Justine Henin has been known as a great player with an unpredictable mind. If her nerves stayed in check she could beat anybody. But it's that 'if' that has prevented tennis pundits from calling her the unquestionable number one player in the world. If Serena or Venus are on their game, if Sharapova has her serve, then well ... Henin can't stand up to that.

Tonight, Justine Henin made those reservations seem a little silly. She won her seventh Grand Slam and second U.S. Open in the most dominating and convincing effort of her career.  read more »

I don't know if it's the worst tennis match ever, but it's probably the worst I've ever seen.

Svetlana Kuznetsova held on long enough to not lose against Anna Chakvetadze, taking the third set 6-1. There were dunks into the net, sailing errors and swings and misses at floating volleys. There were 13 breaks of serve, and 81 (!) unforced errors (versus 31 winners).  read more »

Phew! What a first set.

Anna Chakvetadze just took it from Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, but this was easily the worst tennis I've seen in 12 days.

In the first set there were a total of 30 errors and 9 winners. Kuznetsova was so unnerved that she requested that the chair empire ask the crowd to quiet down in her final service game -- even though the stadium was entirely silent. (There's not much to cheer.)

Fittingly, the first set ended when Kuznetsova double-faulted.  read more »

A week ago today, Anna Chakvetadze won in straight sets in a little-noticed second-round match. She won a little bit after 12pm on a backcourt at a time when the majority of the gallery crowd was still in transit.

Afterwards, there was such little interest in the media in talking to her that her post-match press conference was conducted in a player’s lounge area—not an interview room—with two bloggers.

“There were more interesting matches to put on the show courts,” she said in her straightforward manner.  read more »

This is 20-year-old Anna Chakvetadze at lunch after her easy victory today. She was eating roasted turkey breast, hard boiled eggs, mozzarella and tomato with pesto sauce and a side of pita bread. Her opponent in the women's semifinals on Friday, Svetlana Kuznetsova, was running through the dining room with a fruit and yogurt parfait with granola, blueberries and strawberries.

While everyone buzzes about the Venus Williams-Jelena Jankovic match later tonight, the semifinal on the bottom half is now set. It's the battle of Russians, if not exactly notable (or pronouncable) names. 2004 U.S. Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova will take on Anna Chakvetadze.

Both won easily today: Chakvetadze beat Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-1; Kuznetsova beat Agnes Szavay 6-1, 6-4.

One good thing for the USTA to make up for the lack of star power: They're both playing their best tennis.

Andy Roddick moves to the quarterfinals after Tomas Berdych retired in the second set. It's the second time an opponent has retired against Roddick at the Open. Roddick has yet to drop a set and it's leading one to wonder: Could he give Federer a fight in the quarters?  

Svetlana Kuznetsova won easily in straights and advances to the quarters where she'll take on Agnes Szavay who also won today in straight sets. Aggie Radwanska is down a set against Israeli Shahar Peer in a fourth-round match at Armstrong.

Tracy Austin, the TV analyst, was in the player’s lounge yesterday when I asked her who would win that totally crazy bottom half of the women’s draw.

“I have no feeling and that’s very unusual because I’m pretty opinionated,” she said, her arms crossed. “You’ve got Kuznetsova who won here in 2004 who’s had a consistent year, but not a year where you can hang your hat on her where you say, ‘Oh, I think she’s definitely going to get through.  read more »

Happy Birthday, Andy Roddick! The 2003 U.S. Open Champ turned 25 today and won after Jose Acasuso retired after the third set. Other ranked straight sets winners today: Tomas Berdych, Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Andy Murray both needed to go the distance to win their matches.

Men's no. 14 Guillermo Canas was upset today and Tommy Haas is down a set, which you can track here.

Maria Sharapova and James Blake play tonight.