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  • Summary of First Quarter - Round 1

    1/15/08 11:40 PM | Jonathan Morgan
    - There were some interesting matches in the first round. Federer had an easy win, the Magician from France defeated Isner and Ljubicic was knocked out by Haase.

    Roger Federer def. Diego Hartfield
    The top player in the world, Roger Federer showed no signs of either rust or illness as he calmly dismissed Hartfield with 2 bagels in 3 sets. There was a picture going around the grounds of Hartfield with a “thumbs down” gesture in front of a Federer poster, but that was surely in jest, as he was thoroughly thumped in his match.

    Fabrice Santoro def. John Isner
    I must admit, I was dead wrong on this one. Santoro was able to not only get Isner's serve back in play, but was able to keep the ball very low with his slices, forcing the 6'9'' Isner to constantly hitting weak groundstrokes. Some even say he looked like a Futures player out there. I won't be as harsh, but Santoro had no trouble in this one. Isner now looks to the doubles field where he will partner with the 6'10'' Ivo Karlovic, as the Twin Towers look to upend the doubles world.

    Janko Tipsarevic def. Joseph Sirianni
    After Tipsarevic won the first 2 sets, the 3rd went to a tiebreak. A very close tiebreak. A questionable 2 nd serve from Sirianni was called in, but Tipsarevic thought otherwise. A DF there, would have given the Serbian MP on his serve. Instead, the Aussie won the tiebreak to a raucous ovation from the crowd, bagelled Janko in the 4 th, before Tipsarevic turned it around with his own bakery product in the 5th.

    James Blake def. Nicolas Massu
    Blake looks to be in stunning form, taking down Massu in the first round in straights, and although beating Massu isn't really the epitome of hard court prowess, he can be a wily customer known for long hard matches. Blake played very well, breaking Massu 6 times, as Massu had nothing to answer Blake's hard hitting groundstrokes.

    Robin Haase def. Ivan Ljubicic
    Not to toot my own horn here, but I do believe I saw this one coming. Ljubo continues to show his sub-par slam performances. He has played over 30 slams in his career and has made it past the 3 rd round exactly twice. Haase, meanwhile, the young Dutchman, played fantastic tennis, striking the ball cleanly and saving many break points that could have let Ljubicic back in the match. He showed great mental strength for a young player.

    Hyung-Taik Lee def. Chris Guccione
    I'll admit I also had this one wrong. Lee must have taken a sip from the fountiain of youth as he played a great match, returning very well, striking the ball great, and knocking off volleys. The 6'7'' Guccione disappoints the Aussie crowd, as much was expected of him following that run in Sydney.

    Also winning today were the 25 seed, the lefty Spaniard Fernando Verdasco over Thierry Ascione the Frenchman in straights, Pico Monaco, the 23 seed in a tough battle over fellow Argie Carlos Berlocq, as well as the 6'5'' American Amer Delic over countryman Robert Kendrick in straights. Oscar Hernandez took 4 sets to oust Ivo Minar, and the 12 seed Tomas Berdych cruised to a straight set win over Werner Eschauer. Michael Russel, the American fought for 5 sets to get a win over the Italian Simone Bolelli. Grosjean also advanced over Volandri, young Croat Marin Cilic also won, sending the 27 seed, Nicolas Almagro packing, and Jurgen Melzer advanced over Jiri Vanek.

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