Top stars shine in Saturday servings

After a day spent trying to reason with hurricane season, the sun and the stars will be out at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center today, as a full slate of the game's leading luminaries see action on Day Six of the 2010 US Open. Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, James Blake, Robin Soderling, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova headline the day's play, which also includes rising U.S. star Beatrice Capra and a sizzling showdown between giant talent Gail Monfils and giant-killer Janko Tipsarevic.

Federer, the No. 2 seed, is competing in his 44th consecutive Grand Slam tournament--the longest streak among active players. Through two rounds, the five-time US Open champion owns a 53-5 career record at this event, part of his staggering 205-29 career record at the Slams. Federer's win at the Australian Open in January was his 16th career Grand Slam singles title--the most of any man ever to play this sport. Most players would be thrilled to get their name in a record book; for Federer, the record book is his autobiography. The former No. 1 continues his quest for his sixth US Open crown today against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who already has bounced one former US Open champion from this year's draw, taking out Lleyton Hewitt in round one. This third-round showing matches Mathieu's best-ever appearance here, and the 28-year-old veteran talent should provide Federer's first real test of this tournament. That said, it's hard to believe that he won't have all the answers. In a tight three, Federer is on to round four.

Since Wimbledon of this year, Flushing fan favorite Blake had won a total of three matches in five tournaments. Tonight, he looks to win his third of this event. Historically, whether he comes in hot or cold, the 30-year-old Blake, who grew up in nearby Fairfield, Conn., is a different player in this place. His 22-9 career record here is his best at any of the Slams, and few are better at converting the electricity of the US Open crowd into genuine sustainable energy. Blake will need every watt against No. 3 seed Djokovic, runner-up here in 2007 and Australian Open champ the following year. The 23-year-old Serb has won only one title this year--at the hard-court Dubai event in February--but he looked like a real threat to go deep here in a tough three-set loss to Federer in the final of the Olympus US Open Series event in Toronto last month. This should be a good one, and Blake will again be lifted by the partisan nighttime crowd. But in the end, Djokovic figures to have too much game for a guy who, of late, hasn't played that much tennis. In an entertaining four, Djokovic advances.

The leading candidate for the day's most entertaining match pits France's Monfils, the No. 17 seed, against unseeded Serb Tipsarevic, who planted No. 9 Andy Roddick in round two. These are two of the most energetic, electrifying players on the men's tour, each owning an array of artistic strokes that can turn a tennis court into an irresistible canvas. Monfils, who turned 24 on Wednesday, celebrated with a straight-set victory over Russia's Igor Andreev in which he served 11 aces and won 77 percent of his first serve points. In beating Roddick, Tipsarevic had 16 aces against just one double-fault and nailed 66 winners, running Roddick around as if he were controlling him with a joystick. Tipsarevic is tattooed with a quote from Dostoyevsky and studies philosophy, but don't let that fool you. The 26-year-old is as much Nitschke as he is Nietzsche, pounding opponents with an aggressive ground game. This one figures as the sort of heavyweight slugfest that usually has ropes around it. In a furious five, Tipsarevic moves on.

Raise your hand if you had 18-year-old Capra as one of the two American women reaching the third round here. Uh-huh. The youngest and lowest-ranked (No. 371) player left in women's draw, Capra has crashed this party with an impressive game and an equally-impressive focus that allowed her to hang in and upset No. 18 seed Aravane Rezai in a three-set second-round win. The Maryland native earned her way into the main draw by winning a USTA Wild Card playoff that included eight of the most promising young talents in U.S. women's tennis. But today, she comes up against one of the top talents in all of women's tennis--No. 14 seed Sharapova. The 2006 US Open champion, Sharapova is looking more and more like a very real threat for another prime-time appearance one week from today, breezing through her second-round win in 66 minutes. Like most Capra stories, you hate to see this one end, but while I've no doubt the American will find a wonderful life as a tennis pro, she'd need more than a pocketful of miracles to pull this one off. In two, it's Sharapova.