Roger squeaks through

Well hmmm, what do I say about this match?  The 1st set I was thinking, "Yes, he's finally finding his form and looking like the Roger we know and love."  So what happened in the 2nd and 3rd sets?  I'm sure part of it was that Belluci really was playing well.  But what in the world was happening with all those errors?  So many times it seemed like Roger was just hitting it into the middle of the net.  I mean, he came back in the tiebreak and saved a bunch of set points, and then when he finally was going to even things up he made another "easy" error.  I really was starting to think maybe he wasn't even going to make it to the quarters, which would have been, I'm sure, tremendously disappointing for him.  But Belluci kindly choked in his last service game and pretty much gave him the match.

Now I realize I can be, at the same time, Roger's biggest fan and also his biggest critic, so maybe I'm being too hard on him.  I know he struggled against Belluci when they played earlier this year in Indian Wells, so maybe there is just something in his game that bothers him.  But still, his form at the moment is concerning to me, especially with the World Tour Finals coming up  But hey, he's into the next round to face what would seem to be a fairly beatable opponent (Kubot or Paire).  Maybe he will start to get his feel again as he goes along.  We can hope anyway!

I really wish I could understand Swiss German.  The interview they did with him at the end of the match looked fun and I would have loved to know what he was saying - how he described the match, and also what things he was laughing about.  I don't think I will be learning Swiss German anytime soon, though.

I am still watching the last of the ladies matches for today.  The Serena-Li match was an error strewn match, with Serena being broken at love twice when serving for the set!  Wow, that made me feel a little better, since it happened to me again today (getting broken serving for the set - though not at love!).  The Azarenka-Kerber match was an amazing match that I wasn't fully able to concentrate on because it was on at the same time as Fed's match, but what I saw was great tennis!  I feel really bad for Petra Kvitova that she got sick and had to withdraw from the tournament.  What a sad ending for last year's champion.  Hopefully she will recover quickly for Fed Cup next weekend.

Lots of great tennis to keep us busy this week, that's for sure!