In the first round, most top players got through their matches without much trouble. Djokovic looked amazing in crushing Ricardas Berankis, Nadal looked just as strong as he had the past few weeks, and Federer easily dispatched Grega Zemlja. Federer is not a top seed here, but he still is a member of the “Big Four”, even ranked at world No. 7.

Who Looked Good:

Daniel Evans- Evans was so good that I had to write a whole article about him. He played the best match of his life, absolutely blasting No. 11 seed Kei Nishikori off the court. It was great tennis to watch, and it is always a good feeling to see a new up-and-comer start playing with the top players. Expect more from Evans in the near future, regardless of when he loses in New York.

John Isner- Isner played just about the best match from the baseline that I have seen him play. He moved very well and took advantage whenever an opening was presented to him. He won the first bagel at a major in his career against Filippo Volandri, a surprising enough stat in its own right. He seems to be carrying his momentum from the summer (especially Cincinnati) very well, and hopefully he can continue impressing here.

Tommy Haas- Haas did not do anything too spectacular, but his first-round match says very good things about his form this tournament. He is attacking well and hitting the ball cleanly. He hit 38 winners and only 13 errors in his trouble-free win over Paul-Henri Mathieu. He won 90% of his first-serve points and faced very little trouble on serve. Haas might be a step below the rest of the top players, but he can definitely challenge anyone when he plays so cleanly.

Who Looked Bad:

Martin Klizan- Granted, Klizan is not a high-profile player. Still, he played the worst match that I have seen a top 200 player play, and I watch Challengers. It was just bad tennis, plain and simple. Klizan was not visibly injured; he just played extraordinarily poorly. He won a whole two games against Donald Young, not exactly a world-beater himself. To put this in perspective, Klizan hit 43 unforced errors in the match. He only won a total of 45 points.

Ernests Gulbis- Maybe I expected too much of Gulbis, but he has done so well recently. The talent is still there, and it always has been. But he seems so much more serious now. Gulbis is still a bit of a clown in the press room, but you can tell that he is much more focused on winning matches now than he ever has been before. He has brought his ranking back almost into the top 30. Thus, it was disappointing to see that he lost to Andreas Haider-Maurer. Of course, we could not actually see the match because it was not on one of the televised courts.

Vasek Pospisil- Pospisil had a great run in Montreal and looked like he was sustaining that form early in his match. He was easily beating Rogerio Dutra Silva in the first two sets. He dropped his level in the third set, which he eventually lost in a tiebreak. Then, not more than two hours into a match, he started cramping badly. He was well on his way to losing the fourth set when rain granted him an overnight reprieve. He failed to gather himself the next day, though, and lost the fifth set in a tiebreak after having held seven match points. It was altogether a disappointing showing from the talented young Canadian, even with his physical problems. His chances of winning his second-round match (against Nadal) were slim to none anyway, but he should have done better than what he showed in this match.

Jurgen Melzer- Once again, this match was not televised. But Melzer should be a lot better than Evgeny Donskoy. Losing in straight sets to Donskoy for a seeded player is inexcusable. Maybe Melzer should not have played Winston-Salem, an ATP 250 tournament that he won last week. Whatever the reason, though, this is a poor result for Jurgen.

Fabio Fognini- Rajeev Ram had won two total matches at majors in his long career before this. Fognini fell behind the aging serve-and-volleyer early and then appeared to give up. The often-entertaining Italian showed little interest in competing, as his dismal performance proved.

Match of the Round:

It did not reach a fifth set, but the best match this round was Guillermo Garcia-Lopez against Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is a former champion here and is really the only player outside the Big Four often considered as a major contender these days. Garcia-Lopez is a former top-30 player who can still show flashes of great play every once in a while. This match was much more than just a flash for him though. He fought hard on a lot of points and managed to keep it close in games. Del Potro was playing well but clearly not at his best, and Garcia-Lopez managed to shock just about everyone when he won the second-set tiebreak.

Garcia-Lopez then proceeded to wow us in a final two sets that were halted several times by rain. There were times where he was actually outhitting Delpo on the court. There were points where he tracked down monster Delpo forehands (and the Delpo forehand was clicking all match) that almost no one else in the world could have. It was an incredible performance, fit for much more than just the first round. In the end, though, the better player got through an exciting match, one that lasted much longer than its official four hours and entertained us into the night.