Safin and Haas Play Tennis at Edo

On Wednesday I went over and ate lunch at Edo, a Japanese restaurant near my day job. It was good, as usual. The sushi chef there, Ernesto, is a good friend of mine. He gives me extra pickled ginger with my rolled sushi.

With the remnants of another Ernesto, the tropical storm, finally moving beyond the New York City area, play had resumed at the US Tennis Open. So on the TV in the Edo sushi bar I watched Tommy Haas beat Marat Safin in a fifth set tie breaker. Or was it the other way around? They are similar players in my mind; talented but vanilla in flavor. Haas (I'm pretty sure it was Haas...), had a beautiful defensive lob in the tie-breaker, forcing Safin to run back and around the ball and thus his return was weak and the counter-drive then won the point for Haas. Gotta love a good lob.

Update: Ah, it was Haas, but Davydenko took care of him and Federer felled Davydenko in turn -- Roger just has Roddick left tomorrow on his march to another Grand Slam title.

And the women are complete. I won't be as long winded as The Daily Growler. Justine Henin-Hardenne and Maria Sharapova gave a nice physical contrast -- the grunting former Russian Amazonian after the manner of the Williams sisters and Justine as petite as her name and her country (Belgium). But the match was a bit flat, the smaller woman really needed to make the tall blonde with the uncomfortable earrings and oddly split-back black tennis dress move, and so to move herself. I thought falling behind in the second set might be just what Henin needed in order to psyche up, but she continued to overhit and then lost with a forgettable forehand into the net. Sharapova: 6-4, 6-4.