Predicted Winners in BOLD – This is a Great Slate of Matches

Singles – Third Round

[1] N Djokovic (SRB) v [31] R Stepanek (CZE) – Stepanek has been a a steady and tricky player for a long time.  Still, Nole is a 3 time champion playing on a surface that is perfect for his game.  Nole should win pretty easily.

[4] D Ferrer (ESP) v [28] M Baghdatis (CYP) – Ferrer has been a machine as of late.  Baghdatis has the talent, power and hands to pull off an upset, but Ferrer just does not seem to lose to anyone outside of the top 7 in the world.

[26] J Melzer (AUT) v [5] T Berdych (CZE) – Another slight chance for an upset, but Berdych should win.

[32] J Benneteau (FRA) v [8] J Tipsarevic (SRB) – Tipsy for the win.

[10] N Almagro (ESP) v [24] J Janowicz (POL) – The feel good story of 2012 becomes menacing early in 2013.  I think Almagro wins, but if Jerzy gets to the round of 16 on a slowish hard court under 3 out of 5 set conditions, he will be a guy who could be on the move in a big way.

[20] S Querrey (USA) v [15] S Wawrinka (SUI) – Sam Querrey has made a remarkable recovery in terms of his ranking and has posted some nice wins since returning to tour.  This is close to a 50-50 match, but I think Stan is less likely to throw out a bad match at this stage of things.

E Donskoy (RUS) v [16] K Nishikori (JPN) – A possible upset

K Anderson (RSA) v [22] F Verdasco (ESP) – I think Hot Sauce loses here.  I have to pick at least one upset.