It was a tough day for many of the top players in Cincinnati yesterday. Roger Federer probably enjoyed his nemesis fighting in the heat while he got a walkover from Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Andy Roddick needed six match points to get rid of Robin Soderling and finally won a tiebreak against the Swede after losing four of them; the fourth including the second set he lost last night. Andy Murray also survived a big test from Ernist Gulbis and took out the third set tiebreak.
Top ranked Rafael Nadal got the scare of his life when he had to face a match point against Julien Bennetau in the second set after losing the first. Nadal was up 4-1 in the break but then was down 5-6.
He saved the match point and advanced.
"A match like this gives me a lot of confidence," Nadal said. "It's important for everything. A match point? Yeah. I am doing this well. I am playing aggressive. But I need to do better the next few days."