For a few years, Devvarman was at the top of the game.  The college game, that is.  The star player at the University of Virginia, Devvarman reached the finals of the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Championship, and won it two years in a row including a win over John Isner.  Since then, Devvarman has been toiling on the tour trying to get his rank up into the top 100.

Devvarman is now ranked 84 and his ranking should climb some more.  Last week, he won a Davis Cup match against the heavily favored Serbian team beating Janko Tipsarevic.  Serbia won the tie, 4 matches to 1, even without the help of world number 3, Novak Djokovic.

Devvarman beat Mannarino of France in the first round having qualified to reach the main draw.  Then, he upset Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets.  Baghdatis apparently claimed that he had some ingrown nail that was bothering him.  In any case, Devvarman had to be thinking his chances were as good as anyone to beat Xavier Malisse.  The two split first sets with Devvarman taking a lopsided 6-1 first set, before Malisse returned the favor with a 6-3 second set.  The two played even in the third set which went into a tiebreak.

Devvarman had an early lead, 2-0, but tried to Pete Sampras an overhead, straight into the net.  Malisse eventually built up a 5-2 lead and appeared ready to use his years of tour experience to win.  But Devvarman went back to steady tennis and applied pressure on Malisse’s backhand.  He took the next 5 points to close out the match.

Devvarman faces Rafael Nadal next.

Nadal has played limited tennis since the Australian Open.  He also played in Davis Cup winning both his singles matches even though the tie was already decided for the second singles.  Nadal wanted the practice, though he was too much for either Belgian player.

He also proved too much for Ryan Sweeting.  Everyone knows how to play Nadal.  You attack his backhand, which he tends to play more defensive, and then try to hit a hard inside-out shot to his forehand.  Nadal generally moves worse to his left and has a hard time chasing shots, since he cheats to his right.

But it’s not something Sweeting does a lot, and errors typically mount when you play more aggressive than you are used to.  Furthermore, Nadal will try to dictate points with his forehand.  He doesn’t always go for outright winners.  Instead, he’ll hit to one side, and you’ll barely get there, then he’ll hit to the other corner, and you’ll barely reach.  You know you are in desperate trouble because you’ll eventually land the ball so short, he’ll whip that one for a winner.  Few players can do this–make a highly ranked player run for their lives, but Nadal can.

Nadal won 6-3, 6-1.

Phillipp Kohlschreiber upset number 4, Robin Soderling, 7-6, 6-4.  Soderling appeared to be somewhat injured.  In any case, good win for the German.  Soderling was a semifinalist last year, so he’ll lose points, but he beat Murray in the quarters and Murray lost even earlier, so it’s unlikely Murray will make up enough ground on Soderling.

Juan Martin del Potro continues his amazing run.  He beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3.  He plays Kohlschreiber next.  It seems his chances are pretty good to get past that round too.

Donald Young’s fairy tale run was over quickly.  After beating world number 5, Andy Murray, he ran into veteran Tommy Robredo, who won comfortably, 6-0, 6-4.

Albert Montanes upset Nicolas Almagro, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.  Almagro had done the South/Central American clay swing, and may have fatigued from playing so much tennis.

Ivo Karlovic, who was largely missing from tour last year due to an injury that didn’t heal quickly, continues to win.  Karlovic is more than just a serve.  If he didn’t have groundstrokes, he’d never break.  He has a powerful forehand, a nice slice, and the ability to volley from the net.  He handled Gilles Simon rather easily, 6-3, 6-3.

Fernando Verdasco will play Sam Querrey in the late match.  Querrey recently changed the weighting on his racquet to what it was last year, and seems happier with the new weight.

Currently, Federer and Wawrinka are playing Benneteau and Gasquet.  The Swiss team won the first set, but the French team seem on the verge of winning the second set.

Djokovic and Troicki won their doubles match over 7th seed, Kubot and Marach.