Fernando survived a scare in his third round singles match today against Jurgen Melzer, 3-6, 7-6⁴, 6-1. The first two sets were very shaking, with Fernando opening the match with a pair of double faults, and Melzer easily taking the early break. Fernando twice had to serve to stay in the match, forcing a tiebreak in the second set that he won 7-4. Having rattled Melzer, Fernando raced out to a 5-0 lead, despite getting only 52% of his first serves in. Fernando had a match point on Melzer’s serve, but Melzer held to stay in the match, and gave Fernando the opportunity to serve it out, which he did, taking the third and deciding set 6-1. He next faces 7th seed Marin Cilic, who defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets. It’s a tricky match-up. Their head-to-head is 2-2, but Marin has won both their hard court meetings, including their most recent meeting last year at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, where he defeated Fernando 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The match is scheduled last on Grandstand court tomorrow evening.

Fernando and Feli (who lost his singles match earlier today) had a much smoother time in their doubles match which started about an hour and a half after Fernando won in singles. They knocked out the 6th seeds Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley, 6-1, 7-6⁴ They set up an all-Spanish affair next in the quarterfinals when they face off against Davis Cup teammates Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro, who earlier today dispatched top seeds Nestor/Zimonjic.