© 2012 Daily Tennis News Wire -
INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA
Rome, Italy
Wednesday Men's Tennis Summary

Singles - Second Round: (2) R Nadal def. F Mayer 6-1 7-5
This will drop Florian Mayer well below #30. This probably means no Roland Garros seed; he's going to be a spot or two below the cutoff. For Rafael Nadal, this keeps alive his hopes for a return to #2. But the news wasn't all good:

Singles - Second Round: (3) R Federer def. C Berlocq 6-3 6-4
A fairly big win for Roger Federer, because it means that Rafael Nadal now needs a Rome final to have any chance at the #2 Roland Garros seed. Carlos Berlocq loses his rather faint seeding chance.

Singles - Second Round: (7) T Berdych def. L Kubot 6-4 6-1
Tomas Berdych moves back in front of David Ferrer in the contest for #6 -- but they are still very close to tied, and the one who lasts longer will get it.

Singles - Second Round: S Wawrinka def. (8) J Tipsarevic 6-3 6-1
Janko Tipsarevic still has a small lead in the contest for #8, but he is giving Juan Martin del Potro an opening.

Singles - Second Round: A Seppi def. (9) J Isner 2-6 7-6(7-5) 7-5
If we have all our eighteenth event scores right, this is going to cost John Isner his Top Ten spot and his position as the #1 American. Mardy Fish will regain at least the latter distinction and possibly the former as well. Andreas Seppi is now up to about #27, so his Roland Garros seed is secure.

Singles - Second Round: (10) J del Potro def. M Youzhny 6-4 6-2
Juan Martin del Potro stays in the hunt for the #8 Paris seed, although he will need more than this; see the Feature. Mikhail Youzhny looks good for a seed, but it will be below #24.

Singles - Second Round: (11) G Simon def. (Q) G Garcia-Lopez 6-4 2-6 6-4
If Gilles Simon can win two more matches, he might hit the Top Ten. But he has no real shot at the #8 Roland Garros seed, so it probably doesn't matter much in practice.

Singles - Second Round: (12) N Almagro def. (Q) S Querrey 7-5 6-2
Nicolas Almagro keeps alive his hopes for the #12 Roland Garros seed, but he's more than 300 points behind Gilles Simon. He will probably have to hope that Mardy Fish pulls out.

Singles - Second Round: (14) J Monaco def. R Stepanek 6-4 6-2
This means Radek Stepanek will be ranked no higher than #25 -- meaning he'll need a withdrawal to earn a Top 24 Paris seed.

Singles - Second Round: (16) R Gasquet def. (WC) P Lorenzi 6-3 6-2
Richard Gasquet keeps alive his hopes for a return to the Top Twenty, but he needs more than this; a Top 16 Paris seed appears almost impossible.

Singles - Second Round: M Granollers def. (WC) F Fognini 6-3 6-4
Marcel Granollers will almost certainly be a Top 24 Paris seed after this.

Doubles - Second Round: (2) Bryan/Bryan def. S Gonzalez/Kas 6-3 6-2
The Bryans aren't going to regain the #1 rankings this week, but the points they earn here could prove important at Roland Garros, where Mirnyi/Nestor have the title to defend.

Doubles - Second Round: (4) Lindstedt/Tecau def. Cabal/Schwank 6-4 6-3