Miami Third Round

This Sunday, the first day of the tournament went by without any major upsets, even though it looked like we might have had one in the making early on, when David Nalbandian managed to take the first set from Rafael Nadal in a very tight tiebreak, only to have Nadal reassert his authority and win the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. Really, an encouraging performance from both players. Good for Nalbandian, for being able to hang with Nadal for one set, and Nadal, for coming back after he's down and keeping the upset bug off his back for another match. I hope to see the Argentine continue to recover, and get him back to the top levels of the game.

Roddick didn't give his opponent a chance to get into the match. He won 76% of his service points and 56% of his points on return, and - most importantly for Roddick - four out of four break point chances. Really, an excellent show from the top American. If he hadn't been playing Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, it might have really meant something. For Roddick, though, this draw couldn't be opening much better. The only significant upset of the day was Benjamin Becker over Tommy Robredo, who was set to be Roddick's next opponent. Roddick is only 3-0 against Becker, rather than 10-0 against Robredo, but it's still a favorable match-up. In the quarters, he'll get either Almagro or Bellucci, two strong players, but not players you normally expect to meet in the quarterfinals of a tournament of this caliber.

Across the draw from Roddick, things are looking tougher. The two big servers lost, which means the round of 16 features three Spaniards all more suited to clay - Nadal, Ferrer, and Ferrero - and oen Frenchman, JW Tsonga. Tough to pick who's going to come through on that side.

Tomorrow, there are some excellent matches to look forward to. It's tough to see another huge upset in the cards, but there are certainly some tight ones. I'm disappointed to see that Youzhny-Wawrinka is put all the way out on court 2, because that match could be a corker, and whoever wins doesn't have to play Andy Murray to get to the quarters, so they know what's at stake. They'll play the winner of Mardy Fish and Feliciano Lopez, so let's see if Fish can follow up his big upset, or if that had more to do with Murray's lack of performance. Olivier Rochus fell in the next round after downing Djokovic, so that may have really been the Serbian's poor play rather than the Belgian raising his game.

Another potential crackerjack match features Marcos Baghdatis adn Marin Cilic, two of the most winning players on tour so far this year. A Cilic loss would only be a very minor upset, considering his level of play since the Davis Cup break, and considering that Baghdatis upset Federer last week in Indian Wells. Speaking of Federer, he should have no trouble with Frenchman Florent Serra. But once he gets past that match, he'll likely find himself facing Tomas Berdych in the next round, and Berdych, if he puts together a good match, has a chance against the Fed. He had him on the ropes in the 2009 Aussie Open, and I know he'd like another chance.

Verdasco-Melzer and Monaco-Gonzalez are also both potentially interesting matches, and I wouldn't be surprised with either player coming out on top. Gonzalez is playing for more than he usually is, as he is trying to get support and contributions for earthquake relief in Chile. If he makes a run, it could really become the story of the tournament, but it's a bit early for that, so far. Expect Soderling to beat Petzschner without much trouble.

Maybe there wasn't really an upset bug going around this week, but Murray and Djokovic were just feeling the grind of playing at their best, week in and week out. They've been playing a lot of tennis, and maybe they just need a break. We'll see if the time off before the claycourt season starts in earnest is enough for them to get their heads together.

In the meantime, things here at Miami are really interesting. We don't have the big four anymore, but two of them - and no matter what the rankings say, the top two - are still remaining. We could still get a Federer-Nadal final at this point, which would seem appropriate. Whenever people seem to be saying that it's the end of the old guard, that tends to happen. Of course, we could also have another set of surprise finalists. Roddick seems like the surest bet to make it to the semis, but he's got to be tired. Nadal, too. I'm anxious to see how this plays out over the next week.