You'd think that Rafa in Red would have been enough to swoon me. But no.
Tonight, my heart belonged to one Ryler Deheart, the American qualifier who got his ass handed to him by Rafa (61 62 63), but nevertheless showed flashes of brilliance, including a three game run in the third set where he dropped only three points to the Rafster. With his uber-dorky sweatband, his logoless gear, and wry smile, the boy from Hawaii charmed me. And his fiancee was adorable too.
As for the rest of the men, Sam did play it again, gutting out a four set win over Devilder. Querrey California was cramping like a mofo at the end (he was pretty much locked at the knees for the last few games) but he sucked it up and got it done and is now into the third round.
The Sockless Wonder broke my heart and beat Paul Henri Mattieu in four sets, setting up a third round match against good friend James Blake who won on a retirement by Darcis. The Serb not named Nole or Janko also won on a retirement by Kohlschreiber. Otherwise, all the seeds went through without much incident today (Murray, Monfils, JMDP, Ferrer, and Headbandian). Kei Nishikori has also quietly made it into Round 3.
As for the Ladies, it was a bad day for slumpers. Ana, Nicole, and Agnes were all shown the door. Otherwise, all the seeds went through (Dinara, Serena, Venus, Agi, Flava Flav, Domi, Ai, Nadia, Alona, Alize and Momo).
And check this out: Anna Lena Groenefeld is into the third round, and in dominant fashion. Her serve is really clicking. Good for her. What a horrible couple of years she's had. Nice to see that she's recovering and her asshat of a coach has stopped harassing her.
