A-Rod survived a weird five-setter over Niemenen. While his groundies and serve didn't look too rusty, his strategy and tactics clearly were. The guy hasn't played a clay court match prior to RG and it's clear that he's going to need time to see the court better. Good news for him: his draw has opened up with Pico surprise loss to a qualifier who has never played an ATP tour event. Sadz, Pico.
Call me naive (no, really, don't), but I'd be surprised if Andy didn't make it through to the fourth round. I just don't see anyone in his 1/8th challenging him.
Then again, it's clay, and as Fed has so generously pointed out, anything can happen.
And keep an eye on JCF for reasons other than his general hotness. With Sam the Tank's loss, JCF, who beat Cuevas 4 3 and 1, has a pretty clear path to the fourth round. And with a potential quarterfinal against Nole, all I have to say is hmmmm....
And yuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmm.
