Few expected Djokovic to lose to Ryan Harrison.  Djokovic possesses the better backhand.  He’s steadier.  He can handle Harrison’s power.  But, you never know.  Sometimes you come out and aren’t ready to play from point one.  Harrison came out more eager, challenged a first serve by Djokovic early, and got a break through a combination of aggression and Djokovic’s sloppy play.

But Djokovic immediately broke back.  Harrison was able to break once more, but Djokovic again broke, and then he broke a few more times to close out the first set.  Unlike Nadal, whose heavy balls can create problems, or Federer, who is always looking to strike, Djokovic is willing to be patient.  His ball is flatter.  He hits a bit more like other players on the ATP.  The difference is when he does hit hard, it doesn’t seem to be with any danger.  The trajectory is still rock solid.

Djokovic has also learned to hit the angle forehand so wide that Harrison was retrieving the ball in the audience.  Any time the rallies went more than 15 shots, Djokovic won it.  Especially in the first set, Djokovic looked like he was in a practice session.  The second set was better in terms of hitting the ball well, but Djokovic didn’t need to hit spectacular shots.

Harrison’s weakness is handling strong shots to the backhand.  Invariably he slices off that side making him vulnerable to net attacks, which Mardy Fish did well time and again, and which Djokovic occasionally took advantage of.

In the second set, Harrison used his serve to good effect, serving and volleying, but he had been broken early, and could never recover the break.

Final score: 6-2, 6-3

Another night session was a war of attrition.  It was Janko Tipsarevic vs. Gilles Simon.  Simon is the classic counterpuncher.  He has enough power to go for bigger shots from time to time, but his usual strategy is to chase down ball after ball.  Matches with Simon is a war of attrition.  Tipsarevic won the first set in a tiebreak, but Simon started to win the longer rallies and broke twice to take the second set.

In the third set, Simon again got an early break, and was able to hold that break advantage to win the set.  Tipsarevic was a bit upset at the line calls.  They were playing on outer courts with no Hawkeye.

Currently, four Frenchman are in the top 15.  That includes Monfils, Simon, Gasquet, and Tsonga.  By contrast, there are only 2 Spaniards.  However, those 2 Spaniards are ranked higher than these four Frenchman.

Simon will face one of those Spaniards in the next round when he plays David Ferrer.  Ferrer has a 2-0 lead over Simon, but both wins were in 2007 before Simon got into the top ten in 2008.  Those two losses were also on clay.  Simon has also been playing recently while Ferrer just returned to tour in nearly a month and a half.  This is expected to be a long match.