Let’s start with the seeds. Davydenko (6) beat Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. This is a solid win. Davydenko seems like he’s regaining form. At least, he’s beating players he should beat. Robin Soderling (5) beat unheralded Haider-Mauer, but it took 5 sets, a bit of a shock. 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(2), 5-7, 6-4.
Lleyton Hewitt, who snatched the last seed (32), lost in 5 sets to the Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu in five sets: 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1. It looks like Hewitt may have gotten tired at the end. Andy Roddick (9) had a comfortable straight set win over Stephane Robert.
Juan Carlos Ferrero (22) had an easy straight sets win over Slovakian Martin Klizan. Marin Cilic (11) had a more challenging win but still defeated Illya Marchenko in straight sets. Cilic has had an indifferent year since the Australian, so it will be good for him to get some solid wins.
Albert Montanes (21) needed five sets to beat Pole Michal Przysiezny, but it was 6-0 in the fifth. Lefty Thomaz Bellucci (26) beat Tim Smyczek in three close sets. Gael Monfils (17) had to work hard to beat American Robert Kendrick in five sets. Fernando Gonzalez showed his form was still rusty and retired in the third set against Ivan Dodig. Melzer (13) beat former top 20 player Dmitry Tursunov in five long sets.
Some of the other interesting wins. Kei Nishikori won his match when his opponent Evgeny Korolev retired in the middle of the second set. Gasquet had an easy straight set win over Greul. Kevin Anderson won in the battle of American college tennis players beating former NCAA champ, Somdev Devvarman in straight sets. Former top junior, Ricardas Berankis, beat American Ryan Sweeting in 4 sets. American Taylor Dent had a nice win over Alejandro Falla in straight sets.
Federer looks like he’s heading for a straight set win over Brian Dabul in the evening match. He won the first set 6-1 and is up a break in the second. Fed is striking the ball really well. He just fetched a lob over his head, hit a tweener, and passed Dabul who was at the baseline, topping his Djokovic shot from last year. Dabul looked stunned. Fed had to run deeper to get the shot and passed a guy at the baseline.
Tomorrow Djokovic plays Troicki in the afternoon while Nadal takes on Gabashivili in the early evening match.
