Federer Wins Olympic Opener

On the first day of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Roger Federer needed more time than he thought he would to advance to the 2nd round.  He finished off Colombian Alejandro Falla 63 57 64 in one hour and 53 minutes of play.

Federer started off smoothly and broke at 4-3  and consolidated to take the first set in 31 minutes.  In the second set it appeared as though Roger would win fairly easily when he got the break and went up 5-3 0-40, holding three match points.  But Falla fought them off, and then broke in the next game.  The momentum had turned by that point and he won the 12th game to send the match to a third set.  But in that decider, as he has done so often this season, he righted the ship.  He went up an early break, got broken back, but then broke to go up 5-3 in the same fashion that he did in the second set.  He went up 0-40 and finally converted on his 5th match point.

Note:  Federer is 11-1 in deciding sets in 2012.

Next up for Roger is the man that nearly upset him at Wimbledon, Julien Benneteau, who prevailed over Mikhail Youzhny.  I wouldn't say this is going to be an easy match for the Swiss Maestro, but it should be less formidable than it was at Wimbledon.  (In comparison, after Falla nearly beat Roger at Wimbledon two years ago, he went out convincingly in straights in Halle two weeks later.)

In the shocker of the day, Tomas Berdych was knocked out by Belgian Steve Darcis.  The Czech has had a dismal grass season, losing in the first round of Wimbledon and now losing here.  The odds of Andy Murray making the semifinals grew with Berdych's loss.

Juan Martin del Potro, Janko Tipsarevic, Nicolas Almagro, John Isner,and Gilles Simon all advanced.  Donald Young lost his 15th straight match when he was defeated by Andreas Seppi.  It is amazing that the losing streak has grown this big, and he really needs a major turnaround if he doesn't want his career to go down the drain.  Fernando Verdasco also continued his poor form with a loss to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

In action on day two are Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Monaco, Milos Raonic, Andy Roddick, Marin Cilic, and Lleyton Hewitt.  There are a few upset possibilities with Murray playing Wawrinka and Monaco facing David Goffin.

Until next time....