Cincinnati Day 2 recap and photos

Winning has not been the norm for Roger Federer of late, but it is the norm in Cincinnati. The five-time champion was up to his old habits with his old racket on Tuesday night as he opened with a straight-set win over Philipp Kohlschreiber. Federer played a stellar first set (won it 6-3) before battling himself a little bit in the second, eventually saving a set point in the tiebreaker and taking it nine points to seven.

Federer’s win capped off an exciting day in the Stadium. David Ferrer and Ryan Harrison played a back-and-forth three-setter in the afternoon, with Harrison not quite able to capitalize on another iffy performance by Ferrer. A wild third set saw Harrison break of 1-0 only to find himself trailing 5-2. He saved a match point serving at 2-5, fought off another one in unbelievable fashion on Ferrer’s serve in the next game, then went up 40-15 at 4-5 thanks to another incredible point. Just like that, however, Harrison dropped the next four points to lose the match. In the first night match, Sloane Stephens upset Maria Sharapova in three sets. It was an excruciating WTA show, with Sharapova spraying errors all over Mason, Ohio and Sloane double-faulting twice on match point before Sharapova finally handed it to her. But the crowd loved it and was pumped for Sloane, who said afterward: “nobody beats me four times in a row.”

Court 4 also delivered dramatics, some of a different sort. After losing the first set against Nikolay Davydenko in a tiebreaker, Benoit Paire became…well…Benoit Paire. During every changeover in the second set, he crossed on the other side of the net, did not drink a sip of water, and sat with linespeople in the corner. On one occasion there was not enough chairs so he snagged one from an amused usher. Some fans were befuddled and borderline mad at Paire’s antics and his tennis, apparently not understanding that it was typical Paire. Granted, this was somewhat unusual even by Paire standards. He naturally lost in straights, but it has to be said that the guy has one of the best–if not the best–two-handed backhands in recent memory. Later in the afternoon Julien Benneteau beat Radek Stepanek in a third-set tiebreaker. Benneteau served for the match at 5-4 but took a bad fall at 15-15 and had to use a lengthy medical timeout for an ankle injury. The Frenchman came back out and got broken, but he was close to 100 percent and eventually managed to pull it out. After ripping a down-the-line backhand winner on match point, Benneteau went CRAZY. Outrageous screaming both before and after the handshake; more barbaric than the shirt-ripping celebrations of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Berlocq.

Speaking of bizarre, there was a three-minute delay on the Grandstand during the third set of Milos Raonic vs. Jack Sock because a bird–or several–relieved itself on the court. Chair umpire Gerry Armstrong actually had to get down from his chair and clean the court with a towel. Serving at 1-1, 40-30, second serve, Raonic was given a first serve due to the delay…to which Sock replied: “there’s no way it’s first serve if a bird shitted on the court.” Sock won the next two points to get a break chance, but Raonic held then seized a break of his own one game later. That was the difference. Earlier in the day on Grandstand, Mikhail Youzhny took care of Ernests Gulbis in straights. It was a match with U.S. Open implications–Youzhny likely gets a Top 24 seed thanks to victory while Gulbis almost definitely heads to New York as a dangerous unseeded floater. It’s always funny to see amateur fans get so confused/giddy over Youzhny’s salute celebration….like he does not do it EVERY. TIME. But no, it never gets old!

Meanwhile, three of the best displays of tennis were turned in by John Isner, Tommy Haas, and Grigor Dimitrov. Isner destroyed Florian Mayer in the Stadium and both Haas and Dimitrov cruised on Court 4; Haas in a tough first-round matchup against Kevin Anderson and Dimitrov over Brian Baker. Both Haas and Dimitrov stand in the way of a possible Federer vs. Rafael Nadal quarterfinal.

As for Nadal, he was  back on the practice court and in a better mood this time…you know, since he could actually see the ball. It helps playing tennis in the mid-afternoon as opposed to in the evening when you don’t have lights on your court!