Day 5 at the US Open did not contain too much drama on the men's side. In fact, the most dramatic moment of the day session was when Bernard Tomic surprisingly pulled out of the tournament before his match against David Ferrer, citing a hip injury. Tomic was on his way back after a poor year, so hopefully this injury doesn't set him back too far.

Honor Roll:

Grigor Dimitrov (defeated Sela 61 62 62)-  Sela did not play poorly in this match, although he just does not match up well against Dimitrov. Still, he made Dimitrov work for a lot of his points. To Dimitrov's credit, he never wavered all match. He hit only 18 errors and, by my count, only had one actually poor shot that he hit all match. It was a comprehensive performance from someone who is quickly becoming a very prominent dark horse pick here.

David Goffin (defeated Sousa 64 62 60)- Goffin once again was not televised. Seeing the scoreline and knowing Sousa's weaknesses as a competitor, it's possible that Sousa just played a bad match. Still, Goffin is 27-1 since Wimbledon. He is playing as well as he ever has and should give Dimitrov a real challenge in the next round.

Room for Improvement:

Gael Monfils (defeated Gonzalez 75 63 62)- What am I critiquing about an uneventful straight-sets victory? Well, Monfils has two ways he can play matches, both of which can be effective. Sometimes he is content to grind forever, letting his defense open up holes in his opponent's game. And sometimes he opens up those holes themselves with blistering groundstrokes. He chose the former today and it was not effective. If this match had been against a more talented player than Alejandro Gonzalez, today's result could have easily been very, very different.

Jerzy Janowicz (lost to Anderson 76 26 16 36)- Jerzy Janowicz usually has a good serve. That is not why he can be inconsistent, although he hits too many double faults. Still, he got broken by Kevin Anderson eight times today. Anderson is not known for his good return. In fact, he's known for the opposite. And Anderson didn't play particularly well either. Janowicz was in full volatile ball-bashing mode and his results were 22 winners and 39 errors against a player who does not have a good defensive baseline game. 

Gilles Simon (defeated Delbonis 64 36 75 61)- Simon has always been a grinder, which can be difficult for some fans to watch. Still, it has won him many matches, so you can't critique it. Recently, he has become more aggressive by keeping his regularly deep groundstrokes nearer to the sidelines as well. He regressed from that improvement today, keeping way too many balls bland and down the middle. This was nowhere near the form that took a set off Djokovic two weeks ago in Cincinnati.

Match of the Day:

While Dominic Thiem was impressive in rallying from a two-set deficit against Ernests Gulbis, that match owed more to a collapse by the unreliable Latvian than spectacular form by the rising teenager. All the same, Thiem advances to the third round of a major for the first time, having not competed at this level before 2014. It was also the first time that anyone had come back after losing the first two sets to Gulbis. Otherwise, most of the notable matches unfolded in the women's draw, including a thriller between Venus Williams and Sara Errani that came down to a final-set tiebreak on Arthur Ashe.