Nishikori v. Gasquet was a dud.  Either Nishikori was injured, playing badly, or he has a critical weakness: the inability to generate his own pace.  If Gasquet didn't hit the ball hard, Nishikori wasn't hitting it hard back.  So, Gasquet played smart and hit off-speed topspin shots until the opportunity to crack a winner appeared.

I'm also going to say that I could watch Gasquet hit that backhand all day long.  It takes far too much time, but it does look beautiful.

The weather stopped the Pospisil v. Giraldo match.  If Giraldo wins, he'll have the weather to thank because after Pospisil played a mediocre first set, he played much better in the second and had momentum.

Pospisil has a lot of easy power and moves pretty well for a big guy.  However, he's inconsistent and gets pushed like six feet behind the baseline.  He's also got a ball toss that goes too far out front; he missed a lot of first serves in the first set.  He also has a bit of a temper.

Giraldo is more of a defensive counterpunching player.  Unlike Nishikori, he can generate his own pace.

The match is on Pospisil's racquet.  If he keeps it together, he'll win.  If he loses it mentally, Giraldo will win.

For the last set of Pospisil v. Giraldo, Giraldo was inexplicably unable or unwilling to generate pace on his own.  I don't know what happened.

Raonic d. Young was unsurprising.  What was surprising is that except for the games where he broke Young at the end of the set, Raonic played very soft tennis when Young was serving, like a 12 year old girl.  This might have been a tactic to take Young by surprise, but I would think that he could have broken Young at least one more time in the last set and shortened his playing time.  Raonic's serve is even more impressive when seen in person.

Even though Gasquet won the first set against Pospisil, I never really thought he'd win the match.  He seems to default to playing six feet behind the baseline which is not a winning strategy.  He also seemed a bit tired after that first set, and the DC weather (hot and humid) was going to play a role with his fitness.

One thing I do like about Pospisil is his willingness to come to net.  He does it selectively and usually at the right moments.  He also plays with very low net clearance on his groundstrokes, which causes more trouble for him than he needs.

Kuznetsova d. Makarova was a good match for Kuzy, yet had those moments which showed why she has never played as large a role in the women's game as she could.  In the first set, she played with topspin and slice, getting Makarova out of position and those flat shots not always going well.  In the second set, it was topspin, topspin, and more topspin which Makarova was able to better deal with.  With Makarova serving at 2-4, there was the Kuznetsova experience, where she played badly on the first two points, didn't even make an attempt at Makarova's serve to go down 40-love, and then she played out of her mind on the next three points to get to deuce.  She eventually won the game after several deuces.

Makarova is kind of like a left-handed, budget Dementieva.  Doesn't hit the ball as hard or as accurately, and she doesn't move as well, but she can give players who had trouble with Dementieva the same sort of problems.

Unfortunately, I got sick and wasn't able to go to the finals.

What were the crowds like?

If Raonic is the Canadian Roddick, there's no way Pospisil has more potential, seeing as how Roddick won a slam and lost in the final of four others, taking Federer deep into the fifth set of his last one. 

Raonic definitely is not like Sampras. His serve is better than Roddick's, but his movement and ground game are worse, even his return, and that's saying something. 

Pospisil's game is more pleasing to the eye, but on serve alone he'll never be as good as Raonic. He also does not have the same competitveness as Raonic. Raonic's game will make it tough for him to ever win a slam --I hope he never does-- but he has the right mindset.