Sports
Mardy Fish Nets No. 8 Seed at U.S. Open
The Beverly Hills resident defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany in the first round.
Mardy Fish is the eighth-ranked singles player in the world and that is exactly where he is seeded for the United States Open, which started Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
The 29-year-old Beverly Hills resident beat Tobias Kamke of Germany in three straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium (6-2, 6-2, 6-1). Fish will now take on Malek Jaziri, the first Tunisian man to win a grand slam match. Jaziri defeated Thiemo de Bakker of The Netherlands in the opening round Monday (4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2).
Fish is in the same half of the draw as No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia, but the two would not meet until the semifinals. Roger Federer of Switzerland is the No. 3 seed and if seedings hold he would play Fish in the quarterfinals. There are 128 entries in the men's tennis tournament.
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The tournament is the pro tennis circuit's final Grand Slam event of the year and the winner will bank a record $1.8 million. Fish has gone 12-10 in singles in his 10 previous appearances at the U.S. Open. In 2008, he reached the quarterfinals—losing to Rafael Nadal of Spain—and he lost to Djokovic in straight sets in the fourth round last year.
Fish won his sixth ATP Tour title this summer in Atlanta and of the Farmers Classic at UCLA the following week. After reaching his fourth Masters series final at the Rogers Cup earlier this month, he rose to a in the world rankings.
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Fish arrived in New York with momentum. In his U.S. Open tuneup he beat Nadal for the first time in his career at the Cincinnati Open before falling to No. 4-ranked Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semifinals.
At No. 8, Fish is the highest-seeded American player. Andy Roddick is the next highest at No. 21 and John Isner is No. 28. Fish is also in first place in the 2011 U.S. Olympus Open Series and is competing for an additional $1 million in bonus prize money.
The men's singles final is scheduled for Sept. 11—the 10-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
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