On paper, this didn’t look to be much of a match.  Roger, being Roger, had proclaimed how well his training had been, how well he’d been hitting.  And Igor Andreev?  The last time we heard of him?

It was the 2008 US Open where he took Roger Federer to five sets with big serves and big forehands.  Since then, the wily Russian hasn’t been heard of that much.  Since New Haven, Andreev had lost 7 times in the first round.  New Haven was actually a pretty good tournament for Andreev where he reached the semifinals losing to Verdasco.

Even so, Andreev must have felt up for this match, channeling the energy that lead him to scare Roger the last time they met, Andreev took the first set.  Then, Roger, being Roger, took control of the second set, and it seemed, with that set under his belt, he’d roll to two more sets easily.

Except it didn’t happen that way.  Roger Federer was serving for the third set when Andreev broke Federer twice and found himself serving for the set at 6-5.  It was now Roger who was working very hard to try to break back, otherwise facing an extremely stiff challenge from a first round.  Despite set points from Andreev and huge forehands, and Roger’s inconsistent hitting that lead to this predicament in the first place, Federer managed to earn a break.

The tiebreak turned out to be a fairly straightforward affair, one that Federer won 7-2.  At this point, Brad Gilbert said Andreev was done for, that he’d win only 1-2 more games in the final set.  Indeed, Roger, being Roger, feeling he’d escaped a five-setter turned on the confidence in the fourth set and Andreev, frustrated he hadn’t won the third set, wilted and gave up his serve three consecutive times to lose the fourth set, 6-0.

Was Roger playing poorly?  Perhaps.  Was Igor Andreev playing well?  Sure.  Does this bode well for Roger?  Hard to say.  It was a tough first round, but it goes to show why Roger is so good at Slams.  Even when he doesn’t play his best, and it happens more often these days than not, he somehow plays just good enough, hits just enough shots, that he wins matches that look like they could go horribly wrong.

Due to the matches being rained out on Day 1, there were many matches that were completed on Day 2.  Here’s a partial list of notable straight sets wins.  Davydenko had an easy day at the office, beating Kindlmann of Germany.  Hewitt, Djokovic, Tsonga, Baghdatis, Monfils, Nieminen, Cilic, Berdych, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Tipsarevic, Kohlschreiber, and Llodra all won in straight sets.

Several notable players lost.  Sam Querrey lost his match in four sets to veteran Rainer Schuettler.  Schuettler had been a finalist in 2003 in Melbourne, losing handily to Andre Agassi.  Robby Ginepri, who had a recent win over Soderling in Chennai, lost to Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.

Veteran Jurgen Melzer and 28th seed lost in five sets.  Juan Carlos Ferrero, 23rd seed, lost in five sets.  Tommy Robredo, who helped Spain win the Hopman Cup, lost easily in straight sets as the 16th seed to Santiago Giraldo of Columbia.  Louk Sorensen of Ireland beat Taiwanese player, Yen-Hsun Lu in four sets.  Jeremy Chardy, the 32 (but not last seed, since Gilles Simon withdrew, giving Isner the 33rd seed) seed, lost easily to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan winning only 4 games.

The biggest upset of the day had to go to Marcel Granollers of Spain.  Down two sets to none to the eight seed, Robin Soderling, Granollers kept clawing, taking the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-4.  Although Granollers appeared to be cramping, requiring massages to his quads from trainers and himself, it was Soderling that was misfiring on shots, not able to run down shots, while Granollers pressured Soderling throughout and took the last set, 6-2.

As a whole, Americans did all right.  James Blake, who has been fading a bit, had a relatively easy win over veteran, Arnaud Clement, a finalist in Auckland to John Isner.  Isner needed five sets to win over the Italian, Andreas Seppi, even though he had a 2 set to love lead.  Sam Querrey, however, not having played a serious match since a freak accident in Bangkok, lost in 4 sets to Schuettler.  Robby Ginepri lost in straight sets.  Rajeev Ram, an American (really!), lost in 5 sets to Koubek of Austria.  The youngster, Ryan Harrison, lost in straights to Tipsarevic.  Taylor Dent, however, won his in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis shows he still has work ahead of him.  He lost easily in straight sets to Juan Monaco.  Carlos Moya shows his best years are behind him, also lost in straight sets.  Two of the more talented newcomers faced one another.  Lukas Lacko of Slovakia won in straight sets over Argentine, Leonardo Mayer.

Dudi Sela, who had been playing well as of late, fell in four sets to Ivan Sergeyev of the Ukraine.

Overall, the top seeds did quite well, with Roger Federer having a big scare, Robin Soderling getting knocked out, and a few lower seeds like Querrey, Robredo, Ferrero, Melzer, and Chardy losing.

Of the two remaining matches, Gasquet is up two sets to one, and was about to break Youzhny and win the fourth set when Youzhny saved 2 match points to force a tiebreak.  Almagro is in a fifth set after being up two sets to none over Xavier Malisse of Belgium.

Another match-filled day!