Up and at 'Em!

You may relish what seems like a short break after the Australian Open, but there's really no time to relax for the players, is there? And especially for those who didn't make it quite as far as they would have liked in Melbourne, this first week of action is a huge opportunity to redeem themselves. So it's no surprise so many got right back to work even after all the excitement we saw Down Under.

A slew of clay court specialists made their way to the inaugural Ecuador Open in Quito with Feliciano Lopez, who slunk his way through the early rounds at the Aussie, taking the top seed. But a couple others didn't have quite as much luck as the Spaniard the last few weeks and will want to rebound -- Martin Klizan fell one match short of his mini-Cinderella run from last year and retired in the fourth set of his second round. He'll open today against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, a man who's coming off a Challenger's title in Colombia. The Slovakian lost the pair's only previous meeting, but they've never faced off at the ATP level so things could be much different this time. And last year's young standout Dusan Lajovic came so close to a first round win in Melbourne this year but ultimately lost to one-time giant-killer Sergiy Stakhovsky in their three and a half hour match. The Serb opened his South American campaign with a win over little-known Italian Luca Vanni and gets a slight pass next facing qualifier Nicolas Jarry, #219 in the world. While his road will certainly get tougher after that, the twenty-four year old might just seize the chance to make a deep run here.

The field is a little more stacked over in Zagreb where so far Andreas Seppi has successfully followed up with his monster Melbourne upset, surviving a squeaker versus Robin Haase in his opener, and comeback kid Viktor Troicki, who fell short of my expectations for him in Australia, toughed out a challenge from qualifier Illya Marchenko in his first round. But perhaps a bit more interesting will be the fortunes of former world #8 Mikhail Youzhny, who didn't put up much of a fight at all against Rafael Nadal Down Under. But he's finally won his first two matches of the year this week, earlier today trouncing Stakhovsky in straight sets to make the quarters. And Marcos Baghdatis, who proved he's not out of the mix yet, getting to the final in Happy Valley and stunning David Goffin at the Open, took Grigor Dimitrov to five sets in their third round. He'll face off against one of my Aussie dark horses, Ivo Karlovic, this afternoon and if he can manage an upset over the top seed, there's no reason he can't go even farther.

The stars are shining even brighter in Montpellier where homegrown Gael Monfils, a shocker last year both in the Davis Cup final and the U.S. Open quarters, is looking to redeem himself from a second-round exit in Melbourne at the hands of Jerzy Janowicz. The Pole on the other hand, who lost immediately after beating the Frenchman, survived six match points in his opener this week, just eking out the win over a talented Dustin Brown. The fifth seed at the Open Sud sets up a meeting against another man looking for resurrection, Benoit Paire, but if he can pass the test he might be back on the right track. But the most intriguing match might just be a battle between the generations. Two-time Major semifinalist Richard Gasquet got two easy wins in Australia before receiving a similar drubbing from big-serving Kevin Anderson in the first round, while twenty-year-old Lucas Pouille lost a squeaker to Monfils in his opener. Still looking to crack the top hundred, he is the clear underdog, but if he puts up a fight we could see more than a few sparks fly here.

All of these guys got a pretty early wake up call at the Australian Open, and it didn't take them long to get right back to work. Hopefully a quick turnaround will keep them wide awake for the rest of the year -- after all, it's still so early in the season that anything can happen.

The Young(-ish) Guns

The early rounds of a Grand Slam are often a great opportunity for young talent -- either in terms of age or experience -- to catch some of the favorites a bit off guard, and this year's French Open is no exception. But while many of the top seeds have so far fallen to tried-and-true veterans, plenty others have been taken completely by surprise. And the victors in those matches could last even deeper into the draws in Paris.

There was some early promise from a couple youngsters on the men's side. Jiri Vesely had a solid win over one-time giant-killer Lukas Rosol and even had a chance to serve out the first set versus Milos Raonic before falling in straights. And Madrid stand-out Dominic Thiem won his first match at Roland Garros over hometown favorite Paul-Henri Mathieu but was cursed with a second round against eight-time champion Rafael Nadal -- he lost today in a little over two hours.

But while both those guys ultimately fell to big, legitimate threats, a couple others have sneaked through. Twenty-three year old Dusan Lajovic, who started the year at #116 in the world, qualified for his first Major main draw in Australia and took sets off both Alexandr Dolgopolov and Stan Wawrinka this year. He began his French campaign with a win over Nice finalist Federico Delbonis -- a man who'd himself beaten both John Isner and Gilles Simon just last week -- and followed up today by taking out Jurgen Zopp in straight sets. He'll face another upstart next in American Jack Sock, once the surprised mixed doubles champion at the U.S. Open. He benefited from the retirement of Nicolas Almagro in his opening set but earlier today took out compatriot Steve Johnson, who'd barely survived his own first round. Sock is technically the favorite in this match, ranked seventy-fifth to Lajovic's #83, but something tells me not to trust the numbers. The Serb has won four Futures and two Challengers titles on the clay, and might just be the surprise Cinderella hanging around the second week.

On the women's side, a couple ladies with some impressive seasons have been continuing their success. Spain's Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor lost a bit of her momentum since picking up her first career title in Marrakech -- she'd won just one match after that. But she took out thirtieth seed Klara Koukalova in her opener and stayed tough against Magdalena Rybarikova to reach her first Slam third round. She'll face world #4 Simona Halep next, though, so it's tough to see her going much further. Countrywoman Silvia Soler-Espinosa, who broke back into the top hundred last week with a run to the Strasbourg final, might have a better shot at advancing. She started this week dispatching Chanelle Scheepers and earlier today handed a one-sided loss to former world #12 Yanina Wickmayer, known more these days for adding to the pain of Caroline Wozniacki. She's got a third round date with world #148 Kiki Bertens, certainly someone who can cause troubles, but an opponent that should be more than manageable.

And as impressive as all these performances have been, it's the young ladies in the top half of the draw who've really shone in the early rounds. Eighteen year old Taylor Townsend, the 2012 Juniors champion in Melbourne, made a successful debut in France's adult competition with an upset of homeland heroine Alize Cornet on Wednesday. And nineteen year old Anna Schmiedlova, who picked up a couple ITF titles in recent weeks and climbed to a career high of #56 in the world, improved on her second round showing last year. After taking out one-time Wimbledon and Aussie semifinalist Jie Zheng in her opener, she then stunned multiple-Major winner Venus Williams on Wednesday morning. That was followed quickly, of course, by the biggest shock of any Slam match this year, the loss of defending champion Serena Williams, who was coming off a title in Rome and an 8-0 clay court season. Garbine Muguruza, who'd cooled off some since her red hot start to the year, recorded the biggest win of her career, a straight set victory over the world #1 in just over an hour. And with no seeds in her way for at least two rounds, she's got a pretty good shot at turning around her underdog status.

The slew of upsets we've seen in the first few rounds of action in Paris may have made the draws a little less intimidating for the favorites, but wins by some players way below the radar prove they might just be in contention too. If their momentum continues into the coming rounds, the coming tournaments or the coming years, any one of them could establish themselves as forces way beyond just Roland Garros.

And the way they're playing, any one of them deserves it.

Into the Spotlight: Davis Cup 1st Round Preview

It's always nice to feel the team spirit that comes along with Davis Cup contests -- buoyed by their compatriots in a way you don't often see at a traditional tournament, some players find a way to pull out inconceivable wins against heavy favorites. And this year, perhaps more than others, the likelihood of some star-making performances is high as can be.

The two-time defending Czech champions are bringing their usual cadre of talent, with Australian Open semifinalist Tomas Berdych leading the pack. But also look out for Jiri Vesely, last year's ATP Star of Tomorrow -- the twenty-year old put together a two-set lead over big-serving Kevin Anderson in his Melbourne opener, his first appearance down under, and made the semis at last week's Heilbronn challenger. He'll likely only play doubles this weekend against the Dutchmen, but if his teammates put together a strong enough lead, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a bigger platform for success.

More likely to get top billing despite his low profile is Serbia's Dusan Lajovic, but he'll have a tough test. The 2010 champs were runners-up last year, but they're now missing captain Novak Djokovic and open against a team led by newly-minted Grand Slam titleist Stanislas Wawrinka. Lajovic hasn't had a lot of experience in Davis Cup -- he lost his two singles rubbers in last year's final -- but he did open 2014 by qualifying for his first Major main draw. He even won a match, taking out wildcard Lucas Pouille in his opener. Of course stakes will be high this weekend, but with Wawrinka the only man on the Swiss team ranked in the top hundred(-fifty!) there is more than a good chance this underdog comes out on top at some point.

Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios is hoping to do the same. Behind veteran Lleyton Hewitt he'll take on an intimidating French team comprised of two top-ten players and no one ranked lower than #40 in the world. At #162, he hasn't quite broken into that tier yet -- after all, he only played two Tour-level matches before this season started -- but he did put up a big fight in the Australian Open second round this month, winning the first two sets in tiebreaks over twenty-seventh seed Benoit Paire during the scorching early heatwave. He won't have home court advantage this time, though, so he'll have to raise his game even higher. But if his momentum continues, we might see his star start to shine just a little bit brighter.

But perhaps the man with the greatest opportunity to break through this weekend is Melbourne Cinderella Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard stunned an admittedly injured Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round and went on to beat an exhausted Paire -- a man he'd also taken out on his way to the Auckland semis -- to make his first Major fourth round. From a country with a plethora of talent to choose from -- and a full hand of Davis Cup trophies this century -- this will be Bautista's first tie, and it'll be a rough one against a strong German team. But a hair outside the top fifty now, he'll likely face no one more intimidating than what he endured in Australia and could cement his status as the next big force in an already forceful country.

There are plenty other players who might make a name for themselves this weekend too. Vasek Pospisil, suddenly in the top thirty, can prove he's not the only Canadian worthy of attention when he takes on a Japanese team led by world #18 Kei Nishikori. And David Goffin will look to show us he's no one-hit wonder when he leads a sparse Belgian team against a not-much-better set of Kazakhs. And while each of these guys' performances will only be a part of the whole of their Davis Cup results, any one of them could launch themselves into a new realm with some big successes here.

And what they do at that level could mean big things for the future of tennis.