Przysiezny vs. Okun
Przysiezny wasn't playing well at all at the start. In the 2nd set He was started to move the ball around well and coming to the net to finish the point off. It was obvious that he was better than Okun in the rallies, but he was making some mistakes and let Okun hang around. The last set was better and Okun was crushed mentally and Przysiezny finished well.
Zemlja vs. Devilder
Devilder is just coming back on tour and is very much at his best on clay. Zemlja had the greater weight of shot and was comfortable in this match for the whole time and was never in danger of losing this one.
Sorensen vs. Yani
Big "no neck" Louk Sorensen the Irish player who lives in Germany and speaks excellent German against the flat hitter Yani. From the parts of the match I saw there were some long rallies with Yani trying for the flat shots with very little margin for error and Sorensen defending well and using his forehand to move Yani wide. It was a hard fought match as it should be at this stage of the game, but "The Neck" Sorensen's consistency was the key factor here.
Brown vs. Rufin
Rufin had an excellent serving day and didn't do much that was memorable from the baseline, he was just getting back. The 1st set didn't have many chances and Brown started off awfully in the tiebreak and lost it easily.
He didn't give up but wasn't playing his usual variations of spins and dinks, both were holding comfortably. He stepped it up in the tiebreaker and hit a wonderful forehand slapshot down the line to get him to set point and took it.
The 3rd set was more of the same from both, but Dreddy got the break at 4-3, but as we know the most important time to hold serve is after they have broken. Brown has a big serve and he missed every first serve that game and Rufin was able to break back. Brown was down match points and saved one with a diving volley and his head almost hit the cement. He lot due to some poor play at the wrong moments, but he wins at life.
Millman vs. Oswald
Millman started well and was able to break Oswald early and move him around the court, as he is a big guy able to expose his lack of mobility. The second set Oswald was serving better and able to get short returns and bossed the points around and was making Millman do a lot of road work and took out the second set.
The third set was similar with Oswald serving big and hitting good shorts and Millman fighting hard, but getting pushed behind the baseline very easily and losing ground. Millman lost his serve easily and Oswald is up 5-3 and then he calls for the trainer for cramp. The umpire says wait for the next change of end and Millman breaks Oswald as he serves for the match. The change of ends the trainer comes out and Oswald says he doesn't want the trainer. This changed the momentum and Millman breaks again and takes the match, this was won on fighting spirit.
Bogomolov Jr vs. Machado
Machado started slowly and lost serve early and that cost him the first set as both guys were holding fairly comfortably after that. Machado was trying to use the big forehand and Bogo used his backhand down the line to catch Machado out when hitting off forehands.
The 2nd set was close, but Bogmolov was taking his chances when he created them. He had a chance to serve for the match and Machado played a good game and broke, then he lost his serve with some errors and then Bogo held on to win. Machado was not impressed with the umpire known as the "French Peacock" Pascal Maria and had about a 3 minute dialouge with him after the match.
Kavcic vs. Tosic
Kavcic was much better after that nonsense first match. He was hitting the ball cleaner and moving well, whereas Tosic after his big win against Bozoljac looked flat and couldn't move his feet at all and was just fodder in this one.
Koubek vs. Im
Koubek always had this in control, but was dozing off at times. Once again he had the advantage and didn't drive it home, being passive and rolling the ball instead of hitting the thing, but it was clearly good enough against this opponent.
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