The outercourts are just about history from the singles draw, but Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson are currently playing on Court 11, right near the food court. The court is a often a distracting place place to play because you generally can quite clearly make out the PA announcer from Arthur Ashe announcing giveaways, procedures and other bulletins from the USTA. But today, there's a little more to distract Gasquet as he seems to be making his way to the third round.

How about some Hawaiian music? The Josh Kekoa Cho & the Hawaiian Dreams are performing in the South Plaza, and the music is bleeding heavily onto the court. It certainly is giving the match a festive feel!

Gasquet leads two sets to love, and is trying to make a move into the Fourth Round to play fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils. I'm sure they'll move Gasquet to Armstrong for that one. He should be safe from outside distractions by that point.

Richard Gasquet v. Rafael Nadal; Arthur Ashe, Late Afternoon:

Gasquet has been gone all summer thanks to a suspension after low doses of cocaine was discovered in a drug test (in perhaps the best excuse we've ever seen, he blamed it on kissing a Miami cocktail waitress), but we've always loved his game and we wish that he could somehow give a good push here. This will also be our first look at Nadal, bad knees and all, and we'll get a hint if he's going to make a serious run in this Open.

Marion Bartoli v. Kim Clijsters; Armstrong, Mid-Afternoon:

Well! This should be a fun rematch. Bartoli--no matter what Martina Navratilova has to say--is a player we love to watch, and Kim Clijsters is now the player who is quickly becoming the popular favorite to give Serena the biggest challenge in this tournament. It'll be a great rematch from a month ago.

Gael Monfils v. Jeremy Chardy; Grandstand, 11a.m.:

Battle of the Frenchmen! Our own Zack Woolfe will be in the stands, with his French-English dictionary, telling us what the French fans are saying.

Vera Zvonareva v. Anna Chakvetadze; Grandstand, Early Afternoon:

The Serena-slayer Zvonareva will take on the former Open semifinalist Anna Chakvetadze, who hasn't been the same since an intruder broke into her house. We're really pushing for Chakvetadze to give a good account of herself; her ranking has fallen in the 70s.

Juan Carlos Ferrero v. Fabrice Santoro; Court 11, Early Afternoon:

It could be Santoro's last match. We'll always have the memories.

Two points of interest from it: (1) He had a message for Rafael Nadal, who complained that the hard-court season is too long, which he blamed for causing his tendinitis.

"You play seven months a year on clay if you want to. I'm not going to throw a pity party by any means."

(2) Reporters yesterday were quietly questioning Richard Gasquet's dedication to the game due to his withdraw because of a fever. Roddick said if he were sick, he'd play.

"If you're sick, I don't feel like that's going to get worse. I feel like that's a short-term thing. I'd probably go out there and give it a go."

Richard Gasquet is withdrawing from the tournament due to a fever, giving untested prospect Donald Young a ticket to the third round.

Two things to say about this:

(1) It's a big break for Young, who now, unbelievably, has a shot at the fourth round. In his next match he'll either take on 60th seed Feliciano Lopez or 39th seed Igor Andreev -- not the stiffest competition. If he gets that far, he'll get Federer.

(2) What a blow for Gasquet. The Frenchman had momentum after a solid run at Wimbledon and a lot of pre-tournament buzz. Federer said on Saturday that he liked the 21-year-old Gasquet's game better than either Novak Djokovic's or Andy Murray's.