La Armada Out in Force, Simone a Happy Loser, and Mopey Murray Returns

Andy Murray is out of the US Open, but I haven't completely dealt with that yet, so let's talk about the good first.

Outside of the above statement, everything so far has gone as expected today in Flushing Meadows and La Armada Invencible is out in full force.  Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, and Tommy Robredo all won their 3rd round matches today.  Nadal, Lopez, Ferrer, and Verdasco are all in the same quarter of the draw, which means that there will definitely be a Spanish semi-finalist this year.

Nadal will meet Lopez in the 4th round, and Verdasco will play Ferrer.  I do think that it is unfortunate that they all have to play each other and only one will prevail in that section of the draw, but they will be exciting matches none the less.  In Nadal's post-match press conference, when asked about about Spain's showing at this year's Open he said,

Already one Spanish player going to be in semi-finals. That is positive news for us. Especially is very positive because I think, for the ball and for the court, is probably the most difficult tournament for us, no? So that is very important news for the Spanish tennis.

Just congratulate my friends. Best of luck for everybody.

I did think it was interesting that his in presser he said that it is not the court that he has problems with at the US Open, rather it is the ball.  The ball is apparently softer and stays lower to the ground.

Nadal sent home Gilles Simone in his 3rd round win, and I've never seen a player so happy to lose.  His girlfriend just gave birth to their first child Timothee, 1 month premature, and now he will return home to see his son for the first time.  There was obviously a happy exchange between Simone and Nadal at the net after the match. When asked what he said to Simone, he stated,

I just congratulate him because he is father now. For sure is good for him to come back home and see the son and everything. That's for sure gonna be nice for him. Just congratulate him for that.

 In Simone's post-match presser, he stated that he played well in the first two sets but,

...then the third set, I have to say that I was already in the plane.

Now getting to the sad stuff, at least to me.  Andy Murray lost in his 3rd round match today against Stanislas Wawrinka.  Initially it seemed Murray had it in the bag winning the first set, but then Wawrinka started to bring the heat and powered his way through the rest of the match.  Murray was clearly frustrated and his body language through most of the match was negative.  He was Mopey Murray once again.  In addition, during the match he had called the trainer out twice, once for his thigh and then again for his neck. In his post-match presser he stated,

He played better than me and that’s it. In the third and fourth sets, I was struggling physically. I tried to find a way to come back. I have not been in that position for a very long time. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Well, I still love some Muzz, and I really do think that once he can get the monkey off his back and win one major, he will have several under his belt before the end of his career.   It just, unfortunately, won't be in 2010.

In American news, Sam Querrey also advanced today over Nicolas Almagro, and John Isner is playing Mikhail Youzhny now, and it is tied a set a piece.

Update on Sunday, September 5, 2010 at 11:34PM by [OnTheGoTennis]

Youzhny def Isner 6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 to move to the round of 16