While today contained shocking upsets on the women’s side of the draw, the men had plenty of exciting tennis too. A fine effort came from 21-year-old Diego Sebastian Schwartzman, who will crack the top 100 in two weeks after qualifying here at Roland Garros. Schwartzman did not astonish us in any particular way, but the undersized Argentine was very impressive in hanging with Roger Federer from the baseline for the entirety of his 6-3 6-4 6-4 loss. He is young, and his size could always present him with problems, but he has the potential to surprise a lot of people in the coming years.

Honor Roll:

Novak Djokovic:  Djokovic has always matched up well against Jeremy Chardy, and there is probably a mental element involved now that he has taken 22 consecutive sets from the Frenchman. Still, the 6-1 6-4 6-2 obliteration of Chardy, a solid player in his own right, is a warning shot across the bow of the entire field. Djokovic is here to play in Paris, and he is here to win.

Ernests Gulbis:  You never quite know what you are going to get from him. But, unlike in his first round, Gulbis put in a focused and cool performance, and it really showed in the quality of his tennis. Bagnis had no answers for the way Gulbis hit the ball through the court. The 6-2 7-5 6-0 win was quite an impressive offensive performance, and one that definitely makes his potential fourth-round match with Roger Federer worth watching.

Lost Their Homework:

Benoit Paire:  Paire, who just a year ago cracked the top 30 and looked poised to compete at the top of the game, has fallen on hard times recently. His ranking just fell out of the top 60, and he did not play like a top-60 player today against Roberto Bautista-Agut. Paire looked listless and uninspired on court in his 6-4 7-6 6-2 setback, almost as if he couldn’t bring his full motivation to the match. He hit a staggering 67 unforced errors and made less than 50% of his first serves. It looked like his plan on court was to just hit the ball as hard as he could without any discretion as to how to direct a point. And, unfortunately for him, he missed more often than he kept the ball in the court. The power and talent are still there, but the overall game just isn’t at the moment.

Tomas Berdych:  It wasn’t a bad performance overall from Berdych, but it was clear that he underestimated opponent Aleksandr Nedovyesov. When he finally came out firing in the fourth set, he overpowered Nedovyesov, but he really should have won this match with much less trouble than the 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-3 scoreline showed. He held himself back and let his opponent stick around, which is always dangerous at this level of play. If he does it again against Bautista-Agut in the next round, he may lose a lot more than one set.

Mikhail Youzhny:  Youzhny stepped up his game a bit in the third and fourth sets, but overall this 6-0 6-3 3-6 6-4 loss was a disastrous performance. He won all of 12 points in a very poor first set. His shots and movement were very poor, similar to what we saw last round. And, even when he started making things closer, he gave away the final break with consecutive double faults.

Match of the Day:

Martin Klizan and Robin Haase played a fascinating, if strange, match this morning. The first four sets did not have much intrigue, although that itself was interesting. The pair traded off dominating sets, with Klizan serving up breadsticks in the first and third sets while Haase responded with a breadstick of his own in the fourth set. There was no real rhythm or momentum to this match. Each player basically controlled the match for portions and then decided to let their opponent have a turn in front.

The fifth set, though, was a tight affair throughout. The pair traded breaks in a tense and entertaining set where neither could sustain the upper hand. Haase had match points while returning at 4-5 but could not get the break. Klizan broke Haase in the ensuing game and managed to hold one final time to take the 6-1 3-6 6-1 1-6 7-5 rollercoaster. It’s another step forward in Klizan’s career, as he seems to be making new strides every month now. He seemed quite exhausted by the end of the match, though, and he may not have much left in the tank against Marcel Granollers in the next round. Granollers came through his own five-setter today, coming back from two sets down against Alexandr Dolgopolov.