Andy Murray's destination to the final US Open's bad guy

Andy Murray in smiling face

Winning must be nedded that would put Andy Murray through to the fourth round and bring him up to speed with the rest of the field. If he is to reach the final again this year, it will be in spite of the people who organise the US Open and not because of them.The rouet to be passed by Andy Murray-

The first week of the Open is almost over and yet Murray has still only played two matches. Today he will play his third – against Taylor Dent – and begin a gruelling run-in towards the sharp end of the tournament. If he is to repeat his run of last year and reach the final, he must play five, best-of-five set matches in eight days. It is a mad schedule for a tournament that is run – officially – over 14 days.But yet has a potential to reach the final before Andy Murray.

ANDY MURRAY'S POTENTIAL ROUTE TO THE FINAL

THIRD ROUND: ANDY MURRAY VS TAYLOR DENT

The American wild card, ranked 195 in the world, beat Spain's Ivan Navarro in a fifth-set tie-break to make the third round. Murray has met the 28-year-old twice, and won on both occasions.

FOURTH ROUND:ANDY MURRAY VS MARIN CILIC

The 16th seed had to show his battling qualities in the second round to come from two sets down to overcome Jesse Levine 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0. Murray has faced the Croatian three times on three different surfaces and remains undefeated.

QUARTER-FINAL: ANDY MURRAY VS JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO

The Argentine sixth seed, pictured left, stayed on course for a quarter-final meeting with Murray after a three-set win over Jurgen Melzer, although his performance was inconsistent. The 20-year-old was pushed all the way in a first set lasting more than an hour before winning 8-6 on a tie-break.

Murray leads the Argentine 4-1 in head-to-heads.

SEMI-FINAL: ANDY MURRAY VS RAFAEL NADAL

Still on the road to full fitness after the knee problems that ruled him out of Wimbledon, Nadal held off a spirited challenge from world No.129 Nicolas Kiefer in the second round. Nadal will play 32nd seed Nicolas Almagro in the third round.

Although Murray trails 7-2 in head-to-heads, he will be buoyed by his US Open semi-final win over Nadal last year.

FINAL: ANDY MURRAY VS ROGER FEDERER

Murray lost out to the formidable Swiss here last year, but the world No.2 leads Federer 6-3 in head-to-heads, with all nine matches taking place on hard courts.

US Open 2009 - Roger Federer vs Juan Martin Del Potro be the best Final?

When you look at the men's singles draw, there is hardly a player that can reasonably be expected to stop Roger Federer before the final. Juan Martin Del Potro can be the deserved man in US open to beat Roger Federer .

Roger Federer beat Lleyton Hewitt earlier today in 4 sets to reach the round of 16 and you have to put the Swiss Maestro into the quarters as he will be a huge favorite against either James Blake or Tommy Robredo. After that Roger Federer would draw either Robin Soderling or Nikolay Davydenko and neither of those two players can actually be looking forward to that projected quarterfinal match as they are a combined 0-23 against Federer lifetime, regardless of event or surface.

Even if Andy Roddick can get past John Isner and then Fernando Verdasco (Roddick is down two sets to Isner at time of writing) you still would never, ever call Roddick to beat Federer because Roger has always been the American's major nemesis. Time after time after time, Roddick has fallen to Federer, often in huge matches, as the American only has 2 life time wins against Federer.......in 21 matches played.

The only player that looks good enough to stop Roger Federer before the 2009 US Open final is Novak Djokovic, but he will be in tough just to make the semis with Verdasco at the top of his game and in the same part of the draw. Even if he does make it that far however,Roger Federer beat Djokovic just a couple weeks ago in the Cincy final and he, Federer, looked great doing it. Novak Djokovic would have a chance in the projected match based on his hardcourt abilities but he would still be a significant underdog based on Federer's play over the years in Flushing Meadows.

On the other side of the draw you have to like Juan Martin Del Potro's draw, at least to the quarters. Juan Martin Del Potro is going against no-name Daniel Koellerer next and then he will play the winner of Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gilles Simon. Neither of those two players looks good enough to beat Del Potro, even though Simon is ranked 9th on tour.

From the quarters to the final, Juan Martin Del Potro would likely face Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal with Murray being the biggest hang up. Juan Martin Del Potro has a recent victory over Nadal, who has never made a US Open final, and a few weeks ago Juan Martin Del Potro looked like he was going to take Murray out in the Canadian final before fatigue ruined his game. With the easy draw Del Potro has to the quarters, you have to think that he will still be fresh if he plays the Scot in Flushing Meadows this year and that could spell trouble for Murray.