When Andy Murray lost to Nicolas Mahut, many felt Murray was still struggling with his game.  Unlike Nadal, fresh off a French Open win, Murray wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt that his loss was to keep him fresh for Wimbledon.  Unlike Andy Roddick, who also had an early loss, then begged for a wildcard into Eastbourne, a tournament he won, Andy Murray did not have plans to play a tournament, regardless of how he did in Queen’s.

The danger one runs into, playing the week before a Slam, is going deep, then tiring out for the two week run.  Despite a day of rest between most rounds–a luxury not afforded in typical one-week tournaments, most top players don’t like the idea of playing three weeks in a row.  Lesser players don’t mind because it would be a huge bonus for them to get to the second week of a Slam, but very unlikely.

Everyone felt Murray’s draw was pretty tough.  Sure, Nikolay Davydenko was unseeded, meaning his rank had dropped below 32, but he was once a frequent member of the top ten, and had even beaten Murray in the year end tournament.  But 2009 is 3 years ago, and Davydenko, who was in such great form heading into 2010, got derailed.  He found out he had a broken (left) wrist and had to stop play.  He even managed a win over Ernests Gulbis in the opening round at Indian Wells, before he took time off and didn’t return until Wimbledon.  By then, his fine-tuned game was in shambles.  He was being convinced to switch away from his Prince racquet, and use a Dunlop.  Despite many attempts, he was never happy with Dunlop, and eventually, at the start of this year, parted ways with Dunlop.

Most people felt, short of Davydenko getting into the zone, that Murray would win.  It might be a tough battle, but Davydenko’s best surface isn’t grass, and Murray, for all his failings, seems to know how to play on grass.

What few people expected was how easy he beat Davydenko, breaking him at will, taking the first two sets, 61, 61, before finally playing a close third set which Murray won 64.

More than likely, Murray will face Ivo Karlovic.  Karlovic has frequently been beset with injuries, a product, undoubtedly of his height.  Like Tommy Haas, Karlovic seems to appear at the Slams only to disappear for vast parts of the tennis calendar.  Karlovic is already up two sets to none over the diminutive Israeli, Dudi Sela.  Murray has a 3-0 record over Karlovic, one place where his return game is really helpful.  Murray has played matches like this before, esp. against Isner where there’s big pressure to hold serve and wait for the opportunities to break.

Rafael Nadal f0und himself down, 4-0, the product of an errant game, to Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci, who has seen better days.  Nadal, being Nadal, righted the ship, broke back twice and swept the tiebreak at love.  He took sets 2 and 3 comfortably and escaped what might have been an embarrassing loss.

Lleyton Hewitt, given a wildcard, was granted no favors when he faced the powerful Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who swept him in straight sets.  Andy Roddick is up a set and a break over Brit Jamie Baker when his match was suspended due to darkness.  David Goffin, also given a wildcard, showed why he may be the best new young talent, when he dispatched Bernard Tomic in four sets, hanging in long rallies, unfazed by low slices from the crafty Australian.  Tomic later admitted that he did not work as hard after the Australian Open.  Some criticized breaking a racquet at the end of the match as a sign of immaturity.

del Potro, who is way beneath the radar, had a nice four set win over Dutch player, Robin Haase.  Grigor Dimitrov, who has been looking for a big win, notched a small win over 32nd seed, Kevin Anderson, taking the match in four close sets.  For once, Nicolas Mahut makes it further at Wimbledon than John Isner.  Mahut won his first round match over Paolo Lorenzi in five sets, in a match that was concluded today after it was called due to darkness, last night.  Marin Cilic, who won the controversial finals in Queen’s, needed 4 sets to beat unheraled Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

Malek Jaziri, the best Tunisian player in the world, needed a 9-7 fifth set over Jurgen Zopp of Estonia, to move into the second round.  In the battle of the Alex Jrs (both dads were coaches), Alex Dolgopolov beat Alex Bogomolov in straight sets.  Milos Raonic is tantalizing close to closing out a straight set win over Santiago Giraldo, needing only to hold serve to complete the match.  American Jesse Levine beat Karol Beck in four sets to reach the second round.  American Wayne Odesnik has split sets with Bjorn Phau and will conclude the fifth set tomorrow.

Mardy Fish won his match over Ramirez Hidalgo in three close sets.  Kei Nishikori won over Kukushkin in straight sets.  Brit James Ward needed 5 sets to beat Pablo Andujar and be the second Brit in the second round.

Brian Baker’s Cinderella story continues.  He beat Portugal’s Rui Machado in straight sets.  Japanese player Go Soeda, who has made great improvements this year, won in straight sets over Igor Kunitsyn.  Sam Querrey beat Canadian Vasek Pospisil in four sets as one of four Americans to advance today (Baker, Levine, Fish, Querrey).  Veteran Finnish player, Jarkko Nieminen, upset fellow lefty, Feliciano Lopez in four sets.  Almagro needed 5 sets to beat dimunitive Oliver Rochus.  Kohlschreiber outlasted fellow German, Tommy Haas, in 5 sets to move on.

David Ferrer is up two sets to none over Jamaican, Dustin Brown, in a match that will be completed tomorrow.