Hanescu - Gulbis (ostatnie 8 gemów) : solidny tenis zaplecza.
Rumun - za dużo schematów i przewidywalnej gry.
Łotysz - główka gorąca, ale serwis i poruszanie się bardzo przyzwoite.

Really liked Giovanni Lapentti against Hocevar, good tennis overall and it was nice to see Giovanni playing good tennis. Great touch at the net as always and he was solid from the baseline, backhand was good. Hocevar still suffers with his backhand, this will hold him in this level for a while if it doesn't get better.

Then I saw a little bit of Ignatik against Capdeville, Ignatik has a weird serve motion which remembers me of Ivan Navarro-Pastor and he is a ballbasher, hits bombs all the time. When I came to see him losing the 2nd set he was dead tired and I thought he would lose this, I came back to another court and realized the 3rd set went so damn fast, maybe less than 20 minutes and I was sure Capdeville was the winner, but now I see it was Ignatik.

Adrian Menendez against Maximo Gonzalez started with the more experienced Argie seeming to be a little bit uninterested and being quite a pussy which was frustrating. He got better during the match but in a tight third set he fought all the way to play a shitty game when serving 4-5 and then he lost the match. Menendez looks like he is crying all the time but he has got a good game to watch, very solid from the baseline.

I saw a few games of Arnaboldi against Santi Gonzalez and another time I could realize that Santi only has a powerful serve, average volleys and terrible baseline game. He doesn't move well, has no speed in his shots and so he won't be any better than he has been when at his best ranking. Arnaboldi has better weapons and seems to fight a lot, looking forward to see more from him than just 4 games.

I was very excited to see Zeballos against Julio Silva but it wasn't that a good match, first set was most of the time both of them serving well and not many rallies, Zeballos had his moments with drop shots and some good net play. Julio was pissed at some points as he has always been and he didn't look like the big fighter he is known for. Horacio got the win and I hope he gets better in longer rallies, he tends to do unforced errors when he needs to hit more than 6 balls from the baseline.

Saw some parts of Fabbiano against Zampieri,the Italian is a little fighter and doesn't make stupid mistakes, really solid and enjoyable game in my opinion. Watching Caio on the other hand is so frustrating, he starts well, then if just a little thing goes wrong he goes berserk. He has such good weapons, can accelerate both forehand and backhand, can serve well, but he just don't know how to use this in his favour. I have seen matches from him since 2007 and it has always been like that, so there's not much hope that he will win several challengers or make some good ATP appearances. Third set was both cruise control from Fabbiano and giving up from Caio, which resulted in 6-0 for the Italian.

Rafael Camilo against Daniel Silva ended with Daniel retiring, it was very hot out there today. At least 6 players asked for trainer due to fatigue during all day. Good that Camilo is having a good week for him.

Juampi Brzezicki against Joao Sousa (Portugal) was quite entertaining, I've always liked Juampi and was supporting him but it was nice to see the Portuguese playing good tennis, he has a good baseline game and lost this one in details, Juampi was stronger in the tiebreak and then he built some form in the second.

Gastão Elias looked very tired against Yang and I even thought he would retire in the beginning of the second set, but he actually put up a big fight there and produced a fun match against the good player from Taiwan. Too bad for Gastão who ended up losing in the 1st round after playing so many matches in the last week and a half.

To end the day I wacthed the best match of the tournament so far, Rogério Dutra Silva against André Ghem. Nice rallies during all the match, Rogério was grinding like he uses to and Ghem was playing amazing tennis. Really, he has such an entertaining game. His serve is very powerful, his forehand is great, his one-handed backhand is just awesome, he can slice well and he often comes to the net, where he does good volleys. Third set was being a huge battle and he even had a match point which was saved with an ace, and after long games he got broken. When Rogério was going to serve 6-5 it started raining and I guess it will end tomorrow. Ghem must stay foccused this year, I'm sure he can rise in the rankings like he did some years ago.

I started the day watching Dutra da Silva clinch his win over Ghem. André had a better start winning first two points and with 0-30 I actually though he had a chance, but Rogério did very well to put first serves in and managed to win the only game they played today.

Then Romboli was playing very well against Fabbiano in the first games, I think he is a much more mature player now, not only hitting every ball that comes, he now constructs points better, he slices the ball more often and his good serve is still there, so he is a better and more complete player than he was. Anyway already in the first set his level was dropping, still he managed to win it. After that Fabbiano cut mistakes and raised his level, which resulted in Romboli totally collapsing, he played really bad in the following sets, that's the reason for him winning only 2 games. A curiosity about Fabbiano is that he must be the only guy in the tour who doesn't carry a racket bag, he just brings a little bag to the court and a racket.

My attention was more foccused in the court next to it though as Ignatik and Arnaboldi were fighting till death. Ignatik is not quite the ballbasher I said yesterday, although his game is based in a powerful serve and strong baseline shots. He usually spins the ball too and knows how to play long rallies. I was quite entertained about the way Arnaboldi plays, he has good point construction, good depth in his shots (he usually hits the ball far behind the service line) and this guy is really fast. Both guys were hitting many winners, really fun match. Anyway it got the funniest when a little stress between then started. In the very tight tiebreak of the first set, Ignatik complained about Arnaboldi moving his feet when he was tossing the ball, which was quite an unnecessary complaint. After that he won the set and ran to his chair Stepanek-like. Since this moment Arnaboldi started insulting and cursing Ignatik during all the rest of the match. Ignatik got into it and screamed a couple of "FORZA" at winning points, like Arnaboldi did. This upset the Italian an awful lot. I don't think anyone has cursed an opponent so bad like he did today, he even got a warning for that. When Andrea won the second set Ignatik went to the bathroom and this lasted forever, when he got back of course he broke Arnaboldi's serve in the first game of the final set which decided the match, and of course this upset Andrea even more, so he insulted Ignatik over again :lol: They were both almost cramping in the end, clearly fatigued, and Ignatik held till the end to win the match. Too bad the Italian lost, I liked his game. As for Ignatik he travels with his mother who spends the whole match with a scaring face and he often looks to her waiting for any kind of help. Ah, for you betters I don't think he will beat Menendez tomorrow, he will be dead tired and the Spaniard is playing great tennis, ripped Molteni from the court so easily today.

I only got to see the tiebreak of Alcaide against Del Bonis but my father told me this was a great match and that Alcaide saved 6 match-points before losing (15-40 at 4-5 and 5-6 and when serving 3-6 in the TB). I also saw the end of Brzezicki defeating Dutra Silva, great to see Juampi so pumped again.

The day ending was the great win from Camilo over Zeballos. This guy was beaten by Alves in 2008 wasting MP's, he always has ups and (many) downs during seasons but I have always seen great potential in this guy. Today he played so bravely against Horacio, and despite the ranking difference I swear he was the guy dictating points, very aggresssive during all the match, serving so well and staying foccused against a much more experienced player. He started the tiebreak with an ace and a mini-break, but Horacio turned things up and I was sure it would happen again like in 2008, the Argie had a MP on serve, but Camilo was amazing and saved it, then he was clutch enough to win the best match of his career. This guy really deserved this, I'm happy for him, and he has a shot to make the semifinals as he plays Fabbiano, who is playing well but not the greatest of this tournament. I'm happy for the guy, hopefully there are more wins to come. Respect for him for playing without fear in a level above he is used to play.

Souza against Del Bonis wasn't as interesting as I was expecting, too many errors especially from João. One would think they would be solid from the baseline as they are good claycourters but the match was quite boring to be honest. It got intense though when a controversial call was made by the chair umpire. Souza put a shot into the court and someone in the stands called it out. The chair umpire thought it was the line judge who made the call and overruled it, so the point had to be replayed. Thing is Del Bonis ball went out and Souza would have broken back to even the third set 4-4. He got really mad, sat in his chair and asked for the supervisor to come. Meanwhile the public was booing and insulting the umpire as much as they could. Del Bonis was incredibly calm during all the mess, people were screaming during the serve motion and he saved break point with an ace. The umpire made things even worse for him when he said "game Del Bonis", the guy messed the score up. After that João tried to stay in the match but Del Bonis was so clutch, he looked like he had a whole career of experience, really foccused. João broke two rackets and I understand his frustration, as the controversy happened in such an important moment.

I only saw 7 games of Mello against Brzezicki, match was boring as well, Mello was erratic but Juampi was just terrible. Ricardo will end up winning this tournament, still we all know he is coming back next year again, doesn't matter the ranking he will be at. And the year after that. And so on until he retires.

Menendez against Ignatik was the most interesting match, of course it was played in an outside court Menendez was break up in both sets but choked the leads allowing Uladzimir to try something in tiebreaks. Menendez reminds me of Murray, the way he walks, his expression, his baseline shots and the style of play. That's why I was calling him "Poor Man's Murray" to my father next to me. Don't know if I'm wrong but that's my impression. Ignatik was fighting as always, but he let Adrian dictate points too much. The Spaniard has quite a good game, makes few mistakes during all match and keeps the balls deep, also he accelerates them when needed. Maybe he is the guy able to stop Mello.

Got to see the second set of Camilo against Fabbiano, Rafael was strong again, winning many points with his serve, dominating with the forehand and being solid from the baseline. He has a Baghdatis-like body but he is moving well, hopefully he will be fit when trying to upset Menendez tomorrow. I think the Spaniard will be too much for him but of course he has a shot, this is the best tournament he has had so far and he will surely be pumped for it. He will have to go for it during the match, avoid long rallies which will favour Menendez and the serve must be working like it did in the last 2 rounds.