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Day nine at the US Open paces slowly after a riveting day eight lineup. The stadium courts feature the odd singles matches in the morning, with some doubles action thrown in for good measure. The rear end of the fourth round matches takes place today for the men along with two explosive quarter finals for the women. In action today are top seed Rafael Nadal along with four other Spaniards in fray, defending champion Kim Clijsters and former champion and tour veteran Venus Williams.

The women's quarter finals brings out four women who not only have contrasting approaches to the game but their engaging personalities off court are so very different.
The first women's quarter final features Venus Williams. The third seed and 2000 & 2001 champion will take on sixth seed Francesca Schiavone, the reigning French Open champion. Venus leads their head to head with a massive 7-0 advantage; two of those wins came this year in three set matches. Having never beaten Venus, the Italian will need to play an almost perfect match to upset the American. Though Williams isn't showing world class form, she has done just enough to coast through to another Grand Slam quarter-final. She has not been as ruthless as she normally is, but with her punishing regime on court most opponents will wilt. Schiavone's best chance will be to out hustle Williams by coming more to the net, giving the balls more air with her vicious whip of a backhand and top spin forehands. If she tries to battle Williams in the slugfest department, there will be only one winner. This may be Schiavone's best chance of pulling off an upset, but our bet is Williams could come through in three sets.

Kim Clijsters, the second seed and defending champion takes on fifth seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia in the second quarterfinal. The Aussie has now made two trips to the final weekend of a Grand Slam, but is yet to cross the final hurdle. She had a dip in form after the disappointment of losing in Paris, and did not have the greatest tune-up to the US Open. She was down and out in her last match against Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, but pulled off a miraculous escape after saving four match points. After the emotional exhaustion of the last round, a match against someone of the calibre of Kim might be a little bit too much for her too handle.

Clijsters has always excelled in the summer hard court season, and this year is no exception. She is strong, level headed and her ground strokes are punishing and just when you think her chips are down she will blow the field with a royal flush. Her head to head advantage over Stosur (3-0) will give her confidence and the fact that she is on an 18-match unbeaten run in New York leaves us wondering if Stosur has any chance at all. Stosur though has been going for her shots all week, and if it is her day, she might just pull off a shock win.

Four men will progress to the quarter finals and four will be left in the lurch hoping Slam success takes place next year. The first of the lot taking the court will be giant killer Stanislas Wawarinka, the twenty-fifth seed who beat hot favourite Andy Murray in the last round. The Swiss no.2 plays the American hope Sam Querrey. Querrey has had the best season of his career this year with four title wins. He has raced through the draw without much discomfort, and will be hoping to keep the American challenge alive in the men's draw.

Feliciano Lopez will start his match against Rafael with a gust of wind backing him. He will remember the straight sets win he scored over him in London this year on grass and will walk into the match knowing he might just be in contention. This is more than what most of Nadal's opponents usually believe. Still, Lopez with his magnificent left handed game might only manage a set at the most. With Nadal peddling his way towards the fast tracks, his wheels rolling faster with each point won, Lopez could only hope to hold fort for that long. Nadal leads their match count 5-2, and would be a strong favourite to march forward in pursuit of his maiden US Open.

It has been four years since Tommy Robredo, the graceful Spaniard has played Mikhail Youzhny. It was at the US Open and that was the only loss the Spaniard had suffered at the hands of the Russian. The handsome Robredo is highly under rated, mostly because he is a quiet floater in the men's draw but partially due to his low key results which do not justify his brilliant talent. The Russian is a stark contrast to the demure Robredo. He is flashy and in his fourth round ride in the Open, he broke American hearts with his win over John Isner. While Robredo has been largely untested through the Open and has had a quiet summer like Youzhny, he will be up for a demanding session. The Russian has had good matches under his belt and with his machine well oiled and ready; he could progress to the quarter finals with a four set win.

The last of the men's matches feature another Spanish sizzler. Fernando Verdasco takes on David Ferrer in what will be their eleventh battle. Verdasco, the higher ranked and rated Spaniard of the two, has a 6-4 advantage and with two wins this year over Ferrer, he will be in prime position to take it to three. Though Ferrer has been in ruthless form in the Open; his opponents haven't been of the same level as Verdasco's. Verdasco overcame the challenge of David Nalbandian with tremendous skill in the last round, and would be a good bet to win this encounter.

In doubles action, women's top seeded team of Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Italian Flavia Pennetta take on Wimbledon champions Vania King of USA and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhastan, the sixth seeds. The Bryan Borthers, the top seeded men's doubles team, take on Polish ninth seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. Tenth seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman Belgium taken on India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, the sixteenth seeds. The Indo-Pak pair upset the second seeded pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor in the third round and would be desperate to keep their winning run going.

Tuesday's Singles Schedule:

Arthur Ashe Stadium

Day Session:
Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)[25] v. Sam Querrey (USA)[20]
Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[6] v. Venus Williams (USA)[3]

Night Session:
Samantha Stosur (AUS)[5] v. Kim Clijsters (BEL)[2]
Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1] v. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)[23]

Louis Armstrong Stadium
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[12] v. Tommy Robredo (ESP)
David Ferrer (ESP)[10] v. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[8]

File Photograph Copyright: Porsche Tennis Grand Prix