Was the pressure too much for Wozniacki, the clear favorite once Clijsters lost, who is still searching for a first Slam title?

“I didn’t have much in my mind,” Zvonareva said of facing down a match point. “I was just trying to focus one point at a time and fight like I did since the very first point. I got a little lucky and was able to turn the match around.”

“I had stomach problems at the start of the year,” said a crying Ivanovic in her post-match conference, going over her various illnesses and ailments in 2011. “But I felt healthy before Indian Wells, then hurt my stomach again at the Fed Cup. It’s been stop and go, it is very frustrating. It’s inflammation of the wrist but I didn’t suffer it playing, I woke up with the problem. The bone has slipped and has caused friction. I’m very upset.”

“I feel relieved when I look at the score or the match after playing three tiebreaks in Madrid against him,” Federer said of his fellow 29 year old. “It’s definitely slower than Madrid. So I think Feliciano was maybe not getting the free points he was looking and hoping for. The important thing from my side was to be solid in my own serve, which I was all the way through from start to finish, and I thought I played a good match.”

“I don’t think I have a big chance for the title here because I have never reached further than the third round in a Grand Slam, so we shouldn’t be talking here about winning a Grand Slam,” she said.

Kim Clijsters is back from injury and seeded No. 2. It will be interesting to see if the Belgian can quickly up her game to the physical and mental rigors of the red clay. Clijsters will start against Belarus’ Anastasiya Yakimova, and is looking at a possible third-rounder against No. 25 seed Maria Kirilenko, and fourth round against No. 7 Maria Sharapova, facing a Russian “Maria” onslaught.

Notes: Why “Qualifier” and Victor Hanescu as floaters? Because one of those will likely send the struggling No. 4 seed Roddick out of the tournament in his first match; interesting opening-round match-ups include (6) Baghdatis vs. (WC) Benneteau, and (8) Fognini vs. (WC) Gulbis; Roddick is making his debut in Nice, looking for some last-minute clay preparation after going winless this dirt season, and extending his losing record to four straight matches; the Top 4 seeds in Nice this year are all making their tournament debuts; Richard Gasquet won the title last year.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are set on a Sunday final collision course.

On the women’s side the talking points are — who is going to win this week? Because seemingly anybody can win. No one can maintain a roll.

Del Potro withdraws but the Friday schedule is a good one in Madrid.