Andy Murray vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Highlights Men's Round of 16

There are certainly a lot more familiar faces in the men’s last 16 at the 2014 US Open than over in the women’s side. While six of the top eight female seeds have been consumed by the New York heat and wind (only Serena Williams and Eugenie Bouchard are alive), nine of the top 10 male seeds remain in contention, which makes for some barnstorming fourth-round contests.

The pick of them pits 2012 champion Andy Murray against recent Rogers Cup winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

When the draw was revealed, Murray must have been berating his luck with what is probably one of the most brutal second-week runs to win a Slam ever. For Tsonga, the ninth seed, to play the eighth seed in the fourth round is as tricky as it could have been. But the Scot has a long list of victories over the Frenchman to draw upon and be confident in.

Murray leads their head-to-head 9-2, and each has a win apiece in 2014. However, Tsonga’s second victory over the former Wimbledon champion came just a few weeks ago on the hard courts of Toronto, where he went on to win the tournament.

That week, Tsonga was at his powerful, offensive best, thumping down aces and swiping away his forehand for a plethora of winners. But Murray still had massive chances to take that match. He rallied from a set down to be up a break in the third and final set. As typical in 2014 though, he let that commanding position slip.

At this year’s US Open, we’ve seen a similar performance from the Scot. In his latest match against Andrey Kuznetsov, he was in control at 6-1, 4-2 but let the break slip in the second set. He still managed to close out the set 7-5, but it gave the Russian hope going forward. Kuznetsov broke early in the third to lead 4-1, but Murray hit back to level with some fine play.

Once again, though, his game dipped and he lost the set 6-4. The two-time major champion regrouped, however, to waltz through the fourth set and advance to the clash with Tsonga.

In the first round, Murray was also two sets to love to the good, but he allowed Robin Haase back into the match. That was mainly down to his body bizarrely letting him down and dramatically cramping up. So it’s been a pretty patchy first three matches for the Scot, and Tsonga will not be shaking in his boots at the prospect of his encounter with Murray.

Tsonga, in comparison, has had a relatively brisk passage into the last 16. He overcame Juan Monaco in four sets in the opening round, who was a testing opponent for the first match of a Grand Slam tournament, having been ranked at a high of No. 10 back in 2012. Rounds 2 and 3 were both solid, easy straight sets victories.

Andy Murray did have one of those himself too. He was superb in Round 2 against German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, playing like the champion he was in 2012 and 2013. He was aggressive off the ground and had a first serve percentage of 66%, winning 83% of those points.

Despite the physical struggles of the opening round and the mental lulls at times, there are signs that the British No. 1 can return to championship-winning form. His return game is as strong as ever, as referenced by the fact that he’s won 18 break points, second only to the top seed Novak Djokovic. His groundstrokes have been powerful and relentless, and he’s using lots of variety out there, winning the most amount of points at the net of anyone with 76, according to BBC Sport.

Murray himself also believes that his body will hold up in New York: “I feel like I’m in very good shape. I trained extremely hard in Miami to get ready for this period of the year. It shouldn’t be a problem”.

On Tsonga, he said to The Telegraph: “I’ve had a lot of close matches with him. But I’ve won a lot against him, as well. I would say my game matches up well with his”.

Intriguingly, Tsonga’s comments to BBC Sport indicate that he seems to be fairly confident of his chances:

"

The locker room is maybe a bit less afraid of Andy because he's losing a few more matches than in the past…he's different than in the past maybe because I feel he's not serving as strong as he used to, nor maybe hitting as strong as he used to.

"

If the two men are at the very top of their game, Murray wins, as he has done in eight of the last 10. His wonderful returning neutralises Tsonga’s booming serve, and he has too much consistency in the rallies for the Frenchman’s backhand to live up to.

They have never met at Flushing Meadows, though, and Murray is not consistently showing his best tennis, so maybe Jo-Willy can take advantage, and the trademark jumping and spinning celebration will be out in full force once again in New York.

Other last 16 duels in the meaty top half of the draw feature world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka. The Serbian top seed takes on Philipp Kohlschreiber, against whom he has a 4-1 record. However, the German has taken the opening set in their last two meetings in 2013 and 2014 on clay.

The Swiss No. 2 faces Tommy Robredo, who is having another superb run at a Slam. Wawrinka bested the Spaniard in straight sets at the same stage of the tournament in Melbourne, on the way to his first major title. This match has the potential to be very tight, though, with Stan struggling a little to play the way he did in Australia.

The other contest is between young lions Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori. Both have made quite seamless progress into Round 4 but haven’t really played anyone of note yet. It will be a rematch of their clash at the same stage on the fast grass courts of the All England Club, which the Canadian won in four sets.

The Japanese star won on the clay in Madrid earlier in 2014. So, on the middle-of-the-road, in terms of speed, hard court in New York, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will take the spoils. Raonic has won a lot more matches over the North American summer, though, with Kei out with injury, and that will give him an advantage.

Down in the slightly overshadowed bottom half, fierce thunderstorms and rain delayed play somewhat. Five-time champion Roger Federer leads the way and will take on the grinding Roberto Bautista-Agut. The Swiss maestro was sloppy in the opening set against Marcel Granollers but was subsequently sublime in the next three, taking them all 6-1.

The next-highest seed in the lower echelons at No. 6 is Czech Tomas Berdych, who will play Dominic Thiem. The Austrian, who turns 21 on Wednesday, pulled off another stunning victory, this time over Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. This really is a breakthrough at a Slam for Thiem in his first US Open in the main draw.

Another match set will be between No. 14 seed Marin Cilic and Frenchman Gilles Simon, who shocked a weary David Ferrer in four sets out on Louis Armstrong Stadium. The Spaniard became the first top-10 seed casualty in the men’s draw.

Simon has won all four previous meetings with the lanky Croatian, including down in Melbourne in a five-set epic at the start of 2014.

Last up is Grigor Dimitrov taking on Gael Monfils, which has the makings of being an incredible spectacle. Both players fly around the court, hit breath-taking shots and thrill crowds. It’s surely a night session match on Arthur Ashe.

So there are our 16 gladiators, still soldiering on, trying to conquer their on-court enemies in New York. Soon there will only be eight.