I do hope that Llodra family jewels didn't sustain any permanent damage. In the middle of the 1st set of his match with Tommy Haas Michael had a collision with the umpire's chair and some ballgirl (who got away with a slight scare), sustained an injury and was forced to retire. Sadface.

Here's another pic:



After that, Haas hit with ballkids on court for a while:





Toaderling always loses the first set - hs match with Granollers was a solid contender for the "best match of teh round" honors,but lost to Hewitt-DelPotro.

Tomorrow, he will play - wonder of wonders! - Nico Almagro, who fought his way through two rounds of Wimbly. Grass is ghastly, Nico.


By the way, Granollers, though losing in 4, managed to out hit Sod (i think 52 winners to 39, but I can't be arsed to check). That, ladies and gents, is quite a feat. Also, he's very good-looking, though not exactly my type:



Okay, that wasn't exactly the most flattering angle.

In other news, Gonzo served rockets and was crazy as ever.







Oh crap. What is this twat doing here?



A-Rod inexplicably lost a set to Kunitsyn. How did that happen?

So I was saying something about the best match of the round, right? That was Hewitt vs. Del Potro. I wouldn't call it a sensational result, exactly, although the score - straight sets to Hewitt - was unexpected. The match though, was of extremely high quality throughout. Especiallyon Rusty's side, of course. I don't think I've seen him play so well since 2006.



Do you see how much taller DelPo is? 

Anyway, there are two main leading to that result (beside Rusty's brilliant play, of course): 1) DelPo's game is extremely, completely predictable. After sussing things out for six games or so, Lleyts got a gameplan that worked: hit wide angles whenever possible and punctuate it with short, low balls. He executed that plan to perfection. Which leads us to the second issue: his poor movement. Despite the commentators preaching otherwise, DelPo's movement, especially defensive movement, is very limited. He can hit his forehand when out of position, but not the backhand. He doesn't know how and when to volley.

His forehand swing, otoh, is simply beautiful.



Hey, another good one:



I finally figured out who Gilles Simon reminds me of:



He's a fluffier version of Emperor Commodus as played by Joaqin Foenix in Gladiator!

Gizela Dulko sent Maria packing (played a very smart 1 and 3 sets):



And I heard she ditched Gonzo! How about taking a crack at Verdasco, now that he no longer resembles an aroused cocatoo?.

Simon Greul is easily the worst player that I've seen in ATP main draw in the last couple of years. Possibly the second worst, after Karanusic.



The fact that Toilet Brush managed to get broken 3 times by this assclown, speaks... well, it doesn't speak of anything remotely good or pleasant. Next up: Mardy "Say No To Socks" Fish.



My crystal ball says it will be a mighty struggle.