On to round two - routine for the top four, neither Murray, Djokovic, Nadal or Federer facing any particularly stern tests with some rather nondescript matches - Federer's opponent Evgeny Korolev catching as much attention after posing for these shots on the ATP website as for his tennis.
Gasquet 'routined' Denis Istomin 6-3 6-4 6-4; Mario Ancic posted a not-entirely unexpected five-set win over Ivo Karlovic - condemning his fellow Croat to the worst five-set record in the open era with Karlovic having played ten, lost ten to overtake Markus Hipfl, who finished his career at 0-9; Fernando Verdasco showed ominous signs of later form, dismissing the experienced Clement for the loss of just five games; Kohlschreiber disappointed once more - Fabrice Santoro proving he can't be written off even at 35 with a 5-7 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-3 win; David Nalbandian was the most shocking second-round loser, out to little-known Yen-Hsun Lu; Baghdatis and Bolelli were up against two of my least-liked players in Robin Soderling and Mardy Fish (more on those two later) - Marcos showing some of the form from his 2006 run with a four-set win; Simone, meanwhile, continues to struggle against big servers, with Fish the victor in straights.
Gilles Muller, presumably still exhausted from his struggle with Lopez in the first round, must have thanked his lucky stars to be playing the inexperienced teenager Bernard Tomic, winning in four; Safin eased through past Garcia-Lopez, although few (including myself) were giving him much of a chance in his next match against Federer; so the stage was all set, of course, for the inevitable Paul-Henri Mathieu nightmare defeat. And he didn't disappoint: somehow turning a two-set lead of 6-1 6-3 into a 1-6 3-6 6-3 7-6 9-7 loss, against Amer Delic, of all people, who had scraped into the draw as a lucky loser upon Kiefer's withdrawal and had lost two sets 6-0 to Florian Mayer - yes, Florian Mayer! - in qualifying. Paulo may have been right to complain about some of the crowd's behaviour - but the fact remains, this was (yet another) match he should never have lost. I knew as soon as I saw that result, that it wasn't going to be my tournament.
As for the women, most of the top seeds cruised through with little trouble, but Venus Williams went down 2-6 6-3 7-5 to Carla Suarez Navarro - the biggest upset of the tournament on the women's side. Mauresmo continued to look a shadow of herself as she beat Baltacha in three; and the fortnight looked as though it would be decided on a likely semi-final match between Serena Williams and perennial bridesmaid, but recent Olympic Gold medallist (and unbeaten in '09) Elena Dementieva. Yawn.
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