Before we get to Federer, let’s hit some of the upsets of the day.

The biggest upset of the day was David Ferrer losing to Kevin Anderson, 36 64 63.  Ferrer had chances to break in the second set, but didn’t while Anderson did break.  The match was a combination of Anderson being aggressive off the ground and Ferrer being a touch more error-prone than usual.  This might be worth keeping an eye on as Ferrer has been rock solid for a few years.  One wonders if Ferrer can keep up his style of play.

Although technically not an upset, Jerzy Janowicz beat David Nalbandian in three sets.  Janowicz is doing all right for a guy seeded in the 20s.  To stay there, he generally needs to win a round or two per tournament then go deep about twice a year, preferably in big tournaments.  Nalbandian is player much like Hewitt or Haas where rankings may slip, but they continue to play well, so this is a good win.

Speaking of Hewitt, he did produce an upset, beating Isner in 3 sets.  Isner is defending finalists points from last year, so he’ll lost a big chunk and go down in rankings because of this early loss.  Isner is a confidence player (isn’t everyone), but his confidence can waver mostly because he has to play his style (big serve, big forehand) to win.

Bernard Tomic continues to struggle on any surface outside Australia.  Tomic was down a break to Gasquet, admittedly seeded quite high, in the first set, managed to break back, but lost the tiebreak tamely.  Tomic also lost the second set easily, 6-2.

OK, back to Federer.  Federer played Istomin who has been having a mini-resurgence in his career.  Istomin had some nice results about 2-3 years ago, but has faded.  This year, he’s had better results.  No one told Federer, though, who plowed through Istomin like a stroll in the park.  OK, mixed metaphors don’t make sense, so chill.  Federer won 62 63.

Federer won’t have to play Benneteau in the next round.  Benneteau lost rather handily to Dodig in straight sets.

Verdasco played very flat, losing to Nieminen 61 60.

Wawrinka needed 3 sets to beat qualifier, Wayne Odesnik.  Goffin continues his struggles with a loss to Florian Mayer who has also struggled with his game this year.

Several players are playing this evening including Nadal, Berdych, Tipsarevic facing Gulbis.