Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Other Big Stories at the US Open 2011 Day 8

I know, it's been a long and tough year already. Much exciting tennis has been expected, come and passed. The beauty of this sport is, though, that much more lies ahead.

The eighth day of the US Open has proved dramatic as usual, with not only an epic match involving an American, but an equally epic tiebreak involving the world No. 1. Another world No. 1, on the other hand, was within inches of defeat.

Then, we had the implacable—Serena Williams won in straights, and Roger Federer almost without the loss of a game.

The US Open’s quarterfinal looks primed for some fascinating showdowns.

Before that, however, it reaffirmed some indubitable truths about this sport, and its top players.

1) Serena Williams is still the unacknowledged world No. 1

Say what one may, Serena Williams is the best women’s player of our generation. At least, for this time and at this moment, she is certainly the best. She hasn’t played much tennis this year at all, but it has certainly been unbelievable when she has. More of the same seemed in the offering as she entered the US Open, and certainly, coming into her match with Ana Ivanovic.

She had fairly demolished Victoria Azarenka in the round before, and while Ivanovic certainly put up more of a  fight, Serena won the match handily. The Serbian had played as best she could, and still came up second best. Serena was lethal on serve, and simply venomous everywhere else. Is there anyone who might have the weaponry to stop her?

2) Mardy Fish still has some way to go at the Slams

Much hope was riding on Mardy Fish coming into his native grand slam tournament—what with all his success in North America in recent years, and in 2011, there seemed all the chance of a deep run. Well, it has been a deep run and he was within a set of a quarterfinal berth today.

Earning a two sets to one lead, however, may have been good enough at Atlanta; but in New York, it was only ever going to be a part of the journey. It turned out as much. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who had been bewildered in the second and third sets, found his range and outlasted the American in five. Is this a crushing loss for Fish? Certainly.

But it was never an unrealistic result. Indeed, it was probably the right one.

3) Is Novak Djokovic vulnerable? Only as much as someone who's 61-2

Novak Djokovic stunned us today when he was pushed to an epic in the first set against Alexander Dolgopolov, which turned out 16-14 in the tiebreaker. Saving several set points must have been slightly nerve-wracking, but all the more uplifting.

These were the moments of truth, and Dolgopolov, who isn’t exactly a household name, wasn’t up to it. As expected, though, Djokovic was, and with over 60 match wins already—more than some can muster over several years—an epic tiebreak was just something that he would have probably faced sometime anyway. What's more, he ran away with the match in the end with just the sort of panache we’ve come to expect from him this year.

4) Roger Federer is still our swiftest assassin

We’ve all heard about his records, his titles, his fame. One part of Roger Federer’s illustrious career, however, has often been underrated – his speediness in winning matches.

Maybe that’s how he came to win 11 slams in just four years (Nadal has taken over seven just to get to 10), but tennis has often been a swift affair for Federer. It was no different against Juan Monaco last night. With day eight coming rapidly to day nine, he had every right to do so.

We’ve seen it so many times in grand slams—how he is incredibly able to blast past opponents who really should have kept him much busier. Monaco was latest in the line of victims, along with Del Potro at the Australian in 2009, or Soderling in last year's quarterfinals. Maybe its just the lucky fortune he’s amassed over the years, but its no untruth that racing through matches will help him in this tournament in the rounds to come. Especially since his next opponent, Tsonga, needed about thrice the time to win his fourth-round match.

5) Caroline Wozniacki: World No. 1s will always be World No. 1s

A bit of interesting history hung over Caroline Wozniacki, the women’s No. 1, and her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The last time they played at Flushing Meadows, the latter had squandered a big lead; some degree of amends seemed forthcoming, but the same, remarkably, happened again instead.

Kuznetsova stood at 7-6, 4-1, against Wozniacki, and the Danish queen looked down and out of it. But the ranking doesn’t lie, even as her lack of majors might belie. Even so, she fought back hard and won 12 of the next 14 games to advance to the quarterfinals.

Kuznetsova, in comparison, wilted; but Wozniacki for the moment merely survived. Her hopes of a grand slam are unlikely to be fulfilled if she continues in this vein—especially when a certain Serena Williams looms in the semifinal seedings.