Ryan Harrison is only 18 years old and may become one of the top Americans. It’s tough for American tennis at the very top. Querrey and Isner are in the top 20, but the question is whether either player can play top 10 tennis. Querrey probably has the better upside because he moves better, but Isner is perhaps the better competitor. Harrison, it’s been said, really wants to win.
Harrison had his best result ever in beating Ivan Ljubicic. Ljubicic, to be fair, hasn’t played great lately, and he complained that he’s not a very good heat player, and that he suffered more than Harrison in his loss. Harrison then took on the winner of New Haven, Sergiy Stakhovsky, and pushed him to the limit. Stakhovsky barely won 8-6 in a fifth set tiebreak. Final score: 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6).
Speaking of Querrey and Isner, Querrey had a pretty easy win over Granollers in straight sets, although Granollers managed to tie up the third set before Querrey broke and held for the win. Isner beat Swiss number 3, Marco Chiudinelli, in four sets, somehow overcoming an injury from two weeks ago that threatened to derail his US Open.
David Nalbandian struggled far less in his second round win over Florent Serra won in straight sets. Mikhail Youzhny beat Dudi Sela in 4 sets while Wawrinka won over Chela in straight sets.
Spaniards did well today. Daniel Gimeno-Traver beat Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (2). Nicolas Almagro beat fellow Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in four sets: 6-3, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4). Feliciano Lopez needed five sets to beat Benoit Paire of France: 6-4, 6-7 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Fernando Verdasco beat Adrian Mannarino of France in straight sets while Tommy Robredo beat Julien Benneteau when Benneteau retired in the second set. David Ferrer beat Benjamin Becker in straight sets.
The French did have some winners. Gilles Simon upset Philipp Kohlschreiber in 5 sets: 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. Michael Llodra beat Victor Hanescu: 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-2.
Finally, Andy Murray had an easy straight set win against Jamaican, Dustin Brown, while Nadal had a tough, but straight sets win, over Denis Istomin.
Federer plays Mathieu in the afternoon. Djokovic plays the early evening match against James Blake. Blake has been striking the ball well, but Djokovic is going to be tough to beat.
