The Men
Novak Djokovic found himself down two sets to one against Diego Schwartzman and not exactly looking like a champion. Then fatigue and a strained oblique took away Schwartzman's effectiveness, and he lost the last two sets 6-1, 6-1. Last year, Novak would have dispatched a player like Schwartzman--particularly one with as weak a second serve as Schwartzman--in straight sets.
The other top players didn't share Djokovic's struggles. Against Nikoloz Basilashvili, Rafa Nadal won the first 11 games and only lost one the entire match. Basilashvili is a solid player. If the rest of the field isn't looking at that result and saying, "Oh dear God," then I'm in awe of their confidence.
Thiem handled Steve Johnson comfortably in three sets, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Dimitrov went out in straight sets to Pablo Carreno Busta.
And, sadly, the Roadrunner saw his French Open, and who knows how much of his grass court season, come to a premature end as he slid into the tarp at the end of the court and badly hurt his ankle. Word is that an MRI was negative, that he suffered neither a broken bone nor any kind of severe ligament damage, but it was a shame to see him go down like that. He was up 5-4 and serving for the first set when it happened. I like the Roadrunner. He made the quarterfinals here last year, and looked like he would be making the Round of 16, where he'd likely have met Thiem. Last year they played in the quarterfinals, with Thiem winning 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1.
Murray battled DelPo through two tough sets before sealing the third with a bagel. Wawrinka beat Fognini comfortably, winning the first set in a tiebreak and then going love and 2 the rest of the way. I haven't been taking Cilic too seriously but he beat Feliciano Lopez in three comfortable sets and hasn't dropped a set so far.
The Women
Venus moved forward against Elise Mertens three and one to set up a round of 16 clash against Timea Bacsinszky. Mugu is, kind of to my surprise, still alive, having beaten Putinseva 7-5, 6-2.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands. I asked if perhaps Sam Stosur was beatable. Not apparently, not by Mattek-Sands. Stosur beat her 6-2, 6-2. Stosur's return-of-serve was simply more than Mattek-Sands could handle.
Halep went through in straights. Cici Bellis' run came to an end against Caroline Wozniacki. Though Cici won the second set and got to 3-3 in the third, it seemed at that point like she was saying to herself, "Damn, I've got a chance to beat a former world number one," and then her head exploded and she went meekly out the rest of the way.
Kristina Mladenovic's match against Shelby Rogers was the match of the round. By the third set, Mladenovic looked beaten. She had won the first set 7-5, but then Shelby Rogers upped her first-serve percentage and was able to take the second set 6-4. It looked like Shelby was going to knock Kristina out. After Rogers held serve to start the third set, we saw three straight breaks to give Rogers a 3-1 lead. She held to 4-1, held again to 5-2, and got to serve for the match at 5-3. And then the wheels came off. She got broken at love, somehow held after Mladenovic evened things at 5-5, but then got broken at love again, now spraying unforced errors. In the final game she kept playing into Mladenovic's strength, the forehand, to lose the match.