It’s not clear where Andy Murray’s head is.  Murray lost in the first round at Rotterdam to Marcos Baghdatis.  Now he’s lost to a guy that was once number 1 in the world–as a junior.  Donald Young once thought he would be knocking on the door of the top ten.  The US gave him wildcard after wildcard, and he never showed he could take that next step.  How long have you heard of Sam Querrey?  About 3 years?  That’s at least how long Young has been trying to break through.

When you pit a player whose motivations may be shaky with a player that is desperately trying to break through, you get interesting tennis.

Young was not given a wildcard into the main draw.  He had to come through qualifying.  He won his first round match over Potito Starace, a solid Italian player, in three sets.

Donald Young played high risk tennis and was, for the most part, hitting well, and giving Murray trouble.  Murray may not have played dominant tennis, but Young did his part by playing aggressively.  Murray seemed to play match point a bit lackadaisical going for a huge shot just to end it.  Murray is likely to head back to Miami to train some more and try to make an impression at Miami.

Meanwhile, Young will face Tommy Robredo in the next round to see if he can extend his stay.

Two days ago, the qualifiers were having something of a field day. De Voest beat Riba.  Sweeting beat Granollers.  Devvarman, fresh off a Davis Cup singles win (but ultimately a loss for India), upset Mannarino.  Michael Russell upset Kevin Anderson.  Wildcard Berankis beat qualifier Bogomolov (of the US).  American Smyczek upset Marchenko.  Indeed, many of these upset specials are American.  Perhaps the US isn’t ready to produce a Nadal or Federer, but maybe it can produce players in the top 100, which is important too.

Somdev Devvarman, also a qualifier, beat Marcos Baghdatis, in a lopside score, 7-5, 6-0, suggesting Baghdatis may not be 100%.  Does this mean Devvarman is looking to climb the ranks?

Ivo Karlovic is back on tour and upset David Ferrer, 7-6, 6-3.  Del Potro beat defending champ, Ivan Ljubicic, in 3 sets.  Verdasco beat Berankis when Berankis retired in the second set.

Yesterday, Raonic won his match as did Ryan Harrison over Jeremy Chardy, who helped France in its Davis Cup win.

Nadal and Soderling play later today.