2010 U.S. Open Men's Tennis: Will We See Single Nation Finals Again?

We have the Rafael Nadal - Roger Federer rivalry still alive. But so are two or more players from three countries. 

While France had some chances, it did not have the ranked players that Spain enjoys in the U.S. Open Men's Draw. It was therefore a surprise worthy of a story two days ago. But now we are down to brass tacks. And Spain, the United States, and Switzerland all have a chance to have a US Open Finals to themselves.

Here are the possibilities that we will have a one nation finals at the Open. But first, a bit about past one nation finals.

History

Since 1968, when the Open Period began, there have been nine finals involving players from a single nation.

Three championships have been All-Australian. Rod Laver, Tony Roche, and Ken Rosewall were in the first two in 1969 and 1970. The third was between Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis in 1998.

The 1986 U.S. Open was an All-Czechslovakia Finals between Ivan Lendl and Miloslav Mecir.

The other five one nation Finals have involved players from the United States. Surprisingly given the quality of players from the United States at the time, neither Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe ever met another US player in the Finals.

In the first All-US Finals, Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in 1990. Sampras beat Agassi again in 1995. Sampras then beat Michael Chang in 1996 and Agassi beat Todd Martin in 1999. Finally, Sampras beat Agassi for a third time in 2002.

Spain

In this battle of nations, Spain has the upper hand, and has had it from the start. So many ranked players.

So while Rafael Nadal may not each the Finals, Spain is guaranteed one place in the Semifinals of the U.S. Open Men's Tennis Grand Slam because four Spaniards will fight to reach their quarter of the semis. Since Nadal is in the same draw as Filiciano Lopez, David Ferrer, and Fernando Verdasco, one of them will reach the semifinals.

No other country comes close to the number of players in the Round of 16. Fully six Spaniards, have reached the final 16. That is 37.5 percent of all players remaining in this US Open. 

If Albert Montanes, the one Spaniard in Federer's half of the men's draw wins that side, Spain could become the first country since 2002 to gain both spots in the finals. This is unlikely given the strength of the players Montanes would have to beat, but anything is possible in this 2010 U.S. Open.  

The United States

In years past, US men were the most likely to reach the U.S. Open Finals. In 2002, Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in the first U.S. Open after 9-11, the last time there was a one nation finals. As seen above, there have been five All-American Finals during the Open Period. 

They have a chance to do this again if Sam Querry and Mardy Fish continue to win. Fish would meet Querry in the men's final if this happens. 

Based on their play thus far, these two have a chance. Fish had his tough match in his five setter against Arnaud Clement. This has prepared him mentally for these next rounds, including his potential matchup with Federer.

Twentieth seed Querry has played very well, upsetting the 14th seed handily. He has a chance against Nadal should he get that far.

Switzerland

After his performance against Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka has become the second half of the Swiss tandem who could make it an all-Swiss men's final. His play was outstanding, although it did look like Andy Murray continued his tendency of giving up in big, close games.

The other half is of course Roger Federer.

Some declared that Federer's draw was harder than Nadal's half, but many disputed this point. By this time, few would dispute that Federer's half is the harder road to the Finals. While eighth seed Verdasco and 10th seed Ferrer are is the only seeds in the top 10 reaching the Round of 16 in Nadal's draw, Robin Soderling (five) and Novak Djokovic (three) remain in Federer's path. Both have been in Grand Slam Finals, and Djokovic has won the Australian Open. None of those in Nadal's draw other than Nadal himself have have done so.

So there we have it. Let the battle of nations begin!