When Pete Sampras was working through the juniors, he switched to a one-handed backhand.  This lead to a lot of losses, but he stayed positive, and obviously, his pro career speaks volume about that change.  However, as a junior, he lost frequently to Michael Chang.  Somehow, Chang had this psychological edge over Sampras and it held through the early parts of the career, before Sampras finally woke up, realized he had a huge serve and a huge game, and there’s no reason he should lose to a player like Chang.

But such is the mental edge winning gives you.

Ryan Harrison is, perhaps, as serious a player as you will meet.  I don’t mean intense.  He lacks the manic fury that makes you scared to be near Lleyton Hewitt.  But he seems almost scholarly in his approach to the game, working hard, asking questions, sort of a Peyton Manning without the dork factor.  He’s vaguely handsome.  He’s vaguely stiff in his movement.  Harrison seems like a kid that’s studied a lot of hours for an exam when he plays.

Harrison played Milos Raonic three times as a junior and came up victor twice.  He knew he could beat Raonic.  But did junior results matter?  Raonic has had as meteoric rise as anyone in the last few years.  OK, well, maybe not Nadal and maybe not Djokovic.  But given he’s Canadian, and Canada hasn’t had a good player since Greg Rusedski decided he was British, Raonic’s success is amazing.  (But, he’s no Mats Wilander who won the French Open as his first tournament and won like 7 tournaments in his second year on tour).

Harrison took the first set 7-6, which was key, but Raonic took the second set, 6-4.  Then it seemed the impossible might happen.  Harrison broke Raonic twice and seemed well on his way to a victory.  Except Raonic broke back once, and Harrison, despite a comfortable lead to serve out the match seemed like he was nervous and wanting to give another break back.  He held steady, and won the third set, 6-4.

Is this an upset?  Well, yes.   Had it happened 6 months ago, when Raonic was still unknown, then not so much.  But upsets are usually rankings-based, and Raonic is ranked significantly higher than Harrison.

Of course, for his reward, he gets to play Roger Federer in the next round.  Federer is likely to try to push Harrison to run.  Harrison’s speed seems good, but not outstanding.  Even so, a fourth round in a Masters 1000 with a victory over three top 50 players (Chardy is barely in the top 50, Raonic is 37, and Garcia-Lopez is 25) is a great result for the young American.  And who knows, maybe he can scare Roger Federer.

The two have never played.

Andy Roddick has taken the first set, 7-5, and is up a break in the second.  Roddick looks like he’ll move on to face Gasquet.  If he gets past Gasquet, he’s likely to meet a red-hot Djokovic.

Meanwhile, the second quarter (in the top half) seems like it’s wide open.  Kohlschreiber will play del Potro who will seek to continue his remarkable comeback, and Querrey will play Robredo, and have a chance (finally) to go deep in a Masters 1000 event.   This section seems the “easiest”.

The top quarter is pretty good for Nadal.  He faces Somdev Devvarman in the next round in Devvarman’s best tournament at a Masters 1000 event.  However, Devvarman is likely to have no answers for Nadal who has played dominant tennis so far.  If Nadal wins, he faces the winner of Karlovic and Montanes.  Karlovic was injured for much of 2010.  He’s hoping his huge serve will overwhelm Montanes like it did Simon.