It’s been a while since Italians had a top male player.  Back in the golden age of pro tennis, in the mid 1970s, the Foro Italico, site of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, once called the Italian Open, was a raucous arena filled with rowdy Italians. Whistles could sometimes lead to throwing of coins. Such was Italian decorum in those days.

The Italian crowd still comes out to support their men, and today, they had a good reason to do so.  Filippo Volandri, ranked 152, was poised to create an upset of his own.  It’s unusual for a wildcard to win more than a round, so it was already a success that Volandri had reached the third round, beating Peter Luczak in the first round, then impressively beating Julien Benneteau, 6-2, 6-0 in the 2nd round.

Gulbis, if you recall, had decided to be a serious tennis player.  He hired Hernan Gumy, the guy credited with helping Safin reach the semis of Wimbledon a while back.  Gumy has helped Gulbis train seriously and full-time, which was quite a difference from a year ago where he would play aimless tennis, with many wondering how he could fritter his talent like that.  Gulbis’s first breakthrough was winning a tournament, a small one in Delray Beach earlier this year, over big serving Ivo Karlovic.

His second breakthrough was beating Roger Federer who, it seems, is making a habit of losing early.  For Roger, it’s almost always the same story.  He plays well for a set, then his game implodes some, his opponents gain confidence, and Fed struggles and finally loses.  Federer hasn’t had a  “good” loss lately,  a match the caliber of him playing Safin back in the Australian Open, all those years ago where both players played well.  There were hints that Gulbis might be able to hang with Federer.  He had taken Fed to 3 sets back in Qatar, prior to the Australian Open.

However, a big victory is often followed by elation and a quick loss in the next round.  Many remember Federer beating Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.  Few recall he lost in the next round to Tim Henman.  It makes it all the more impressive that a player like Robin Soderling beat Nadal, then beat Davydenko, and then beat Gonzalez, when Gonzalez had breaks in the fifth and looked like he would make his second Slam final.

It’s good to see, in Volandri, a player that still hits a good one-handed backhand.  His shot looks much like Stanislas Wawrinka with the same kind of bullish power that even players like Federer seems to lack.  Although Gulbis took the first set, 6-2, Volandri took the second, 6-3.  Gulbis seemed tight, but kept holding serve, and the third set went to a tiebreak.  Although it was a bit close initially, Gulbis managed to win the tiebreak, 7-4.  What hurt Gulbis a great deal was his inability to break when given chances.  Gulbis had 17 break points, but only converted 3.  Final score: 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4).

Hopefully, Volandri can take this win and move up the rankings.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has a routine win over Santiago who had two good victories, beating Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-0, 6-3.  Then, he beat Michael Llodra, 6-3, 6-2.

In a bizarre occurrence, Ivan Ljubicic was warming up against Feliciano Lopez when he injured himself, called a trainer, and needed to retire.

Novak Djokovic had a good win over talented Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci.  Djokovic broke late in the first to take the set, 6-4.  In the second, he was broken early, but then eventually broke two times in a row to take the second set, 6-4.  It seems the new coaching arrangement (and clay) was just what the doctor ordered for Djokovic.  Who knows why people find playing on clay a cure for what ails.

Fernando Verdasco continues his winning ways.  Rumors were that he may chose not to play all out at Rome, but instead, he’s now in the quarterfinals, having beaten Garcia-Lopez, 6-4, 7-6(2).

John Isner and Sam Querrey have continued their winning ways, beating 4th seed Bhupathi and Mirnyi.  They may be looking into making themselves into good doubles players for Davis Cup, especially with the Bryan brothers aging (though doubles players can often play til nearly 40).

Murray is playing Ferrer.  Ferrer has won the most matches of anyone on clay this year.  This is because he plas a lot on clay.  During the period between the Australian Open and Indian Wells, there were a series of clay events, and Ferrer opted to play those events.  He’s also played well since Miami.

Murray is attempting to overpower Ferrer, but mixing in slices as well.  Right now, on serve, 2-1.