Early in the second set, after a dominant first set, and with chances to break Berrer, Murray was chasing a drop shot down.  As he approached, he twisted his right ankle and managed to hit a good down-the-line shot as he came up hopping on his left leg.  Berrer seemed to notice something from the Murray-Prodon match.  As much as Murray likes to drop shot, his drop shot recovery is not nearly that good, or at least, not at the French Open.

Somehow, Murray came back from an injury timeout to secure that break point and get up a break.  And  for a while, it seemed Murray’s dream draw, which was already pretty cushy on the day the draw was released, but even nicer as players like Melzer dropped by the wayside, was going to tumble down.  Berrer is a bullish player, bulky.  He doesn’t move that well.  But he has surprising touch for a big man.

Still, when you’re in this situation, what do you do?  Berrer probably should have continued to drop shot and force Murray to move, but he probably would have been booed off the court.  It’s the right strategy.  And he had to wonder how much further he might have gotten past Murray.  Either Troicki or Dolgopolov would probably beat him in the next round.  It almost seemed like Berrer didn’t want to beat Murray.  Long rallies became much shorter.  Berrer was making too many errors.

How else to explain Murray making break after break?  OK, Murray had to adjust his strategy.  He went after huge shots and Berrer struggled to get to them, but he could have drop shotted.  I think, in the end, Berrer decided to be nice to Murray, something you just don’t see in tennis.  It makes no sense to me.  Murray, for his part, did what he needed to do.  Hit big, get the point over quickly.

Victor Troicki needed four sets to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov and is Murray’s next opponent.  Murray should hope that his injury is minor and a bit of treatment over the next two days will get him back to his normal self.  Up until his injury,he was striking the ball pretty cleanly and Berrer was keeping up.  It’s possibly, in the short span of a set, that Berrer was exhausted from Murray’s strategy and not 100%.  I guarantee you Troicki will not be as friendly should Murray still not be 100%.

Rafael Nadal came back to form, somewhat, against qualifier Antonio Veic.  On the one hand, Veic was able to break Nadal a few times.  On the other, he could barely hold his own serve.  This is the kind of match that Nadal wanted.  Short and sweet.  He beats Veic, 3, 1, and love.

Fish and Simon have just started play.  Chela is up two sets to one against Rosol.  The resumption of Djokovic-del Potro is about to start with each player having won a set.