(Photo: AP)Nadal d. Ferrer (Ret.) 4-3
A real shame this. There were actually a number of quality exchanges in the few games they did manage to contest. Rafa looked to be swinging freely. Or as freely as is realistically possible after two months out. Mind you, a 'David-unplugged' might have been exactly the kind of court time Rafa could do without. Not often you see Ferrer, retire hurt.
Gonzales d. Haas (Ret.) 7-6
I say 'defeated' Haas, except that Haas was for me, the better player out there, weathering Gonzo's out-of-the-block intensity with some carefully crafted net play of his own. There's no knowing what might have happened had the match not been curtailed by Tommy's hand blisters. Second potential 'corker', bunged up.
Hanescu d. Kohlschreiber 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
Oh that's good. One of the few remaining credible threats in this section of the draw out. Apologies to all Romanian Tennis fans. No disrespect to Victor intended. It's just that Phillip happened to be my dark horse in this section of the draw; he also happens to be one of my faves.
With Ferrer out too, I'd say del Potro's route to the quarters is now all but clear. All but clear of Rafa that is.
del Potro d. Hanescu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
'All but clear', you say? Almost.
Far too many scary moments from Juan for one set and a bit.
Hanescu belongs to that category of players that do just about everything well, just not any one of them spectacularly so. For a moment I thought Victor was about to pull off an even bigger upset than he did in the last round.
Fortunately, Juan pulled out some of that big-gun artillery just in time. Let's hope this is his last big wobble of the week.
Murray d. Ferrero 6-1, 6-3
No problems with big gun artillery here. Not at all surprised with the result. Serve and backhand as potent as ever. Perhaps a little surprised by how well Murray used his forehand, often a more defensive stroke, but fast developing a big-gun quality of it's own.
Djokovic d. Youznhy 6-4, 6-3
I'm not at all sure what all the fuss is about re Djoko's supposedly suspect form. He's not at the top of his game. Any Djoker could tell you that. Does he really have to be at this stage in the game? I'd be more concerned if he dropped a set, which he hasn't yet. Little sorry for Mikhail, who had some momentum going there, after many troublesome months.
Roddick d. Verdasco 7-6, 4-6, 7-6
An evenly contested match as expected. A bit too evenly contested for my liking. I switched over early on. When I switched back they were about to enter the final set tie break with Nando firing groundstrokes similar to 'that match' in Melbourne this year. This could've gone either way, but I'm kinda glad it went Andy's.
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