Third-round ATP action at the 2014 French Open got underway with action including the top American man. John Isner hasn’t appeared much here so far, but he deserves a mention for reaching the fourth round. He has clearly improved his serving ability on the clay and has adjusted his offensive game slightly to play some great first-strike tennis this week. Isner mixes up his serves more to be effective on clay and follows them up beautifully with some great forehands. He has been nearly unbreakable here in his first three matches.

However, his return game is far too passive. He settles into baseline rallies and waits for an error, which his game is not well-suited to draw. In the two return games when Isner has played aggressively on return, at 6*-5 in the 2nd set against Kukushkin and 5-5 today against Tommy Robredo, he broke. He has the capability to take his first-strike tennis to his return game as well, but he hasn’t yet. Instead, Isner has been content to wait for tiebreaks, in which he is 6-2 this tournament, and has won matches that way, including today’s 7-6 7-6 6-7 7-5 result. But that probably won’t be a viable long-term solution as he faces tougher opponents.

Honor Roll:

Tomas Berdych:  The Czech came out absolutely firing in his 6-1 6-2 6-7 6-4 victory. Roberto Bautista-Agut was a bit nervous to start, and Berdych gave him no reprieve whatsoever. Bautista-Agut stuck out a tough third set to win a tiebreak and make the scoreline look respectable, but this match was really on Berdych’s racket throughout. His next match against Isner should produce some incredible attacking tennis.

Ernests Gulbis:  Gulbis was one of the biggest talents coming up six or seven years ago. After some poor decisions and a seeming lack of motivation, that never panned out. Now, though, Gulbis looks like he is on a mission after easily dismissing Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-2 7-5. He is focused and intense and playing some absolutely beautiful tennis. If he brings this exact same level of play next round, we may see a repeat of his Rome upset over Federer several years ago.

Lost His Homework:

Roger Federer:  In the first two sets today, Federer did not seem so Federer-like. He wasted far too many break points, and his ground game showed some weaknesses. We looked like we were in for a potentially dramatic match until Tursunov tweaked his hip early in the third set. His movement was never the same after that, and Federer took full advantage. Federer did not play poorly, and there is nothing embarrassing about being in a tough match with Tursunov. Still, relative to where Federer should have been, this 7-5 6-7 6-2 6-4 battle was not an overly impressive performance.

Match of the Day:

Even though it didn’t last five sets, Novak Djokovic vs. Marin Cilic was probably the most exciting match of the day. Both players came out strong and fought a very tight beginning of the first set. Cilic fell off the pace a bit towards the later stages of the set, though, while Djokovic stepped up his game to reel off two sets. Cilic looked down and out but fought back. He managed to bring the third set to a tiebreak, which he took.

Djokovic started the fourth set looking for revenge, and we expected a routine victory in this set. Djokovic broke early and had break points to go up 4-0, which had people looking forward to his next match already. Cilic was not ready to quit this tournament yet, though, and fought back. He held for 1-3 and then broke Djokovic a few games later to get back in the set. It was some very high-quality tennis for most of the final two sets, with Cilic challenging the world No. 2. Unfortunately, the match had a disappointing finish as Cilic double-faulted away the final point after a distraction in the crowd. Still, this 6-3 6-2 6-7 6-4 rollercoaster was probably the highest-quality match of the tournament so far and was a lot of fun to watch.

Another match had the most exciting ending, though. Gilles Simon and Milos Raonic played a back-and-forth match of attrition that really only heated up late in the fifth set. Simon was broken early in the deciding set after once having led by two sets to one. Nothing notable happened until Raonic was ready to serve for the match, when Court Philip Chatrier took on a Davis Cup atmosphere. Raonic was broken as the hour faded towards twilight. However, Milos broke back immediately and managed to serve out the 4-6 6-3 2-6 6-2 7-5 win on his second chance to become the first Canadian man to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros.