Earlier in the day, we noted that both Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray advanced to the round of sixteen, taking care of the significant early matches for day seven. The matches that followed were much more competitive than those two beatdowns, respectively, and we'll begin with an upset.
Mardy Fish was bounced out in straight sets by Gilles Simon, eliminating the final American in the tournament. There are now no Americans or Australians remaining, while Simon and Gael Monfils remain in to represent France at Roland Garros. Fish started very slowly, but picked up the pace in the second set, though he still lost that one in a close fashion. After that, there was nothing really left, Simon cruised to victory in the third set, with final scores of 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. So the eighteenth seeded Simon, now having eliminated the ten seed, will advance to the round of sixteen to take on either Leonardo Mayer or Robin Soderling.
Novak Djokovic started the day absent of one thing he's had all season: momentum. At one set apiece against Juan Martin Del Potro, they had to pause their match and resume it today. Even so, absent momentum, Djokovic cruised to win both sets played today to eliminate the 2008 US Open Champion. Del Potro, the tournament's 25-seed, did not look bad by any stretch of the imagination. He fought for every point and served well, the fact is that Djokovic is player near-perfect tennis.
You can't play your game and hope Djokovic makes a mistake, you have to simply be better than him at this point, at least for that day. It hasn't happened yet, and while Del Potro was a hot commodity in regards to potential upset-value, there were few who truly believed he could break Djokovic's streak. The final scores of that match were 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The final entrants into the round of sixteen are still being decided in three matches: Fernando Verdasco versus Ivan Ljubicic, Leonardo Mayer versus Robin Soderling, and Lukas Kubot versus Alejandro Falla.