!MarcosBy TennisWorld Contributing Editor Andrew Burton
Morning, all. As I was preparing to take notes on Tsonga-Llodra for a Racquet Reaction post, I checked the H2H between the two Frenchmen. Tsonga was 4-0 going in, but two of those wins (Dubai 2010 R32 and Queens' R16) ended with Llodra retiring. Ruh-roh. This tournament's already been a bit snakebitten with several players dropping out from stomach upsets. Sure enough, five games in and a break down, Llodra asked the physio to come out, and after a brief consultation he waved off the magic sponge, shook his opponent's hand and skedaddled off court. Those of you who do the brackets, watch for this pairing in future, but don't pop into the kitchen to put on the kettle or you'll likely miss everything.
I jogged over to Stadium 2 to catch two ATP ties, Baghdatis-Lopez and Ferrer-Dimitrov. I was expecting lots of electricity from Baghdatis-Lopez, but the match was flickered rather than caught fire. Baghdatis didn't exactly tee off on the Lopez second serve, but he must have been doing something right, since he won 15 of 20 points when Lopez couldn't get the first ball into play. Lopez is currently at a career high in the rankings at 15, though you couldn't tell it from his on court demeanor. Maybe it was something he ate this morning.
Next up was the 5 seed, David Ferrer, against perennial hopeful Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov has style to burn, but he also has the unfortunate habit of dumping transition forehands into the net. Even worse, his backhand defence is leakier than a tissue paper saucepan: the shots look lovely, but you know his coach would prefer he'd hit them in the court. It's a pity, from the British press' point of view, that Andy Murray couldn't have been courtside for the match. Ferrer went 5/5 on break points, while the British (or should that be Scottish) no 4 seed went 0-for-7 last night in his loss to Garcia-Lopez. Murray was otherwise engaged in doubles play with his brother Jamie against fellow Brits Fleming and Hutchins, and early flight bookings to Miami by the British press corps was averted when the Murrays prevailed 13-11 in the super tie break.
Novak Djokovic gets the night session tomorrow against Kevin Anderson, who's in the third round without striking a ball in anger (bye, w/o vs Kohlschreiber). Elsewhere, look for Mardy Fish against Mark Ebden, and John Isner against Juan Monaco, possibly setting up an anticipated R16 pairing.
For the WTA, I'll be keeping an eye on a bracket with Ana Ivanovic (who plays Ksenia Pervak) and Caroline Wozniacki (Sofia Arvidsson). Wozniacki plays the first night match on Stadium 1: Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur are two other high ranked WTA seeds with Stadium 1 matches.
Last year's ATP surprise doubles winners, Malisse and Dolgopolov, the "Pony Tail Express," have entered again: they take on Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez in the last match on Stadium 2.
As always, enjoy today's tennis!