Nadal is the kind of player that generally doesn’t play two bad matches in a row.  It happened at Wimbledon last year when he was taken to five sets by unheralded Robin Haase and Philipp Petzschner.  But it rarely happens on clay.  Indeed, Nadal had never been taken to five sets at the French Open until his first round marathon match against John Isner.

Nadal surely wanted to send a message that this was just a fluke, something that happened because Isner has a huge serve.

What better chance to show his mettle than to take on fellow countryman, Pablo Andujar.  Andujar is ranked 48.  Nadal generally doesn’t lose to his countrymen, which is impressive given how many Spaniards there are in the top 100.

Despite this desire to get back on track, Nadal found himself in a bit of a battle.  It says something when Nadal is broken 5 times.  This may have been due to the windy weather, though Nadal handles the wind better than any player.  The first set was close with Nadal getting 3 breaks and Andujar getting 2.  Nadal won the first set, 7-5.  Nadal had a little easier time in the second set, 6-3.  Nadal was, however, down a break in the third set, but managed to break back and force a tiebreak, which he won.

He is certainly not starting this year as well as he did last year.  To be fair, Nadal struggled early at Wimbledon, and then rolled on to a solid victory at the end.

Andy Murray took on Simone Bolelli, a lucky loser.  Bolelli hasn’t played a main draw of a Slam in about a year, but he has beaten some top players like del Potro, Baghdatis, and Gonzalez.  But it’s been some years since he’s done this, and his ranking has slipped to 126.  Bolelli basically decided to play aggressive against Murray using a big forehand (even though his backhand is just fine).

Bolelli gave Murray some trouble.  He was up a break in the first set, and Murray had to fight to get the break back.  Murray eventually won the set in a tiebreak.  The next two sets weren’t that easy either.  Murray took the second set, 6-4, and the third set, 7-5.

Although Murray knows how to play more aggressive, he seems to slip into a passive mode and let his opponent dictate the pace, hoping his foot speed and their errors will lead to a victory.  One key shot that worked time and again was the up-the-line backhand that seemed to surprise Bolelli who never seemed close to getting it.

Antoinio Veic of Croatia upset Nikolay Davydenko in 5 sets.  Ever since Davydenko came back on tour at Wimbledon of last year, and ever since he switched racquets, he has not looked like the same player.  He seems unable to hit precise shots, so he coughs up a lot of errors in the process.  Had he won, he would have lost fairly easily to Nadal, I’m sure.  Watch a match from 2009, and you’ll see just how accurate Davydenko can be.  Watch this match and you’ll see just how tough it was.

Veic did play aggressive, and go for big shots up the line.  Davydenko had an unusual strategy that you generally don’t see him play.  He kept attacking the Veic backhand and coming to net.  While the net has become more friendly to Davydenko over the years, it does seem unusual, and may indicate that he’s not happy with his racquet and thus has lost some confidence.

Sam Querrey was unable to use his first round success to buoy him to a victory over veteran Ljubicic.  Ljubicic won in 3 close sets and heads into the third round.

Fellow American, Mardy Fish, however, did win his match over Dutchman, Robin Hasse in three sets.  Robin Soderling continues to do well under the radar with an easy win over Ramos of Spain.  He will meet Leonardo Mayer who upset Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets.  Baghdatis’s favorite surface isn’t clay and he hasn’t played well this year compared to last, so the upset wasn’t so surprising.

Alejandro Falla, the player that nearly beat Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon last year, beat Florian Mayer, who had a pretty good summer of clay.  It goes to show you that players that play well on clay don’t always fare well at the big dance (see Almagro).

Speaking of Almagro, the guy who beat him, Lukasz Kubot, won his second round match over Carlos Berlocq, who had a decent summer as well.

Jurgen Melzer has a 2-1 set advantage over another Lukas: Lukas Rosol.  Jeremy Chardy is serving for the first set against fellow Frenchie, Gilles Simon.  Veteran Frenchie, Arnaud Clement, has split sets with German, Michael Berrer.  He is up a break in the third set.

Kevin Anderson and veteran Juan Ignacio Chela are going the distance and playing a fifth set.  Anderson took sets 1 and 4.  Chela took sets 2 and 3.

Nadal will take on Veic in the third round.  Ljubicic will take on Verdasco in the third round.

Fish will take on the winner of Chardy-Simon.  Leonardo Mayer will take on Robin Soderling.

Murray will take on the winner of Clement-Berrer.  Troicki will take on the winner of Dolgopolov-Haider-Maurer.

In a match of two qualifiers, Kubot plays Falla.

Tomorrow, there’s a bunch of good matches

  • At the top is Djokovic vs. del Potro
  • Federer vs. Tipsarevic
  • Wawrinka vs. Tsonga
  • Gasquet vs Bellucci

We’re getting to the business end of a Slam!