefully he'll be able to beat Grosjean in round two and make yet another 3rd round appearance in singles.

Andy Murray over Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-3, 6-0
I always thought Murray's first-round match at the Open would tell us everything about his prospects in this tournament, and if that's the case, that's a glorious thing for Murray. I have no idea who Cuevas is, but if you win a match 2, 3, and 0 in the main draw of the Open, you have to be playing some decent tennis regardless of the opponent. Plus Cuevas came through qualifying so he must have been playing decent tennis. I don't think anyone's ready to proclaim Murray completely healthy, but obviously his wrist injury was getting better. Initially I thought Murray would have no chance against Bjorkman in the 2nd round (I was thinking ahead because I assumed he'd at least be able to beat Cuevas), but now I think he has a solid chance in that one and once he gets another match and more confidence under his belt, who knows what could happen if he prevails over Bjorkman.

Feliciano Lopez over Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
This isn't too much of a shock but the apparent ease with which Lopez did it certainly is. Ferrero had that one run to the U.S. Open final in 2003, but other than that he hasn't been too stellar on hard courts. Lopez, meanwhile, has the huge serve and power baseline game to thrive on the faster surfaces. So I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. After all, he also destroyed Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of last year's U.S. Open.