Here are two members of The Samurai, the cheering squad for Sam Querrey, who were hanging out immediately after Querrey's gritty four set loss against Rafael Nadal. On the right is Dan Farrugia, a 19-year-old who's studying industrial and labor relations at Cornell and has known Mr. Querrey since the sixth grade; on left is Wes Burrows, a 21-year old tennis player at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

"We just wanted to stay respectful," said Mr. Farrugia.

The Samurai certainly did a much better job of it than James Blake's increasingly irritating cheer squad, The J-Block.

Despite the loss, it was a great day.  read more »

Sam Querrey just proved to the world that he's a real player. He made Rafael Nadal fight for 3 hours and 13 minutes in an incredibly satisfying four-set match. Nadal took the last set 6-3, thanks in large part to Querrey's seven blown break points in the seventh game.

In other action, the 2006 Wimbledon Champion Amelie Mauresmo lost very quietly to Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-0. Dinara Safina won in straight sets again, this time over Anna-Lena Groenefeld, and she is looking by far to be the best non-Williams in this Open.

Move over, J-Block! We've got a new American fan base in town. Sam Querrey's fan club, "The Samurai," is made up of a few bare-chested young fellows who spell out his first name on their bodies, and a few others with white headbands.

I really do prefer The Samurai to the low-rent attitude of the J-Block, what with their fratty and crude screaming (which James Blake actually caught a lot of heat for after his loss the other night). The Samurai sits in the player's box, not a luxury suite, and I caught them several times applauding winners and aces from Rafael Nadal.

They may need to switch it to another gear, though. Their boy, Querrey, is down a set against Nadal. 

Honestly, this might be the best day at the Open in years. Each marquee match offers a lot:

Mardy Fish v. Gael Monfils:

Fish is finally coming into form with an impressive victory over James Blake, and now he plays the wonderfully entertaining Gael Monfils who had that fantastic run to the French Open semis this year. Our pick: MONFILS

Rafael Nadal v. Sam Querrey:

We've fallen in love with Querrey, and with some crowd support he should be able to give Nadal a run. But we're still rooting for Nadal because the propsect of that Nadal-Federer final is just far too attractive an idea.  read more »

Every year, a new star or two is born at the Open by virtue of their off-the-court demonstrations as much as the work on it. Last year, it was all Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic. This year, we're developing a real soft spot for Querrey.

What follows are some excperts from his post-match press briefing after his win on Saturday over Ivo Karlovic. (A budding tennis star, but just like us!)

"My real goal now is to end the year in the top 32. I'd love to be seeded at the Australian Open next year to be start the year. That's kinda the goal I set for myself.  read more »

Week 1 of U.S. Open tennis draws to a conclusion at the end of the day, and with few upsets, we're looking at an incredibly promising second week. Top seeds today all moved to the next round fairly easily.

Rafael Nadal won in straight sets, making very quick work of up-and-comer Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.

Serena and Venus Williams appear headed toward a titanic quarterfinal match with the two sisters defeating Ai Sugiyama and Alona Bondarenko, respectively, by a score of 6-2, 6-1. Both are playing great, according to everyone except them.

("I think I'm definitely at my best now," said Venus after her match.  read more »

Sam Querrey, the 21-year-old American men's tennis player who has never made it past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament, is moving on to the Round of 16.

He just finished thrasing the lovable Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 in a nearly flawless performance: 45 winners to 13 unforced errors.

In the first round he upset No. 9 seed Tomas Berdych, and all these wonderful wins mean he'll be rewarded with a (likely) match against Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

"I made it to the CBS weekend!" he said in a press conference today. "That was the goal."

Also: there's a very good chance he'll have a prime-time match on Monday night on USA.

There have been a lot of questions at this year's Open about the state of American men's tennis. Asked where he expected the American game to be in five years, Vince Spadea, who lost in five sets to Marat Safin yesterday, said that there are always one or two players who rise above the rest. "So I think there's probably going to be one or two of those guys," he said. "I don't know. It could be maybe Querrey. He's got to do it soon. Maybe Young if he gets organized and focused. There's a couple of younger players, Harrison. I haven't really studied the young, young guys.  read more »

No surprises so far today. Martina Hingis and Lleyton Hewitt both won easily and Novak Djokovic is cruising.

A young American contender, Sam Querrey, lost easily in straight sets, so he won't join unheralded countrymen Donald Young and John Isner in the second round.

Pay attention to James Blake's match, which is playing out very, very tight early on.

You can track live scores here on the very good (and very fast) Open web site, which we have in our blogroll here to the right.