Louis Armstrong is the Place to be

A phenomenal slate of tennis is underway inside the regal confines of Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the first tilt should start us off with a huge bang, as Mardy Fish locks horns with #18 seed, Feliciano Lopez.  No question who the crowd favorite will be, here, as the 2015 U.S. Open will mark Mardy's final appearance as an ATP'er.  Fish has done respectable work at the Open in the past, reaching the 4th round three times and peaking with a QF appearance.  The American will have his hands full, today, as the lefty Lopez is an accomplished hard court player in his own right and comes into the Open hot off a spectacular Cincinnati SF showing that included wins over Raonic, Seppi, and Rafa.  Both play an aggressive style of offense, kick-started by two of the prettiest service motions you'd ever want to see.  Fish leads the head-to-head, 5-3, but Feli took their most memorable clash, a 5-set(8-6, in the 5th) Davis Cup masterpiece, back in 2011.  This is gonna be fun to watch.

Next up, two entertaining American ladies - Coco Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands - will see who can take one more step towards making some serious noise in their country's biggest tennis event.  Coco is finally putting that athletic ability to good use, with a QF showing at Wimbledon and a nice 1st round win, here, over Sloane Stephens.  Mattek-Sands is much more of a doubles threat - she teamed with Lucie Safarova to win Roland Garros this year - but she's one of those personalities who loves the big stage, and she has loads of experience to lean on.  Neither has ever gone beyond round 2 at the Open, so this is a biggie for both.

Rafa vs Diego Schwartzman has some potential.  Diego is still on the way up, hungry, and he knows he has Rafa at less than his absolute, 14-slam winning best.  Nadal did look very solid against Borna Coric in his return to New York, so we'll see if he can continue to build some momentum within a pretty doable draw.  Be sure to check out the young Argentine's two-hander, this afternoon, it's like buttah...with a hint of Nalbandian thrown in.

The capper has some real pop for a doubles match, as the Bryan Brothers go up against two American players known for their singles play, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey.  Johnson and Querrey have both been eliminated from the solo stage, so they're looking to make a little bread, here.  The last match these two teams played was an entertaining 4-setter at Wimbledon won by the Bryans, and Johnson/Querrey have taken one set in all three of the head-to-heads, so let's see how it all goes down in Armstrong .