By Erik Gudris                                          Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

(February 17, 2012) In San Jose at the SAP Open, after a day of unexpected news with top seed Gael Monfils withdrawing due to his ongoing knee injury and unexpected victories with Andy Roddick pulling out a three set win despite rolling his ankle, the tournament was probably due for a calmer day on Thursday. It got one, though that didn't mean that a few more upsets and drama filled moments weren't in store for fans in attendance at the HP Pavilion.

Radek Stepanek, a former champion of the event, was the first big seed to fall as he lost in two tiebreaks to Steve Darcis, 7-6, 7-6. No. 6 seed Kevin Anderson had no trouble against Australia's Matt Ebden winning 6-1, 6-2 while France's Julian Benneteau continued his winning ways from Davis Cup last week by defeating Gilles Muller 6-2, 6-4.

The opening night match was intriguing only that it featured two Americans who had never faced each other before and who are both on opposite ends of the age spectrum and their careers. Ryan Harrison at age 19 is viewed as the next great American hope while Robby Ginepri at age 29 is ranked in the high 200's and is mounting another comeback after injuries derailed most of his 2011 season.

For a while it was hard to tell who was who based on the fact that both men wore similar red shirts and played a very similar game to one another. Both are steady from the backcourt, have decent groundstrokes but not a discernible weapon to help them close out points. The first two sets ended up being mirrors of each other too with Harrison securing an early break in the first set and then going on to win it after a slew of errors from Ginepri in the final game while the second set saw the pattern repeat but this time with the sloppiness coming from Harrison's racquet at the end of the second set.

The third set went neck and neck as both men held serve with ease. Neither man showed much emotion between points which was something new to see especially from the younger Harrison as he's earned a reputation of being a hothead on the court. With the match so even, it was hard to tell who might blink first or seize the momentum.

Serving down 5-6, Harrison suddenly found himself down one match point, which he saved with a volley winner, and then down another which he saved with a big serve. By the time it went into the tiebreak, the momentum was with the younger man as two groundstroke errors from Ginepri allowed Harrison to open an early lead at 4-0. From there, Harrison looked like he wanted it more as he raced away with a perfect tiebreak to close out the match 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.

In the final match of the evening, Denis Istomin closed out American veteran Michael Russell 6-2, 6-2. Istomin now faces Roddick in the next round.