Andy Murray outlasts Juan Martin del Potro to win the Rogers Masters in Montreal
Editor's note: On Aug. 17, Ravi Ubha began unveiling the top 10 reasons to watch the 2009 U.S. Open. Check back each weekday until Aug. 28 as we count down to No. 1.
No. 8: Time ripe for del Potro, Azarenka to take next step
Serena Williams is the clear-cut favorite in New York. Odds are one of the Big Four emerges victorious in the men's draw.
Don't, however, discount a maiden Grand Slam finalist for a second straight year, following in the footsteps of Andy Murray and Jelena Jankovic.
The leading male contender must be Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, whose lackadaisical demeanor between points belies his fierce baseline hitting. A hiccup on grass, the sport's trickiest surface, aside, del Potro continues to learn -- and quick.
Any inferiority complex he had is probably gone, since the 20-year-old knocked off Rafael Nadal and Murray earlier this year and extended Roger Federer to five sets on clay in Paris, not del Potro's favored surface. (That would be hard courts, by the way.) Del Potro showed plenty of heart in topping Andy Roddick in Washington to repeat as Legg Mason champ, and did the same to advance to the final at this past week's Montreal Masters. Now he needs to work on his fitness.
Look out for Nikolay Davydenko. By this time, Davydenko should have been a Grand Slam finalist at least twice (French Open 2005 and 2007), although nerves got in the way. A splendid summer, highlighted by back-to-back titles in Hamburg, Germany, and Umag, Croatia, along with a quarterfinal showing in Montreal, means the two-time U.S. Open semifinalist is more than dangerous.
Victoria Azarenka knows no fear and downed Williams in her own backyard in April. Sure, the latter wasn't completely healthy, but Azarenka led Williams convincingly at the Australian Open before illness took its toll. Only Williams and world No. 1 Dinara Safina have beaten the grunting 20-year-old at 2009 majors.
An ankle injury surfaced at the wrong time for Vera Zvonareva, keeping the 24-year-old out of the French Open and ending her Wimbledon sooner than expected. The season started so well, as Zvonareva achieved a first Grand Slam semifinal in Melbourne, backing up a tremendous 2008. If healthy, Zvonareva is another candidate.
Ravi Ubha is a London-based journalist. He holds a business degree from McGill University and a journalism diploma from Concordia University, both in Montreal, where he formerly covered baseball and hockey. Ubha is a tennis and soccer contributor to ESPN.com, also featuring in other publications, and does play-by-play in tennis.
Kamakshi Tandon is a freelance writer and tennis junkie who contributes regularly to ESPN. She has also written for Tennis magazine, Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires. Tandon is based in Toronto.
Sandra Harwitt, a graduate of New York University's School of Journalism, covers tennis for various media outlets. Harwitt has been accepted to pursue a part-time master of science in strategic communications at Columbia University. She is based in South Florida and New York.
Matt Wilansky is the tennis editor for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 1998 after graduating with a B.A. in communication from the University of Hartford.
