Prior to Indian Wells, if you were to ask who the favorites to win Indian Wells and Miami, few would have said Andy Roddick. Of course, fewer still would have said Ivan Ljubicic who won Indian Wells. Most were predicting Roger Federer, with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, nearly as often, and perhaps Rafael Nadal
Well, this surely wasn't the final people were expecting. Head-to-head would have suggested a Nadal-Soderling final in a rematch of the fourth round where Nadal lost in Paris. Instead, Roddick upset Nadal and Berdych pummeled Soderling, winning 6-2, 6-2. Apparently, Berdych wasn't done winning after defeating Roger Federer. At least Fed can feel good about
I won't do point by point blogging, because that is completely distracting when it comes to actually watching the match. I'll do it game-by-game. Surprisingly this is the early match, rather than Soderling-Berdych. On the other hand, it is a Friday, so you can imagine someone skipping work to watch this, and still having Friday
The last two semifinalists were decided today. Robin Soderling again makes it to the semifinals as he did back in Indian Wells. He played a familiar opponent, Mikhail Youzhny, who he beat back in Rotterdam. Youzhny was unable to complete that match, but he did complete this one, losing 6-1, 6-4. Tomas Berdych had to
Unlike the surprise loss by Federer yesterday, both Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal won quarterfinal matches. Roddick has never played Nicolas Almagro, but apparently found easy work, winning 6-3, 6-3. Nadal appeared to have a tougher challenge in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga had a chance to break early, but wasn't able to do it while Nadal
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
Some said that Federer was still hungover from his loss to Baghdatis in Indian Wells. That loss occurred in the 3rd round. Many chalked that loss to being ill with a lung infection. Federer skipped Dubai to recover from a lung infection. Doctors told him not to play for two weeks. So there was bound
Fernando Gonzalez had chosen not to go to Indian Wells so he could head to Chile to assist with relief efforts. He returns to Miami, but had to face hard hitting Soderling. Soderling took the first set, 6-0, but Gonzalez worked hard to take the second set in a tiebreak. Gonzalez was testy, complaining that
Whatever mental issues Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are facing, they don't seem to affect Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. Roddick may not be as young as Isner nor Querrey, but he still moves quite well, and he played unseeded Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1. Fellow American, John Isner, did not fare as well. He pushed Juan
The two were considered the next wave of good players. After Nadal became the first serious challenge to Federer and after Federer's years of dominance (in the mid 2000), Novak Djokovic leaped to 3rd in the world in 2007 and mostly stayed there until 2009. Andy Murray moved from number 6 in the world in
