There was lots of action on the first Saturday at the Sony Open Tennis tournament, especially on the outer courts. It started on Court 1, with a red-hot Marin Cilic going up against Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Cilic was clearly not 100 percent, perhaps suffering from a bad cold. He still played a decent match, but a rock-solid baseliner like Roger-Vasselin is not a good matchup under such conditions. The Frenchman won the first set without too much trouble then pulled out the second in a ‘breaker, after which a disgusted Cilic flung his racket to his chair in uncharacteristic fashion.
The next match on Court 1 saw another seed bounced unceremoniously from the event. It was hardly an upset, however, with Jerzy Janowicz struggling mightily at the moment and Roberto Bautista Agut in outstanding form. Janowicz was no match in the baseline rallies and he served nowhere near well enough to win the required amount of free points. Bautista Agut won easily in straight sets.
Another straightforward affair on Court 1 saw Indian Wells semifinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov take care of Jarkko Nieminen. Nieminen was extremely well-rested–to put it mildly–after easing past Bernard Tomic in the shortest completed match in ATP history on Thursday, but it did not matter. Dolgopolov simply had way too much firepower.
The lone thriller on Court 1 was the match with arguably the most at stake. Ryan Harrison got a wild card into the main draw and Benjamin Becker got a lucky-loser spot. They were facing each other for the right to meet qualifier Aljaz Bedene in the third round. Harrison kept his emotions in check for the most part and battled back from a set down and from a break down in the final set to force a decisive tiebreaker. From there, though, it was all Becker in a ‘breaker that was never competitive. A huge opportunity squandered by the American, but one capitalized on by Becker.
On Court 7 there was long three-set baseline grind between Joao Sousa and Gilles Simon. Thirty-ball rallies were almost the norm in this one and Sousa got the best of most of them. Yes, Sousa beat Simon at the Frenchman’s own game–then again, it is Sousa’s game, too. A strong contingent of Portuguese fans made for a fun atmosphere and Sousa rewarded them with what was a big, big win for him.
Portuguese fans greet Sousa after his victory:
An evening match on the outer courts featured what was already the fourth meeting between Denis Istomin and Dmitry Tursunov this season. Istomin improved to 3-1 despite losing the first set, in part because he won nine games in a row from the start of the second to midway through the third. Tursunov had chances to get back on serve in the decider, but Istomin was too solid.
The best doubles match of the day pitted Max Mirnyi and Feliciano Lopez against Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot. Mirnyi and Lopez played a sensational second-set tiebreaker to get the job done in straights.
Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt could not kick off the night session until 10:30 p.m. because every single day match on the stadium went three sets. Perhaps none should have; Stanislas Wawrinka somehow lost a set to Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Serena Williams was taken to three by Caroline Garcia, John Isner dropped a tiebreaker to Donald Young, and Marian Sharapova blew multiple match points in her second set against Lucie Safarova. Isner vs. Young was actually a good match, although both Americans endured one or two disastrous service games in the third set.
Nadal may have gotten on late, but he wasted no time getting off. Hewitt lasted barely more than an hour in what was a ruthless performance by the world No. 1. The Australian raised his level in set two and had a few sniffs at the Nadal serve, but it was all over when Hewitt surrendered his serve at 3-4.
Practice courts included Tomas Berdych sharing space with Kimiko Date-Krumm and Ivo Karlovic giving serving lessons to Jelena Jankovic.
