After a shaky opening round match against Colombian Alejandro Falla, Roger Federer had a much easier time of things in his 2nd round match, where he soundly defeated Julien Benneteau 62 62 in just 58 minutes.
This match was the polar opposite to the Wimbledon classic they had a month ago at Wimbledon. Benneteau was unable to challenge the Great Swiss consistently like he was able to do at the Championships, Federer got just what he needed after a tough test against Falla - a quick match with a good winner/unforced ratio (24-7). He was also 9/10 at net and won 25/31 of his 1st serve points, or 81%.
Next up, the Fed plays Denis Istomin. Istomin is a solid player with a big serve and big ground game, and he made it to the 4th round of Wimbledon before losing in 5 sets to Youzhny. I see Roger taking control of the match early and never looking back, winning the match something like 6-2, 6-3.
In postponed 1st round action, Andy Roddick, Marin Cilic, Richard Gasquet, Juan Monaco Marcos Baghdatis, Nikolay Davydenko, Milos Raonic, Feliciano Lopez, and Lleyton Hewitt advanced. In 2nd round action, Janko Tipsarevic and John Isner both won to set up their 3rd round matches with the prize likely being a match with Federer. Gilles Simon and Nicolas Almagro also won, while Berdych-beater Steve Darcis made it to the 3rd round (quite the achievement).
In the doubles, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka fought back from a set down to take out Japanese pair Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda 67(5) 64 64. They will next face the Israeli team of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram. Should they win, they will likely take on the Bryan brothers in the quarterfinals. Federer and Wawrinka beat the Bryans in the semis in the Beijing games.
There are many great matches lined up for day four - Djokovic vs Roddick, Tsonga vs Raonic, Cilic vs Hewitt, Gasquet vs Baghdatis, Monaco vs Lopez, Murray vs Nieminen, Ferrer vs Kavcic, and Davydenko vs Nishikori. Don't be surprised if Roddick somehow manages to upset Novak.
Until next time....
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