I’m not much into predictions.  I just use head to head matchups to see how things might be.  So let’s do this.

Again, we’ll be denied a Federer-Nadal matchup mostly because Fed is struggling.

Berdych plays Verdasco next.  Berdych has a 5-3 record, but they tend to go back and forth.  The two met in Indian Wells where Berdych crushed Verdasco.  I’d imagine that a fatigued Berdych might make their quarterfinal encounter closer.  We’ll see.  Players that produce an upset generally get upset in the next round.  When Federer beat Sampras in the 2001 Wimbledon encounter, he lost to Tim Henman in the following round.

Next up is Mikhail Youzhny and Robin Soderling.  The two last met in the finals of Rotterdam with Youzhny retiring from that match.  Soderling leads 2-1 in head to head, including the last two.  Should Soderling win, it will be his second straight Masters 1000.  I think Soderling will be favored based on recent results.

Next up is Tsonga vs. Nadal.  Who could forget their first encounter in the 2008 Australian Open where Tsonga used his drop volley to great effect.   Alas, Nadal has won their last 4 encounters.  Nadal should be favored, but Tsonga had an easy match over Ferrero, and the two generally play close matches.  Should be fun!

Finally, a first time encounter between Andy Roddick and Nicolas Almagro.  Almagro has a pretty big serve and hits big off the ground, but Roddick recently played the likes of Tommy Robredo, so you feel that Roddick should get past Almagro.

If the head-to-head matchups prove correct, we’d see Soderling against Berdych and Roddick against Nadal.  With most of the top seeds out, a Roddick vs. Nadal semi would be pretty cool to see.