Paolo Lorenzi is no young’un on the tour.  The Italian is about to turn 31 which means he’s around the same age as Roger Federer.  He’s generally not done well enough to get out of qualifiers, but 2012 has been good to him.  His rank has given him enough to get into the main draw.

And while 2012 has not been as kind to Novak Djokovic as 2011, Djokovic is still Djokovic, which means a player like Lorenzi would prefer not to see him in the first round.  And yet, for the second time in a year, he meets Djokovic in the first round.  They faced each other back in the Australian Open where Lorenzi won 2 games in the first set, and then nothing after that.

This time around, Lorenzi broke immediately, only to have Djokovic win the next 12 games and next two sets.  Lorenzi got a game in the third set, but Djokovic, ever relaxed, had no problems taking the third set, 61.

At about the same time, Jesse Levine was hoping to upset the 14th seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov.  He was up two sets to none, and a break, but Dolgopolov woke up, began hitting more free, and took the third set, then cruised in the fourth and fifth set to avoid the upset.

Nicolas Mahut, up two sets to none over the German, Philipp Petzschner, but like Levine, could not close the deal, and lost in five sets.

Milos Raonic, the sole Canadian in the men’s singles, had to come from two sets to one down and a break to Colombian, Santiago Giraldo, to win in five sets.

Unheralded Jimmy Wang, born in Saudi Arabia, but representing Taiwan, toppled the giant, Ivo Karlovic in four sets.

Sam Querrey, however, beat fellow Taiwan player, Yen-Hsun Lu, in four sets.

Tsonga strolled to a straight set win over Karol Beck.  Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat 10th seed Juan Monaco in give sets despite being down two sets to love.

Marcos Baghdatis beat Bachinger of Germany in five sets.  Wawrinka beat Stakhovsky in four sets.  Bernard Tomic won in four sets over Carlos Berlocq.

Isner, del Potro, and Ferrer are playing their first round matches.  del Potro was expected to play Nalbandian, but he has withdrawn.  Andy Murray will be in the night match playing his second round match against Ivan Dodig who beat Rafael Nadal last year.  Murray will want to play more solid than he did yesterday.  The night match should help him avoid the cramping issue that affected him in his first round match.