On a day that saw top seeds cruise, Mardy Fish’s tennis career came to an end that was both wholly fitting and supremely disappointing. Feliciano Lopez will move on to the third round after a match that he probably should have lost. There were no major shake-ups in the draw, which is great for Fish as the story of Day 3 is his retirement, as he deserves for it to be.
Who Looked Good:
Fabio Fognini (defeated Cuevas 63 64 64)- Fognini at times seems to struggle with motivation (that’s an understatement), especially on the US summer hard courts. He was focused throughout in his dispatching of Cuevas, though. Maybe that’s because his next opponent up is one that he has had great success over this year; he meets Rafael Nadal next.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (defeated Granollers 63 64 63)- Tsonga hasn’t been at his best for the past few years, but he has the power and the game to win this tournament. He might have seemed like he was past his prime recently, but so far this tournament he has seemed like his vintage self. If he can keep this up and improve the farther he goes, he will once again be tough to beat.
Marin Cilic (defeated Evgeny Donskoy 62 63 75)- Cilic is another supremely talented player who hasn’t had any good form recently. You couldn’t tell that based on this match, though. He was aggressive and consistent, hitting with a power that forced us to remember that he is the defending champion here.
Who Looked Bad:
Roberto Bautista-Agut (defeated Carreno-Busta 46 64 60 26 64)- Pablo Carreno-Busta is a relatively talented and usually consistent player. Roberto Bautista-Agut has a massive ground game and a ton of talent. If Bautista-Agut wants to make the jump to be a top player, he needs to be able to blast the lower players off the court, not grind against them for over three hours.
Feliciano Lopez (defeated Fish 26 63 16 75 63)- For all I will laud Fish for how he played in this match, Lopez was far from at his best. He sprayed errors and seemed to lose concentration at times. He’ll need to do better or he will be quickly sent packing by Milos Raonic in the next round.
Match of the Day:
We saw several five-setters involving seeded players, but like the intro said, this day belonged to Mardy Fish. He came out firing, showcasing his incredible talent one last time. He easily took the first set but a quick dip in level during the second, no doubt due to his lack of match play, cost him that set. He was back on fire, taking the third set and an early lead in the fourth. He served for the match but couldn’t close it out as nerves got ahold of him. As he did throughout his career, though, he came back from that lapse stronger and really looked the better player in the fifth. Unfortunately, his body couldn’t keep up and he started suffering from severe cramps after earning two break points at 3-3. Fish couldn’t move after that and lost 12 of the last 14 points of the match. It was unfortunate and yet a good way for Fish to go out. He played very well in his final match and had a solid scoreline against a Top 20 player–all in all, not a bad match.
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