US Open Tennis 2013: Top Players Who Will Continue to Deliver

The 2013 U.S. Open is the final Grand Slam tournament of the year for tennis, and there are a few top players performing well that will continue to excel and contend for a championship.

All of the following stars will shine bright at the U.S. Open and make deep runs toward the final Grand Slam championship trophy.

Andy Murray

Andy Murray has been playing well coming into this tournament and is the defending champion, but that momentum means little if he isn’t translating that success on the court.

With dominant wins over Michael Llodra, Leonardo Mayer and Florian Mayer through the first three rounds and a favorable matchup with Denis Istomin in the fourth round, Murray has set the stage for another championship run.

The hope is that the experience gained by winning the 2013 Wimbledon tournament helps Murray’s confidence. Surely, if he has the mental strength to go along with his momentum, the star from Great Britain will be hard to defeat.

Serena Williams

There is no woman on earth playing at the same level as Serena Williams. The living legend has eight wins this season and is playing some of the greatest tennis of her career.

Not only did Williams run through her first three competitors with ease (Francesca Schiavone, Galina Voskoboeva and Yaroslava Shvedova), but she also redeemed her previous loss to American foe Sloane Stephens in the fourth round.

With Williams playing strong and gaining confidence in her ability on the serve and in her return game, the rest of the women’s bracket should be on high alert.

Clearly, the defending tournament champion wants to win another.

Novak Djokovic

Of course, there are few players with the raw skill and experience that Novak Djokovic has, but with little success on tour since winning the Australian Open earlier this year, the hot start in the U.S. Open is what he needed to regain his confidence.

Djokovic has still not dropped a set at this year's event, handling Ricardas Berankis, Benjamin Becker and Joao Sousa easily through the first three rounds. An ideal meeting with an overmatched Marcel Granollers in the fourth round will keep his streak alive.

The key will be gaining as much momentum as possible for the inevitable matchups with the top seeds in the tournament. Murray is slotted on Djokovic’s side of the bracket, so the potential semifinals battle could result in the best pure tennis of the entire tournament.

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