In 2008, two players rose to prominence in the summer: Juan Martin del Potro and Gilles Simon.  del Potro went on to win the 2009 US Open and even beat Simon in the 2008 US Open. In 2008, Simon would meet Roger Federer twice, once in Toronto at the Rogers Cup and once again at the year end World Tour Final, where was a substitute when Nadal was unable to play.

Simon would have an indifferent 2009 where he would lose early in most tournaments, but get far enough so his ranking didn’t drop too badly.  Then, he was injured in 2010 for a few months, and was starting to come back at the US Open where he lost to Rafael Nadal.  2011 started better for Simon with a win in Sydney over Victor Troicki.

Simon won his first round match over Yen-Hsun Lu.  But with Roger Federer playing well, it seemed Simon would just be another victim in Roger’s path to the final.

And for two sets, that’s the way it looked.  Federer dominated the first set and a half.  Simon was starting to stretch the rallies longer at the end of the second set, and while he lost that set, he was able to win sets 3 and 4.

Simon’s style is elusive.  He isn’t the hardest hitter.  He doesn’t have the best serve.  However, when he’s playing well, he’s steady and quick, and he can hit his spots.  As the rallies became longer, Federer started to lose some of the veneer of invincibility he’d built up the last few months.  He reverted to slicing balls, and taking big cuts.

And he lost serve!  He was broken 3 times in one set, something that rarely happens to him.  But, he managed to right the ship and take control of the fifth set.  Simon almost handed the match to Federer when he fell to 0-40, but then won the game and eventually forced Federer to serve for the set which he did, with the match concluding after midnight.

Jim Courier interviewed Federer after the match.  He quizzed him on his last loss before the third round.  Roger thought Courier said “in the third round” and said 2004 French Open to Gustavo Kuerten.  Courier wanted to ask about his Luis Horna loss the year before.  When Courier tried to clarify, Roger said “Look, I just played a 5-setter”, and Courier didn’t press the matter.

Djokovic also found himself in a bit of trouble against Ivan Dodig who took the second set in a tiebreak, but came back to win the third and fourth sets fairly easily.

Djokovic will play compatriot Victor Troicki in the next round.  Troicki beat marathon man, Nicolas Mahut in the second round.

Roger will play the “X” man, Xavier Malisse, who won over 25th seed Albert Montanes rather easily.

Verdasco squeaked out a win over Tipsarevic who served for the match twice, but was broken by Verdasco twice.  Verdasco dominated the tiebreak, then the fifth set.  Either Tipsarevic lost gas, or he couldn’t believe he squandered his opportunity to beat the 9th seed.

On Day 4, Nadal, del Potro, Murray, and Soderling play.  The del Potro match could have great intrigue as he faces the tough Marcos Baghdatis.