World Tour Finals Day 2

At last, we've had an interesting match at the World Tour Finals! After three more blow-out, straight matches in the first singles and the first two doubles matches, the night match between Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal featured stellar tennis from both players. Roddick won the first set and was up a break in the second set, but Nadal picked up his game and the American couldn't quite stay level with the world number one from the back of the court. It was a very hard-fought match, and even though he didn't come away with the victory, Roddick has to be encouraged by the result.

He came into the event playing solid tennis, but he hadn't had a win against a top-ten player since Cincinnati, and his injury status was sort of unresolved. But he started the event playing the only player in his group that he has a losing record against, the reigning champion of the past three grand slams, and world number one. If he could have won that match, Roddick would have felt pretty confident about being able to run the table. Frankly, if he can play as well as he did against Nadal in his next two matches, Berdych doesn't have a shot, and Djokovic could be in trouble. Obviously, Roddick will be disappointed by the way his level dipped at key moments (serving up a minibreak in the second set tiebreak?) but overall, he was playing at a very high level. He forced the top player in the world to dig deep and play his very best tennis. Roddick's still in with a shout, which is the benefit of the round robin format.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, I think we may have our second and perhaps third tightly-contested matches, since the line-up is absolutely appetizing. First off, we have Federer vs. Murray, a rematch of the Australian Open, Toronto, and Shanghai finals, this year. Murray leads the overall head to head 8-5 and this year by 2-1. Both of them won their opening matches, so a victory tomorrow would all but seal their place in the semifinals. Not to mention the fact that Federer won their meeting at the finals last year (in London!) but Murray won the year before - there's a lot on the line, here. I think Murray probably played better in his opening round match, but his opponent also played worse. Murray has gotten the better of Federer more often than not lately (when it hasn't been in a Grand Slam, anyway) but Fed has been in better form. This one's too close to call.

But if there's a lot riding on the first match, there's even more riding on the second one. Robin Soderling and David Ferrer, who each lost their opening rounds, need a win to stay in contention. Not to mention, the pair met five times this year (the most meetings of any pair in 2010, leading up to the World Tour Finals) with Soderling leading 3-2, but Ferrer won two of the last three. Their five meetings were all since Wimbledon, too - which means they have had plenty of looks at each other's games in the past few months. Ferrer played better in his opening match, but Soderling was in great form two weeks ago in Paris. Again, this one is just too close to call.

I'm excited for both of these matches, and hoping that they can live up to the level of play that Roddick and Nadal set today.

Week 44 Semifinals

We're through to the final four in both of the ATP tournaments taking place this week, and there are some very appetizing match-ups. Quarterfinals day was maybe lacking some of the excitement that it looked like it might have had, but there was still some amazing tennis on display.

Out of the eight matches taking place today, only two were not won in straight sets. Argentine Juan Monaco faltered against Lucky Loser Marcel Granollers, who continues his campaign as one of the two remaining Spaniards in Valencia. That's a big win for Granollers, who was 17-20 on the year coming into this tournament. Unfortunately, I don't think he can pull of that magic again in the semis, as he faces Gilles Simon, who ousted Nikolay Davydenko in three - though it should have only taken two. Davydenko played brilliantly for intervals, but then he would completely lose his way. In the end, Simon was just too steady.

The other semifinal may not go terribly well for the other remaining Spaniard, David Ferrer, who is rewarded for his straight sets defeat of Andreas Seppi with the dominant player of the tournament thus far, Robin Soderling, who ousted Gael Monfils as if it were no small feat. It was strong play from Soderling, but honestly, Monfils didn't really show up for this match, which is a shame. Having just won a tournament last week and summarily dismissed Stanislas Wawrinka in the previous round, I was hopeful that Monfils had reached a new level in his career, but the quality of his play dropped precipitously in the quarterfinals. I expect Ferrer will be a sterner test for the Swede, but Soderling leads their head-head 8-3, including winning 3 out of 4 matches played this year.

Ferrer is in a tricky situation, which is that he needs to accumulate points to cement his place in the year-end-championships, but he doesn't want to exhaust himself before next week's tournament in Paris, where there are even more points on offer. A loss here wouldn't be the end of the world. Another player who is in the exact same boat is Andy Roddick, who wishes he was merely 3-8 against his semifinal opponent. But no, the American faces off against his greatest nemesis and hometown hero Roger Federer, against whom Roddick is a dismal 2-19. This is their first meeting since the epic Wimbledon final in July of 2009, and also the site of their very first meeting way back in 2001. Federer won that one in a third set tiebreak, and it may be a similar result tomorrow. A win for Roddick would be huge, but a loss isn't going to hurt his spirit too much - he came into this week without any serious expectations, considering his layoff, and he has played some great tennis. If he gets an extra day to get to France for the Paris Masters and get himself ready for that tournament, that's just fine. And really, it's tough to bet on the guy with a 2-19 record.

The final semi features a rematch of one of the most significant early round matches at the U.S. Open - Serb Novak Djokovic played his junior countryman Viktor Troicki and looked out of it in the very first round, down a break in a decisive set, and with a point to go down a double break. Djokovic managed to claw his way back to win the match and ultimately go on to beat Federer in the semis and make the final. Since then, Troicki won the first tournament of his career. Djokovic, of course, is trying to defend the title he won here last year. I expect that Novak will win this one, but it could be tricky, if Troicki brings his best stuff to the court.

Despite all the other matches going on tomorrow, the biggest question of the day will be whether Roddick can maybe pull of that magical upset and get another notch on his belt against Federer. It's not a decisive match for either player in terms of career trajectories, but a win would be a huge boost for Andy. For Federer, it probably won't affect him too much either way, and Roddick won't be surprised if he comes up second best. But a win could Roddick all kinds of momentum heading into the year's final weeks. After a very up-and-down year, it would be great to end on a high note.

US Open Wrap-Up

This is a bit belated, but now that the U.S. Open is over, we can look back on things with some more perspective. Obviously, the tournament was an unqualified success for Rafael Nadal, who completed his career grand slam, won his third consecutive major tournament, and put himself in the conversation among the greatest players of all time. Really, a stunning fortnight for him - and while he may not have had to face his toughest opponents on the way, but neither did Federer when he won his French Open. You can't blame Nadal for not being able to beat Federer this year - he beat everyone who he was supposed to, and that's all he needed to do.

Novak Djokovic had an amazing week as well, after nearly buckling in the first round to compatriot Viktor Troicki, he was fading in the heat and looked down for the count. But the sun started setting, he got a second wind, and rode it all the way through to the final. He thoroughly outplayed Federer in the semifinal match, but he still just barely won it. It's the best he's played since he lost to Nadal during the clay-court season in 2009, in the greatest three-set match ever played. But even with the aid of the weather, it wasn't enough to challenge Nadal in the final. But then again, we can only ask so much of one player.

Which may be part of the explanation for Federer's fall in the semis. Even though he almost won the match, he was the second-best player for the whole encounter. He was hitting way too many errors and not serving well enough to have expected any other result. But really, how could anyone have expected him to make another U.S. Open final? I guess we might have, since that's one record he didn't own - Lendl still (and probably always will) have the record for consecutive U.S. Open finals. Federer was probably spoiled by having relatively easy competition straight through to his semifinal - his only potentially tricky opponent, Soderling, he was able to take on in absolutely ideal conditions. That's not to say that he didn't play brilliantly in that match, but he may have gotten to Djokovic and started thinking about the final before he had dispatched the Serb. And though I wouldn't have expected it, the Djoker rose to the occasion and played spoiler. Still, a fine summer for Federer, despite not making the final here.

Everybody else, on the other hand, has some work to do in the last part of the season to make up for their disappointing Summers' ends. Well, Youzhny probably can take a break - and maybe Wawrinka, who played amazing tennis but wore himself out. But Andy Murray was passive and petulant in his loss to the other Swiss player, and he's gone another year without his maiden grand slam title. His game is brilliant, his talent is unquestionable - but his tactics are sometimes less than ideal, and his attitude is often the thing that brings him down.

Andy Roddick's showing was even worse - I'm honestly getting tired of hearing him say that his plan, going into the match, was to let his opponent miss. "There's no way he can keep this up," is his mantra after so many grand slam losses. I'm thinking back to Kohlschreiber at the Australian Open, Gasquet at Wimbledon, Lu at Wimbledon this year, or the other time that Tipsarevic beat Roddick, also at Wimbledon. But it's terrible to come out after the match and say that he successfully executed his strategy in that match, because if that's his strategy, then any player can play an hour and a half of brilliant tennis and beat him. Sometimes, he needs to be able to win matches, not just allow other players to lose them. Tipsarevic himself said as much, talking about how nobody fears Roddick from the baseline anymore. Andy's out of the top ten once again, though he's still in the top eight in the year-to-date race, so he has a chance of making the year-end championships in London, with a couple good showings at the last two Masters events. But he needs to tweak his gameplan for the big matches, or else he's going to keep getting blown off the court.

Fortunately for Andy, the other Americans did well enough at the tournament to draw attention away from his poor performance on court and worse, his fairly childish reaction to a line judge. Of course, she was stupid too, (we should all be able to tell our right from our left) but her foot fault call was correct. Anyway, Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey both had good runs - one young player and one vet, and another pair had promising showings despite trouble with an injury or an unlucky draw. I'm looking at you, Isner and Blake. Despite not having any Americans in the top ten, we still have players who can win tournaments and be in the conversation - and we'll have one back in the top ten soon enough. There were a handful of performances from really young players that were just amazing - teen Ryan Harrison played great tennis, but choked on the verge of a famous victory. And the 17-year old Jack Sock may have lost in the first round of the main draw, but he won the junior title to become the first U.S. Champ in the boys' event since Andy Roddick. This is not all bad news.

There's still a lot to play for this year - two more Masters events and a handful of 250s and 500s. The Asian swing and the European indoor swing, two oft-overlooked but still great parts of the season. In the coming years, watch for the Asian swing to become more important, not less. I'd keep an eye on the young Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, this year - he played great at the U.S. Open, upsetting Marin Cilic, and he should be back in the top hundred by the time this year is over.

US Open Day 3

Well, up until this last match of the night, this was a pretty mild third day at the U.S. Open. Whereas yesterday, there were any number of incredibly tight matches and upsets, things had mostly been going to form, until this last match of the night session. But I'll get to that in a minute.

The day started with a very strange event, as Victoria Azarenka passed out on the grandstand court, some twenty five minutes into her match. It was assumed to be heat-related, but it turned out that she had fallen during her warm-up, and was ultimately diagnosed with a minor concussion. Here's hoping that she has a swift recovery and that it isn't anything more serious.

The other top ten seed to fall was Tomas Berdych on the men's side, who was just outplayed by Michael Llodra on the grandstand. The Wimbledon finalist - and one of the favorites to go deep into this tournament - out in the first round. The last time that happened was when Roddick lost to Gilles Muller in 2005.

Speaking of Roddick, Andy played some pretty poor tennis and showed some poor sportsmanship in his loss to Janko Tipsarevic. It was a stellar show of shot-making from Janko Tipsarevic, but Roddick did everything he could to allow the Serb to hit winner after winner, giving him medium-speed, high-spin balls that just sat up and asked to be blasted down the line. Even after he got riled up after being correctly called for a foot fault (despite being informed that it was called on the wrong foot) he still wasn't getting enough pace on his shots, and Tipsarevic took full advantage. Roddick looked listless for a big chunk of that match, and it seemed like the mono may have had something to do with it. But the American said it himself, that once he decided to show up, it didn't really matter how much he had in the tank, he was going to give it his all. It certainly wasn't enough today. At 28 years old and with the younger players in the game more and more able to handle his groundstrokes, it's really a shame to essentially lose a summer to a disease like mono. And that's assuming he can come back - Mario Ancic has pretty much been out of the game for the better part of four or five years, since he first came down with it. I hate to say it, but we may be witnessing the twilight of the American's career.

On the other side of her career trajectory, Melanie Oudin also lost today, but she maybe was just feeling the pressure of trying to repeat her magical run from last year. She was clearly feeling tight - she wasn't moving her feet, and she wasn't hitting through her shots. But when she was forgetting about the pressure, she was playing some good ball. And she's still only 18-years old, so she has plenty of time to adjust to being more than a Cinderella story.

In better news for the American fans, John Isner and Sam Querrey both won today. The bigger news for that side was that 18-year old Ryan Harrison beat 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic in his opening round match, the first time a U.S. teen beat a top-20 player since Roddick himself did it way back in 2001. But Donald Young and Jack Sock, two heralded young U.S. players, both lost pretty convincingly. All in all, a mixed bag for the U.S. side.

The other big upset of the day was Virginia Razzano beating out Marion Bartoli, but considering everything else that was going on, it's tough to pay too much heed to this loss, since Bartoli has always been and up-and-down player.

Tomorrow, we'll continue with second-round action - some appetizing match ups on offer, including Blake-Polansky, Davydenko-Gasquet, Nishikori-Cilic, and Melzer-Berankis. I wonder if things will continue to be as tense and upset-happy as they've been so far? We're only through one round on the men's side (plus two 2nd round matches) and one and a half rounds on the women's side, and we've already lost 18 of the 64 seeds. That's almost thirty percent! Pretty brutal stuff, out there.

Cincinnati Semifinals

Wow, another great day of tennis in Cincinnati. One match went exactly as expected, as a fresh Federer tore through Davydenko - while the Russian was able to manufacture a few points of magic, he wasn't strong enough to avoid the inevitable, as Federer finished him off in straight sets. But Davy was not in his best form, and that is exactly what he would have needed to stage the upset, there.

Two of the other matches were nominally upsets, as Mardy Fish beat Andy Murray and Andy Roddick beat Novak Djokovic, but both of them had held winning streaks over their opponents going into today's match, and the world's number 3 and 4 were overtired and not fond of the conditions. So while those results may have been upsets, they shouldn't have come as complete surprises. The Murray-Fish match was a great one - one blowout set sandwiched in between two really tight ones, and Mardy just ended up being a little bit tougher in the end.

But the fourth match was an absolute shocker - Marcos Bagdhatis played as well as I've seen him play since 2007 at least to upset the world number one Rafael Nadal. He served out of his mind and hit some absolutely spectacular shots, while Nadal was just a bit below his best. Down break points at 4-all in the set, Nadal double-faulted. That's something I've never seen him do in a situation like that, and it just goes to show how he doesn't care for these conditions. Credit to Baghdatis for closing it out, though, and even for getting to that point. It was excellent to see.

So our two semifinal match-ups feature Mardy Fish against Andy Roddick and Roger Federer against Marcos Baghdatis. The Fed-Baggy match is a rematch of an Australian Open final, where Baggy had his break-out run several years ago, only to lose to Federer at that stage. You have to favor Federer again here, as Fed has picked up his game this season, but Baghdatis clipped him the last time they played, earlier this year in one of the Spring hardcourt masters events. That may have been an anomaly, though - we'll just have to wait and see.

For the Roddick-Fish match, the situation is surprisingly similar. Roddick owns Fish in their head-to-head, but Fish won their most recent match, in Atlanta just a few weeks ago. Of course, that was while Roddick was suffering from his minor bout with mono, so that was probably a factor. Neither Fish nor Roddick is likely going to be at their absolute best tomorrow, as neither player was at 100% today and they have the early match tomorrow, and Fish had to play a doubles match this evening, which he unfortunately lost 10-8 in the third set super-tiebreaker. The plus side is that whoever wins will have more of a chance to recuperate before the final...

... where they will almost certainly have to play Federer. Fish has beaten Fed in a Masters event like this one, on a hard court, a couple of years ago. And one of Roddick's two wins over Fed came at the Canada Masters in 2003. That said, Federer is still the immense favorite to win this tournament, considering the opposition he has left to fight through. Roddick and Federe haven't played yet this year, and the last Masters final before the U.S. open would be a pretty good place to renew their one-sided rivalry. But who knows? We could get a Baghdatis-Fish final!

Washington Final

Well, while I've been busy with other things, the Legg Mason tennis tournament has gone absolutely bonkers. The final, set for tomorrow, is between wildcard David Nalbandian and eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis. If you had them picked to play for the title a week ago, then you deserve a prize.

Nalbandian's performance has been absolutely spectacular - he has been in dominant form through most of his matches, losing only a single set to Gilles Simon, who was playing his best tennis in years. Every other set he's played, he's won, and also were never closer than 6-4. It's been brutal - and this is how well the Argentine can play, he just hasn't done it for a few years. It's good to see him back, though.

This has just been a weird tournament, after a day of tennis was almost canceled due to rain, they stuffed a bunch of matches in all at once, and it was a brutal day for Americans. Every American left lost in the round of 16, some pretty badly. Roddick's performance was extremely lackluster, and his reward for not being into it is dropping out of the top ten. This is bad news for Andy, who looked to be having a great year around March, but then he took a long clay-court layoff, got sick, and hasn't been the same player since. If he doesn't put up two good performances at the two upcoming Masters series events, he's going to be seeded outside the top eight, and could potentially hit a top four seed in the fourth round.

It's also worth noting that with Roddick dropping to (a projected) number 12, there are suddenly no Americans in the top ten for the first time since the ranking system began. An odd thing to happen at the same time that we were talking about an American renaissance - but it is worth looking at further, just not right now.

Nalbandian's opponent will be another recent underachiever, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who started the year winning a title and then hasn't gone on to do much since. He was fairly lucky to get a tired Xavier Malisse in the semis instead of a fussy and uppity Tomas Berdych, who doesn't plan on coming back to the tournament next year, because of their unusual scheduling decisions and his feeling that he wasn't being treated well as the top seed. Baghdatis also may have rolled his ankle in the semis, which won't help him in the final.

Really, the final is probably going to be a cakewalk for Nalbandian, who had the tougher road, and was playing better tennis along the way. Baghdatis had a really nice win over Verdasco, but other than that, the quality of his opposition wasn't as much to write home about. Unless Nalbandian is exhausted or forgets how to play so well, I don't see Baghdatis posing a lot of a threat. It's good to see two interesting characters (who I pegged for big things this year on their respective comeback trails) in the final of the Legg Mason tournament.

Week 28 Wrap-up and Week 29 Preview

The finals that we wrapped up today were a study in contrasts - in Bastad, hometown (and on-paper) favorite Robin Soderling lost a tightly-contested match to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, a big win for Almagro, who hadn't won a title since February of 2009. Almagro is a guy who can hit anyone off the court, if his shots are landing. Soderling used to be the kind of player that Almagro is now - incredibly powerful, but not very consistent. Almagro has the game to be where Soderling is now, if he can just figure out how to be as consistent as Robin has become, week-in and week-out. He managed to best him today though, and that's what mattered.

The other final of the day was more anti-climactic, as Gael Monfils was forced to retire with an injured ankle against Albert Montanes. That's a shame, because that would have been a great match-up. Gael has trouble at the last stage of tournaments - he is now 2-8 in finals. Credit Montanes for putting together a great week, but that has to be disappointing for Monfils.

Looking ahead to next week, there are two interesting events. The first, the continuation of the second clay-court season, takes place in Hamburg: the International German Open is an ATP 500 even on clay. This section of the season is still odd to me, but this tournament features some great players. Davydenko is still in Europe, hoping to get his post-injury year back on track as the top seed. Basically, all of the clay court stalwarts are back for this tournament - with the exception of Soderling, who was just playing Bastad because he's Swedish. Of course, this event used to be the Hamburg Masters before it was downgraded and moved so Shanghai could be put into that tier. The tournament organizers just lost an appeal to dispute that downgrade, so it'll be interesting to see how the tournament goes. It should still be a fun event, though.

First-round matches to watch are Chiudinelli-Chardy, Nieminen-Christophe Rochus, and actually about a half dozen other appetizing match-ups between solid clay court players. There aren't any of the really big guns playing this tournament this year, but there's a lot of good players, so it would be a fun tournament to see.

That said, it's tough for me to get too pumped about the second swing of the clay-court season in Europe, because I'm gearing up for the American summer hard courts, which are getting underway this week in Atlanta. This is the first year of this tournament in Atlanta, as they got the tournament from Indianapolis, when it closed due to bad financial pressure last year. Fortunately for Atlanta, the field (which was already pretty strong in American players) got a huge boost when Andy Roddick took a wildcard. That, plus hometown boy John Isner's recent publicity at Wimbledon, should give the tournament a pretty good first year.

Most of the game's top US players are here, with the exception of Sam Querrey. Taylor Dent and James Blake open against each other, which may be a good match, but it's a shame they have to meet at such an early stage. Donald Young opens against Dudi Sela, and Michael Russell gets Benjamin Becker. Roddick should be the favorite in this tournament, but he only stands to gain 100 ranking points, and that's if he wins the whole thing. He already has a win and a final at other 250 tournaments this year, so I imagine his appearance has more to do with building some form, helping out the new tournament, and probably a hefty appearance fee as well. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action on U.S. Soil again, as his European campaign was pretty lackluster, after a stellar run in the earlier part of the year.

Wimbledon Day 7

At super monday, even though the schedule was stellar, the tennis didn't quite live up to the bar set by the first week. There were some ugly matches today, and - unfortunately - the good ones didn't last very long.

The biggest stories of the day were the dual departures of the two sentimental favorites: Justine Henin lost to countrywoman Kim Clijsters for the third time this year and the first time in a slam since 2002, if I'm not mistaken. That was a pretty ugly match, as Kim came out and couldn't find the court, then once she got up a set, it was Henin's turn to crack under pressure.

The level of play was slightly better in Andy Roddick's debacle of a match against Yen-Hsun Lu, but the tactics were way worse. Roddick lost this match the same he's lost almost all of the nail-biter big matches in his career - by being passive and hoping his lower-ranked, less-experienced opponent would blink. Unfortunately for him, it was Roddick who blinked. He lost two out of three tiebreaks. Even though he was only broken once in the entire match, it was enough for him to lose, just like in last year's final. This is really a chilling loss for Andy - he's never lost to somebody ranked as low as Lu at Wimbledon, in his entire career. And if that wasn't enough, since Roddick made the semis last year, he loses 1020 points from last year's result. If Tsonga and Berdych make it another round or two, he could end up number eleven in the rankings next week. Ouch.

Other than that, things were not especially exciting. Serena Williams beat Sharapova in a really high-quality match, but it didn't last long enough. Soderling beat Ferrer in an ugly, up-and-down affair that neither player seemed eager to close out. Sam Querrey was with Andy Murray for one set, but after not be able to capitalize on his chances, Murray ran away with it. Jankovic retired with injury and Wozniacki might as well have, losing 2 and love. Nadal and Federer each dropped just eight games. And even though Djokovic managed to beat Lleyton Hewitt, he was having some breathing problems on the way, and that didn't bode well for his chances.

The women's quarterfinals take place tomorrow, where Kim Clijsters plays Vera Zvonareva, Serena Williams plays Na Li, and Venus Williams plays Pironkova. The fourth match, I'm sorry to say, is not really of particular consequence. But I expect the Williams sisters and Clijsters to come through to the semis - Kim may have the chance to do what she did last year at the U.S. Open, which was beat both the Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam. Or, just as likely (if not more so) we'll get another Serena-Venus final.

Actually, after today, I think that the odds of Williams-Williams and Federer-Nadal finals just skyrocketed. On the one hand, that is an exciting possibility. On the other, I'm ready for a change of scenery; I'm ready for Roddick to stop losing in such heartbreakers, for example.

Week 23 Quarterfinals

We're most of the way through the first week of the grass court season, and things are pretty bizarre. In Halle, six of the eight seeds are already out of action. The only players remaining are Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt. Five of the remaining eight players are actually German, if you can believe that. Considering that there were only eight Germans in the draw to begin with, that's a pretty impressive line-up. That said, I think the odds of a German taking home the Halle title are pretty small, since Federer is still there. I was wrong when I mentioned that Haas beat Fed here last year - Federer didn't play Halle after he won the French Open. Haas beat Djokovic to win the title.

So that means that Federer is riding a ridiculous winning streak in Halle - it's got to be one of the longest winning streaks of any player at any tournament, if not the longest. I don't know who's going to beat him. Kohlschreiber is 0-4 against Federer, and he's really the toughest competition remaining, with the exception of Hewitt. It would be a pretty intense meltdown from Fed if he fails to break his title-less streak and continue his unbeaten run in Halle.

In Queens, things were rolling along as one might expect until today, when everything went to hell. There was some trouble with rain, and here are the casualties: Gasquet withdrew with a back injury, Roddick lost to Dudi Sela, Djokovic lost to Xavier Malisse, Cilic lost to Llodra, and Andy Murray was tied 3-all in the third against Mardy Fish when the match was called on account of darkness. And Nadal nearly lost to Denis Istomin of all people. Sometimes, unusual weather can be a real leveler.

A lot of the players who lost were really hoping to get some match practice in before Wimbledon, so expect a few players to start angling for wildcards to next week's tournament, which usually has a lack of top players. Andy Roddick in particular has won three matches in the last two and a half months. That's not the kind of preparation he wants heading into Wimbledon. Sam Querrey, on the other hand, seems to have recovered from the ennui that plagued him at the French and has a real shot of making the final here. We'll see how the weekend plays out, and if the big upsets are already past, or if they might continue.

French Open Day 5

Another rain-soaked day in Paris. There was actually not very much that got done today, so a lot of my excitement from yesterday carries over. But fortunately for the tournament organizers, they did get through all of the 2nd round matches from the top of the draw, so there aren't any of those held over. That would have been a real problem - as it stands, things probably won't get any worse, assuming that the weather starts to cooperate. If it continues to give us trouble, things could get interesting.

As it stands, there are only two 2nd round matches from the bottom half of the draw which were played to completion - Andy Roddick's and his next opponent's. Other than that, players from the bottom half either have to finish their match tomorrow, or they haven't even started yet. But it was a good win for Andy Roddick - except for a stretch of 8 points after the first rain delay where he was broken to lose the second set, the American was in control of the match. He may have been broken 7 times, but he was almost always in the lead. A good win for the American. And things are really getting better for him - his next opponent is also ranked outside the top 100, and they'll get an extra day of rest compared to the other plays in that half of the draw. He could make a little run here.

Since we're also playing all of the third round matches from the top half tomorrow, that makes for some interesting match-ups on an action-packed Friday. Two of the best matches are Andy Murray against Marcos Baghdatis and JW Tsonga against Thiemo De Bakker. When all's said and done, I expect that De Bakker may have the best clay-court career of these four players, but he's also the least accomplished at this point. None of the other three consider it their specialty, but all of them have a lot to gain this year.

Svetlana Kuznetsova will have to play better than she did on Wednesday to win against 30th seed Maria Kirilenko, but the defending champion has a shot. Federer has a much better chance against German surprise Julian Reister. In fact, I would put his chances at just about 100 percent. Expect the defending champions and the rest of the favorites - Serena Williams against Julia Goerges, Justine Henin against Kristen Flipkens, and Rafael Nadal against Horacio Zeballos. Zeballos will be a much better test for Nadal than Gianni Mina was, but Nadal will really have to be off his game for the Argentine to win.

Also, Robin Soderling plays Albert Montanes. Soderling has been playing imperious tennis thus far, and Montanes has not been at his best since beating Federer earlier in the year to defend his title in Estoril. But based on career performance, I'd call Montanes the better clay-court player. Leonardo Mayer is alos the better clay courter than Marin Cilic, and he's been in pretty good form. That could be another tough test for the young Croat. Finally, Mikhail Youzhny takes on Viktor Troicki, which has the potential to be another great match. These are all on court 3 by the way, so if you wanted to camp out there, it would not be a bad idea.

In a rematch of a tight affair from last week's tournament in Dusseldorf, John Isner takes on Tomas Berdych. Their last match was topsy-turvy, but I think that both players will be trying to play more solid, consistent tennis tomorrow. Another match to watch is Stan Wawrinka against Fabio Fognini, who managed to outlast Gael Monfils today 9-7 in the fifth. And Seppi-Kohlschreiber, plus Ferrer-Malisse... Plenty of exciting tennis. But here's hoping that the weather cooperates, or things could get really problematic.

Madrid Third Round

In second round action in Madrid, there was really only one upset to speak of, and it wasn't even on the men's side! Serena Williams lost to Nadia Petrova, way out on court three. This is not a tremendous surprise, because Petrova started the year red hot, and may just now be getting her game back. But I also can't imagine that Serena was terribly excited about the situation, playing on court three as WTA world number one. Maybe she just wanted to head off to France and enjoy some more time off. At least, it was something that was on her mind. Her sister won, though.

On the men's side, there were a couple seeded players going down, but none that were huge surprises. Youzhny lost to Ernests Gulbis, but Youzhny had already looked sluggish in his first round match, and Gulbis is still on fire. Soderling lost to Almagro, but last year's French Open final notwithstanding, Almagro is the better clay court player. Juan Monaco beat Tomaz Bellucci, but Monaco is a veteran on the dirt, and he really shouldn't be ranked as low as he is. And finally, Tsonga retired against Garcia-Lopez. Other than that, things went about as expected.

There have been a lot of seeds losing in Madrid already - not so much the ones that people expected to go deep into the tournament, but only nine of the tourney's sixteen seeds remain in the draw at this round. The three best matches all feature seeds facing off, including the top two seeds.

Rafael Nadal faces John Isner, and while Isner doesn't have a prayer of pulling off the upset, he could make it tight, if Nadal happens to be sluggish. But Isner's big serve is going to be blunted by the surface, and Nadal stands so far back on serve, he'll be able to get into too many points. The best thing that Isner can hope for is very dry weather, or a lot of big kick serves out wide to Nadal's backhand on the deuce court. He may get to a tiebreak, but that's about all he can hope for. He's the last American man standing, so I hope he makes a good show of himself.

The other marquee match will be Roger Federer against Stanislas Wawrinka, a battle of the Swiss top two. Normally, you'd say that Federer is the prohibitive favorite here, but based on some of his recent losses and Stan's recent form, which has been pretty good, and add to that the fact that Wawrinka beat Federer on clay two years ago in Monte Carlo, it's by no means a sure thing that the Fed will win tomorrow. He's still the favorite, sure, because he's Roger Federer, and it will take a long, long losing streak before he stops being the favorite against anyone but Nadal. But he could go off the boil again. He said, after his loss in Estoril, that he really only needs to get fired up for the slams, these days.

The third all-seed face-off is between Marin Cilic, who demolished Eduardo Schwank, and David Ferrer, who barely put off a stout challenge from Marcos Baghdatis. Despite crumbling at the end of the match, it was an impressive performance by Baghdatis, who has shown flashes of his past brilliance that got him to the top ten and the Australian Open final a few years ago. If he could just get some consistency, he could be a real threat again. In any case, Cilic and Ferrer could be an interesting match - Ferrer might be getting jaded from playing so many matches, and I'm sure Cilic is eager to get some traction before the French Open. This one's a bit of a toss-up, with Ferrer as the favorite.

Other matches of interest include Andy Murray against Victor Hanescu - tough to bet against the Scot there, even on clay, which is Hanescu's preferred surface, but he's just not as good against the top tier of players. Gulbis is playing Lopez, who got a lucky loser as Roddick withdrew with a stomach bug, for the privilege of playing Roger Federer. I know I - and the fans and tournament organizers - want to see a rematch. Monfils, who is trying to play for the first time in a long while, faces off against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and I hope he's healthy.

Verdasco is playing Melzer, who also got a cushy draw, but Melzer can demonstrate some pretty impressive firepower when he neesds it. He was just a few points away from beating Verdasco earlier this year on hard courts, and "Hot Sauce" could be suffering, like Ferrer, from playing so many matches. Who knows? Monaco v. Almagro is another one that's tough to call. It really depends on how accurate Almagro is, since he's going to be blasting the ball no matter what. Monaco is a more traditional clay-courter, but if Almagro's forehand and one-handed backhand - particularly up-the-line - are firing on all cylinders, Monaco won't be able to return much. But he should get a lot of unforced errors if conditions don't suit Almagro. But home court advantage and a vociferous Spanish crowd probably won't hurt him.

One last note about Andy Roddick, who unfortunately came down with a stomach bug and had to withdraw. That's one reason why I think that the American should have played more than a single clay court masters event - if he's forced to miss one (like this one) for reasons outside of his control, that's just another big zero on his scorecard. He's only losing 180 points this week, but he's missed four of the nine masters events in the past year. Since he gets one freebie, that's three tournaments out of his possible "best 18" where he has no points at all. If I were in Roddick's camp, I would really consider revising his schedule next year. Otherwise, he's going to stay in the 6-10 range (if he's lucky) and runs the risk of running into a Nadal or Federer in the quarterfinals or round of 16 in every big event he plays. I do believe that he could make it back up to four, and then not have to face a player like that until the semis.

Barcelona Wrap-up and Rome Preview

The Barcelona final has completed, and despite Nadal's withdrawal at the beginning of the week, a Spaniard still managed to win the title. Fernando Verdasco played solid clay-court tennis to upset last year's French Open finalist Robin Soderling. Soderling just couldn't quite find his range on his groundstrokes for an extended period of time, and Verdasco's movement was sufficiently better than the Swede's that he didn't have many other options. Kudos to Verdasco, who has been quietly putting together an excellent year. And to Soderling, who has made his third career clay-court final, and even though he couldn't seal the deal, he showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with on any surface.

It's always tough to make it to the final only to lose when you have to play the next week, because while Verdasco can build on the momentum he may have gotten from his second title of the year, Soderling played just as much tennis and didn't come away with a title. Both of them are in the draw at Rome, as well as most of the other top players, with a few notable exceptions.

Del Potro, Davydenko, Gonzalez, Robredo, Monfils, Stepanek, and Haas are all out with injury. That's a lot of players in the top 21 who can't play. Andy Roddick is also skipping the tournament, but not because of injury, just because he's decided he doesn't have any chance of playing on clay and doesn't want to bother. He can skip out on the fine he would normally receive because of his veteran status on the tour, but he can't get any more ranking points, and he is still going to get a big fat zero for this tournament, since it's going to count as one of the eight required Masters Series events, whether he plays it or not. And since he just dropped to number eight in the world after Soderling came in second at Barcelona, it is not unreasonable to consider the possibility of a top ten with no Americans as the hard court swing begins after Wimbledon.

In any case, we'll see what happens on that front as the year progresses. This week in Rome, the top players who are not hobbled are all there. Roger Federer is, of course, the top seed. He's still on a quest for his second tournament victory of the year, after his Australian Open title earlier in the year. He'll open up against the winner of one of the most enticing first-round match-ups, between a pair of hot-and-cold players: Baghdatis and Gulbis. Baghdatis beat Federer earlier in the year, so it would be interesting to see a rematch. After that, he may get Sam Querrey, if the American survives to the third round. In the quartefinals, Federer is likely to face either Cilic, Ljubicic, or Nicolas Almagro. I don't see any of these players upsetting the Fed, but I would have said that about everyone who's beaten him since January this year. So we'll just see what kind of form he brings to his first clay-court tournament of the year.

Nadal is the third seed here, and he ended up in Federer's half of the draw. That means it's possible that we'll have the first Nadal-Federer matchup outside of a final in a regular tournament (end of year tourney doesn't count) since Roland Garros in 2005. To do that, Rafael Nadal will have a handful of challenging players to make his way through. Kohlschreiber, Monaco, and Soderling are the likeliest candidates. But if he plays the way he played in Monte Carlo, none of these players poses a real threat. The other potential opponents he might find - Berdych, Wawrinka, Andreev, Hanescu, Melzer - are all fine players, but none of them have the pedigree that they need to seriously challenge the king of clay. I really hope to see a Nadal-Soderling quarterfinal, because I bet that Nadal will want to get some revenge for his loss at the French Open last year. If Nadal is healthy and fit, he's through to the semifinals. It's as simple as that.

Since the semifinal on that half of the draw is looking like it could be Federer-Nadal, the other half of the draw seems like it could be a competition for the chance to lose in the final. Murray is the fourth seed here in Rome, despite dropping down to five in the rankings this week behind Juan Martin Del Potro, who hasn't even been playing. He's also on a three-match losing streak, which is almost unbelievable for a top five player. I would be shocked if that trend continued here, because Murray opens against Andreas Seppi, and has a three-match win streak against the Italian. Once he gets a win under his belt, he might be able to put together his first good tournament since his run to the Aussie Open final. His quarter is not the strongest, with two exceptions - Ferrer and Ferrero are there, and Murray might find one in the third round and the other in the quarters. He could also see Tsonga there, who might open against Thiemo De Bakker, who beat him last week in Barcelona. Other than that, there aren't a lot of likely contenders in Murray's section, which is hopeful for him.

The final quarter of the draw features second seed Novak Djokovic seeded to meet Barcelona champion Fernando Verdasco in the quarters, assuming the Spaniard isn't burnt out after reaching a final and winning a tournament in consecutive weeks. There's an interesting match-up here between Mikhail Youzhny and Lleyton Hewitt, who has yet to get his year going, thus far. John Isner is also in this section, the top American (of two) in the draw, and he plays Horacio Zeballos in the first round. He may get Bellucci in the second round and Djokovic in the third - it's a tough ask for the big American, but at least he's not getting Federer. Still, it's a longshot to think that a US player can make a deep run here.

The clay court season has been relatively straightforward, with two Spaniards, an Argentine, and a Swiss player winning the four tournaments that have taken place so far. I think it's likely that a Spaniard or Swiss player will win this tournament, too.

Miami Review and Next Week's Preview

Roddick won today, in what could only be described as an efficient and workmanlike performance. It didn't reach the level of shotmaking and spectacle that Roddick got to against Nadal, but it wasn't necessary. Berdych never quite got out of third gear, and he really needed to hit that level in order to push Roddick today. Roddick served effectively - not huge, but he was hitting his spots and preventing Berdych from really getting his feet underneath him and getting too many returns deep. He won 70% of his second serve points against the Czech, and he's going to be tough to beat when that's the case.

In fact, Roddick never even faced a break point against Berdych. He was only broken twice in the entire tournament, once against Benjamin Becker and once against Nadal. And that's all well and good, but he also managed to take advantage of the brief period where Berdych got troubled by the pressure of the situation or the sun or just an inexplicable dip in focus. Roddick broke Berdych at 5-all in the first set and then again at love-all in the second, and that was all he needed. He had a couple more break points near the end of the second set which were also match points, but Berdych managed to save them. That kind of thing could have given a less steady player pause, and it could have turned the match around. I've seen it happen before. But Roddick came back and served out the match with aplomb.

It's a bit of shame that the clay court season is just starting, because this is the biggest purple patch of Roddick's play that we've seen in a long time. And he's said in his post-tournament interview that he's not thrilled about the move to clay, which is a shame. Yes, it blunts the effectiveness of his hard serve, but his kick will still work, and his new style of defensive-minded back court play should actually serve him well. There is no reason he can't get some points at these claycourt masters series events or get into the French Open. I really hope to see him get over his phobia of crushed red brick.

Whether Roddick wants it to or not, the claycourt season starts in earnest now. But that doesn't mean that it has to leave the United States quite yet. The U.S.'s last vestige of claycourt tennis takes place this week in Houston, Texas. It should be interesting to see if an American player can do well here, as there are quite a few of them in the draw. It's green clay, which is quicker than its red counterpart, so that could help.

Lleyton Hewitt won this tournament last year, and he's back this year, in his first tournament since the drubbing he got from Roger Federer at the Australian Open. He could open against Mardy Fish, if Fish survives his first round. Both players are recovering from surgery and subsequent injury, but it could still be a good match.

Also, be on the lookout for Americans Querrey, Isner, and Russell, who are all in the same half of the draw. Even though he's the lowest-ranked, I think that Russell's game is actually the most well-suited to clay. Keep an eye on the fourth American in the bottom half of the draw as well - Wayne Odesnik, who is going to keep playing tennis while he waits for the decision resulting from the discovery that he was caught with HGH on his way into Australia. I'm surprised by his decision, and interested to see how he plays under the circumstances. He's actually not a bad player on this surface, but he's just going to get hounded here.

Also, keep an eye on Fernando Gonzalez, the top seed, and Horacio Zeballos. We all know that the South Americans have always been better on the clay. Another player who's one to watch in the top half is American wildcard Donald Young. He dropped in qualifying in the last four tournaments he's played in, so it's got to be a gift to get a wildcard directly into the main draw. Let's see if he can take advantage. Taylor Dent is also here, but this surface has just got to be death for a guy who plays big serve, net rush, and put away the volley. Don't expect him to get far.

The other tournament going on this coming week is on the other side of the pond, in Casablanca. The draw there is not especially robust, either. This week is always a bit of a dead week in some respect, as the players who did well during the hard court swing need rest, and the players who are really focusing on the claycourt swing want to get ready for the Monte Carlo masters, which takes place the following week.

The top seed and favorite to win it is Stan Wawrinka, who shouldn't really be troubled on his way to the semis, where he might face a Frenchman like Arnaud Clement or Paul-Henri Mathieu. It would be a surprise for the Swiss number two to fall prior to that. The bottom half is a bit more open, with Victor Hanescu - who really shouldn't consider clay his best surface but somehow does - Daniel "Crazycakes" Koellerer and two of the tournaments potential winners actually meeting in the first round - Olivier Rochus and Richard Gasquet.

After the excitement of two masters series in a row, the week that follows is going to feel a bit like a letdown, but there's still bound to be some good tennis. Just like it is for a lot of these players, it's a warm-up before the real claycourt season starts in earnest next week.

Miami Final

Tomorrow, the men's final in Miami comes to a close. Once again, Roddick made an unlikely run, beating one top ten player en route to his final. In this case, his win was a bit more significant - Nadal here, while his toughest opponent in Indian Wells was a moderately choking Robin Soderling. Here, there was no choke, and that's the biggest difference. A few weeks ago, Roddick hung around and Soderling managed to lose, but Roddick took the match - emphatically - from Nadal on friday. That may prove to be all the difference.

Still, the situation is eerily similar. Roddick is the favorite, with his higher ranking and favorable head to head against his opponent. He had the momentum going in to the final against Ljubicic, whose tournament ultimately turned out to be a fluke, or maybe just one of the last big runs of a former top three player. Whatever it was, it was too much for Roddick to handle, despite the fact that everything seemed like it should have gone his way. Even the way he lost - Roddick was leading the tour in tiebreaks, but he couldn't pull out either against Ljubicic.

His opponent is a similar sort of player. Big guy, big server, and kind of a career underachiever. Not to mention, Berdych had a tougher road to the final. He went through three top ten players, consecutively - Federer, Verdasco, and Soderling. The last of which was a complete beatdown, as the Swede opted not to really show up for the match. Berdych has a ton of talent and can hit the crap out of the ball, but hasn't been playing great in the big moments. The real representative moment of his career has been the Australian Open against Roger Federer, up two sets to none and with a break point to serve for the match, he duffed a volley into the net.

This week, he seems to have shaken some of his demons. Not so much against Soderling, because Berdych played well, but as mentioned, the Swede was barely even there. And not against Federer, either. Berdych played solidly, but Federer gave that match away. Match point on his own serve in the third-set tiebreak? You would have bet your house on Federer winning that. However, Berdych showed real guts in sticking with Fernando Verdasco and taking him off his game. That may have been the Czech's most impressive performance.

Still, if Roddick can play at the level he played against Nadal, even in the first set when he was getting beaten, he has to like his odds against Berdych. One of the big differences between this final and the last one is that Roddick has already beaten Berdych twice this year: once at Brisbane and one in San Jose. Both were tight. In Brisbane, Berdych blew Roddick off the court in the first set, winning 6-1, before Roddick took the next two. In San Jose, Roddick won in two tiebreaks in a match with no breaks of serve.

That may be the kind of match to look for tomorrow. It all depends on a couple of factors. First of all, how on the ball Berdych is when he comes out. He can make a lot of errors, and if that's the way he's playing, expect Roddick to hang back and play more of his newer style, hanging back and keeping the ball in play. But it would not shock me, if Berdych comes out hitting his spots, if that style of play doesn't get Roddick very far. In the event that Berdych starts hitting Andy off the court, it will be interesting to see if he tries the aggressive style he used against Nadal, and to see if he can pull it off as effectively.

In either of those cases, I think Roddick wins this one. He's gotten smarter as he's matured as a tennis player, and I know that he is going to be very reluctant to have this happen to him in two consecutive tournaments. He knows he's facing a talented player who has the capability to beat him just like Ljubicic did. But Roddick will come in prepared, mentally, with a gameplan to ensure that doesn't happen again.

One last note on Roddick - how classy is this guy who commits to do a charity doubles match the night before the final, and doesn't even think of dropping his commitment despite making another surprising run to the last two. I'm really glad to have him still in the game, and hope to have him around at this level for quite a few more years.

The women's final took place this morning, but if you blinked, you may have missed it. It probably doesn't deserve a lot of attention, because while Kim Clijsters managed to find the solid form that she couldn't maintain against her compatriot Justine Henin, her opponent Venus Williams was never in the match. She did not look like the player who had won 17 matches and two tournaments consecutively. It's just like when Clijsters got blitzed at the Australian Open. There's not a lot to learn from the match, because it was just a bad day in the office. Good for Kim for staying solid, but I don't think Venus should be too worried by this loss. She'll get ready for the clay and forget about it.

Miami Semifinals

No real surprises in the two Miami quarterfinals that took place today. The match between Robin Soderling and Mikhail Youzhny was Soderling's to lose. Youzhny didn't win his first service game until his fifth try, near the beginning of the second set. That gave him a momentary boost, when he broke back and evened the set, but it didn't last, as he was broken again and Soderling served it out. The Russian just didn't have any answers for Soderling today.

His opponent tomorrow, may have more to do to counter Soderling's power - he brings plenty of his own power to the table. The match between Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco was exactly the type of match that the big Czech had developed a reputation for losing. Tight, against a tough player. Verdasco jumped out to an early lead and looked like he might take the match in two, but once Berdych took the tiebreak, everything was going his way. Fernando tried to stage a comeback, but Berdych held strong, in a reversal of his usual fortune in these sorts of matches. Soderling definitely has the advantage in their match-up, since he's just been playing imperious tennis so far this week, but Berdych has faced tougher competition, and he's come out on top. That could give him the confidence he needs.

The women's semifinals today were also interesting. Venus Williams dismissed Marion Bartoli without too much fuss, much as Soderling did with Youzhny. But Clijsters and Henin had a match that was even tenser than Verdasco-Berdych. In the end, it was really a lot like their meeting earlier this year in Brisbane. Three sets, a third-set tiebreak, periods of scintillating stuff, and then also some stretches of really poor, error-strewn play from both. In the end, it was a great match though, and Clijsters just barely came away with the victory. Henin has got to be eager to beat her compatriot in her comeback, as she's 0-2 so far, and now their overall head-to-head is 12-12. Doesn't get much closer than that.

Tomorrow, Roddick faces Nadal and Berdych faces Soderling. There is so much riding on it for all four of these players. Nadal hasn't won a title in almost eleven months. Berdych and Roddick haven't won a Masters title in years. Soderling has never won one. Everybody still in the running could use this to bump their career up a level - for everybody but Soderling, up to a level they've been to before but haven't been recently.

Predictions are tough in situations like this. I think Nadal and Soderling have the edge in both their matches, as both are higher ranked and have the edge in the head to head. Nadal is 5-2 against Roddick and Soderling is 4-2 against Berdych. Both Roddick and Berdych are the bookie's underdogs, too. Roddick is 3.1:1 at the moment and Berdych is 3.4:1. But those are relatively tight odds.

Roddick needs to serve well. As close to 70% as he can manage, and to win about 55% of his second serve points. But really, the big stat for Roddick tomorrow is going to be break points. Nadal will give him a couple on serve, and no matter how great he's serving, Nadal is going to get a few looks at breaking him. If Roddick can convert on his chances and save Nadal's chances, he'll win the match. Roddick hasn't really been playing like a big point or big match player for much of the year, despite his great match record. This is going to be his opportunity to show the field that he's a contender day-in, day-out, and not just when he gets particularly fire up, like he undoubtedly will at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

For Nadal, he needs his knees to stay healthy. He's looked in fine form so far this tournament, but any hint of pain that could threaten his claycourt season is going to worry him a lot. He may be more careful as a result, so he'll need to watch out if Roddick tries to spread the court. He'll need his forehand to be firing, and he'll need to get a read on the Roddick serve, as well as to take care of his own deal on serve. But just like for Andy, it all comes down to the big points. If he can convert more often than his opponent, he's going to win.

It's harder to say as much about the Berdych-Soderling match, as both players have the ability to hit each other off the court. For these guys, it's going to come down to consistency. While Roddick and Nadal can both be expected to be on top of their games from the first ball, Berdych and Soderling can both be prone to lulls. If the other player manages to capitalize when his opponent isn't playing his best, that could be enough to win a set, or even the match. Both players have really high ball tosses on their serve, so a windy evening could wreak havoc with their games.

Anybody could walk away with this title on Sunday, so I'm eager to see what happens tomorrow.

Miami Quarterfinals - Day 2

One of the men's semifinals is set, and it was the one that everyone expected after Novak Djokovic lost in the second round to Olivier Rochus. Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal both breezed through their quarterfinal matches against potentially dangerous, big-hitting opponents. Roddick and Nadal were both just more solid than their opponents on the big points. Roddick broke Almagro three times and Nadal broke Tsonga four, while neither was broken. Tsonga had more chances against Nadal, so he'll feel like he had more of an opportunity. After going 0 for 8 as Tsonga did, Almagro can't feel too bad about missing both of his chances.

It will be interesting to see how things go in the Roddick-Nadal match-up on Friday. Roddick is the better server, Nadal the better returner, but their gameplans off the ground are not that different at this point. Nadal might just do it better. Roddick will have to be serving well and be able to take advantage of any lapse in Nadal's play during their semifinal meeting.

Based on the remaining competition in the other half of the draw, it seems likely that the winner of that semi will win the final as well, but who is to say? On the other side, with the quarterfinal matches still to be decided, we have Tomas Berdych against Fernando Verdasco and Mikhail Youzhny against Robin Soderling.

Berdych and Verdasco should be an interesting match-up. Big forehand against big forehand, and since Verdasco is a lefty, I expect that there will be a lot of forehand to backhand exchanges while the backhander tries to run around and hit a forehand down the line. That is, if the other player doesn't smack a winner first. Berdych has the edge in experience at this level, and he has a better serve as well, but Verdasco is the better mover by a pretty good margin. It should be an interesting match, and tough to call. Berdych could easily still be so relieved from his win over Federer that he'll be hung over for this match.

The other quarter appears to be a lock for Robin Soderling. Youzhny is a talented player and a one-time slam semifinalist, back at the U.S. Open in 2006, but his career has been characterized in large part the same way that Soderling's was until last year - lots of talent, but unable to win the big matches. In fact, prior to the French Open last year, Youzhny and Soderling had very similar careers and places in the tennis hierarchy. The Swede, of course, has ascended pretty near the top, while Youzhny is still not quite at that level. As far as the actual match-up goes, I don't think Youzhny is as capable of handling Soderling's power off the ground. Youzhny can't have any lapses like he did against Wawrinka, earlier in the tournament, but he should be well-rested, since he got a retirement from Fish in the last round. The edge goes to Soderling here, no question, but Youzhny could make it interesting if he plays at his best.

The women's semifinals are also going to take place tomorrow, and I got three of my four picks right. The only spoiler was Marion Bartoli, who upset Yanina Wickmeyer to get a shot at Venus, in a rematch of the Wimbledon final from a few years ago. I predict the same result as before. The other semi is much more difficult to guess, as the remaining two Belgians square off. Clijsters beat Henin in their only match since their dual comebacks so far, but it was so tight and Justine has played a lot in the intervening time. Really, too close to call. Justine looked really solid against Wozniacki, but Clijsters knows Henin's game better and won't get as frustrated. That's a popcorn match, no question. And then the winner, in all likelihood, gets Venus? The only way to improve that lineup is to replace Bartoli with Serena, and that's the most star-studded and power-packed tennis semifinal you could have in the current game. So let's see how Bartoli can do in trying to spoil the dream final that everyone (especially the promoters) want to see.

Miami Quarterfinals

It looked like most of the day would go by without any particularly stunning upsets. Almagro had beaten Bellucci and Verdasco had beaten Cilic, but those matches were always going to be tight. They weren't stunning upsets. Marion Bartoli had beaten Yanina Wickmeyer, but again, they are very close in the rankings and it was tight.

And then, Tomas Berdych produced the upset of the week. He was 1-8 going into this match against Roger Federer, and hadn't won since the Olympics in 2004. Everyone remembers the Czech's epic choke job against the Swiss in the 2009 Australian Open, when he he was up 2 sets to love, and had a point to break and go up 5-4 in the third, so he could serve for the match. He duffed a shot into the net, and from that point on, Federer's comeback never seemed to be in doubt.

Tonight, Berdych started slow, with Federer breaking him in the first game, but the big man stormed back to take the set 6-4 on the strength of two breaks. He was two points from the match in the second set, but ended up losing it in an error-filled tiebreak. The third set also went to a tiebreak, and Federer had match point on his own serve, which Berdych gamely saved with a few of his trademark massive forehands. Then Federer sailed a shot long and it was all over.

Huge, huge win for Berdych. His half of the draw is decimated, as he's eliminated the last real contender for the title. One of the four players left on his side is making it to the final - in addition to Berdych, there is Verdasco, Youzhny, and Soderling. Berdych is the only one who has made it past this stage at a Masters event (except for the Swede, who made the semis in Indian Wells last week) but for all the other players left, this is going to be uncharted territory. It's going to a hard-fought place in the finals, as all four of the remaining players know that they could have a shot at a Masters shield.

The bottom half of the draw is relatively tough, with three top-ten players remaining instead of only one. The only three-set match from the bottom half of the draw today was between Tomaz Bellucci and Nicolas Almagro. Almagro does seem to enjoy being the villain, as he relished in his role against the heavily pro-Brazilian crowd. He'll be even more of an antagonist against Roddick tomorrow, but if he can hit as well as he can, he might trouble the American.

Particularly if Roddick gets out of the gates going as slowly as he did against Becker today. I think that Andy was just late getting to the court, because he dropped serve in his first service game of the match, and saved three break point chances to keep himself from being down 1-5. After saving that, he decided to start playing, so he quickly broke back and ended up winning the set in a tiebreak. That set was nearly a lost cause, so credit Roddick for not giving up and thinking about winning in three. His opponent came off the blocks playing like Boris Becker, not Benjamin, but he couldn't keep up that pace.

The other two matches were slightly less interesting, as Tsonga just bludgeoned Juan Carlos Ferrero off the court and Nadal once again outplayed his good friend and fellow Spaniard David Ferrer on the big points. Lots of grinding, long rallies, few winners, and Nadal on top. About as one would expect. When they face each other, Nadal can expect Tsonga to come to net more often, and to go for his shots a lot more. It could be an entertaining match. After dismantling Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2008, Tsonga has gone 0-3 against the Spaniard, but as Berdych demonstrated, those streaks aren't destiny.

Nadal is now the last of the big four remaining, just like last week. I know he'll want to take advantage of it, but he's going to want to start getting ready for the Clay court tournament in Monty Carlo, which is only a week and a half away at this point. That's his bread and butter, and he has a lot of points to defend in the clay court season. There's a lot on Nadal's mind, at this point.

On the women's side, both Belgians are in action tomorrow. Both matches should be interesting becaues of their contrast. Hard-hitting, baseliner Kim Clijsters takes on former doubles specialist and expert volleyer Sam Stosur, while all-court veteran Justine Henin takes on the 20-year old Dane Caroline Wozniacki. I like the Belgians in both matches, but they've shown that they're capable of lapses in focus over the course of the year.

I can say with some certainty that there won't be any Federer-level upsets from this point on; there aren't any players left whose departure would be that much of a surprise!

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.

Miami Second Round

Well, the upset bug continues as we've taken the tennis action across the country. In the first day of second round action, which is the first match for the men's seeds, a full third of the seeded players lost. Some of these wins were not all that surprising, as number 30 Viktor Troicki losing to wildcard David Nalbandian, but some were absolute shockers, as number 2 Novak Djokovic losing the shortest player in the top 100, 29-year old Olivier Rochus from Belgium.

Thirty-second seed Julien Benneteau also lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky, but that's not too much of an upset, as he was the second-lowest-ranked seed. Last week's champion, Ivan Ljubicic, was forced to retire in his match against Benjamin Becker, even though he was up a set and a game. Well, it looks like the Croat was feeling his 31 years again, after the thrill of winning last week's title wore off.

The last seeded player to be upset was one of many American players to put in an absolutely dismal showing at the last American hardcourt tournament of the season. Sam Querrey lost to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy after winning the first set. In addition to Querrey, Blake lost to Tomaz Bellucci, also after being up a set. Taylor Dent lost to Nadal, but that's not really that surprising a result. And Melanie Oudin was demolished by Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-2.

The only Americans who managed their way to victories were Andy Roddick, who beat Igor Andreev in a routine match, and John Isner, who happened to be playing in a match where it was guaranteed an American would win, as he was facing Michael Russel. He was actually outplayed by Russel and won 14 fewer points over the course of the three set match, but he still managed to win two tiebreaks. Credit Isner as the only American who could find a way to win on a day where conditions were tough and the fans must have been little help. With so many rain delays and crappy weather, anyone who was expecting an excited crowd was disappointed.

It's a shame, because for most of these players, this is their best surface, and this was their best chance for a good result until the middle of the summer. One of the good things about the upset bug that was going around the grounds is that it was Andy Roddick's (formerly Novak Djokovic's) quarter of the draw that was decimated, giving Roddick another good chance at a deep run.

There are some good matches tomorrow, and a few more chances to continue the unbelievable run of upsets that has been the order of the day for the past few weeks. Andy Murray plays Mardy Fish, and it will be interesting to if the upset bug or the American failure bug is more at play in that match. Verdasco has been on a pretty poor run since his hard-court title last month, and he plays another small firecracker like Rochus, Israel's Dudi Sela.

The top seeds are also in action. Svetlana Kuznetsova, who barely survived her first match, plays 27th seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary. Look for a potential upset, there. Roger Federer plays lucky loser Nicolas Lapentti, but don't be on the lookout for that match to end in an upset. It's also interesting to note that Rafael Nadal teams up with a partner I've never seen before to play the Bryan Brothers in doubles tomorrow. They lost in their first outing in Indian Wells, so they're hoping to make a better run at this tournament.

Two possible upsets tomorrow feature recently underachieving seeds taking on a couple of young guns, as Gilles Simon takes on Horacio Zeballos and Tomas Berdych takes on Thiemo De Bakker. Outside chance of an upset in either match. Also watch out for Kevin Anderson taking on Stan Wawrinka, Michael Berrer against Feliciano Lopez, and an extremely low possibility for Australian veteran Peter Luczak to upset Robin Soderling.

It almost seems impossible for this tournament to be as crazy as last week in Indian Wells, but we're off to a good start.

Miami Preview

I know that action has already started in Miami, but none of the seeds have played yet, so we'll take a look at their placement in the draw. Even if the last Masters Series event ended in a huge surprise, but the winner was still seeded.

Federer, in his loss to Marcos Baghdatis at Indian Wells, didn't give the Cypriot much credit. Baggy ended up in the Swiss's quarter once again, so he may get a chance at a rematch. But there are some other players there for Federer to worry about. It's unlikely that Federer will be challenged until the fourth round, where he may face either Gilles Simon or Tomas Berdych. His quartefinal opponent may be Baghdatis, Verdasco, or Cilic. All of these guys are dangerous players on hard courts, and if Federer isn't quite as motivated to play at these Masters Series events as he once was, anyone could play a great match and score an upset. Or he may want to forget about what happened in Miami as quickly as possible and steamroll his way to the semis. Also possible.

Andy Murray's quarter is opposite Federer's and it doesn't look much easier. Murray could get Fish in the second round, then Feliciano Lopez in the third. After that, he may get Wawrinka or Youzhny. That's a damn tough eighth of the draw to find yourself in. And if he makes it through all that to reach the quarters, he'll likely either get a rematch with Robin Soderling, or he'll play big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez. Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Murray in Dubai, is also here, but I don't see him getting another shot at Murray. That's a tough road to the semis, only to possibly find Federer there.

I think the reason that all of the top seeds got relatively difficult draws is in part because of the depth of men's tennis, but also because a lot of really top-notch players are currently underranked, and can end up anywhere in a draw like this. Nadal opens against Taylor Dent and could get David Nalbandian in the third round, as an example of just how far some players are underranked. After that, he may get either David Ferrer or Ivo Karlovic - just about as different as two playing styles can get, so that's tough to get ready for, when you're thinking ahead. Nadal's quarterfinal opponent is likely to be one of two players - it could JW Tsonga or big-hitting American John Isner. Isner was lucky to find himself in Tsonga's section, as the Frenchman has trouble dealing with the really big servers.

The final quarter of the draw is Djokovic's, and while I was hoping for the Djoker to find Richard Gasquet in the second round, Olivier Rochus spoiled that. I thought that he may get James Blake in the third round as well, but Blake has his hands full with Serbian teenager Filip Krajinovic. There are still plenty of tough players in his little section, though. Sam Querrey and Nicolas Almagro can both hit anyone off the court on the right day, and Djokovic's seeded third-round opponent, Tomaz Bellucci, is still looking for his breakthrough win. If Djokovic got the rest he needed in the past week, he should make it through, but otherwise, who knows?

Djokovic's quarterfinal opponent is seeded to be Andy Roddick, last week's losing finalist. The good news for Andy is that there's only one player in his 1/8 of the draw that should really threaten him. The bad news is that player is last week's titlist, Ivan Ljubicic. But keep in mind that Ljubicic just turned 31, so it may be tough for him to keep up such a fantastic run of form for another week and a half. Roddick will I'm sure be hoping that Tommy Robredo upsets Ljubicic in order to get another drubbing from Roddick in the round of sixteen.

In the last tournament, upsets were the order of the day. Will the top players restore order here in Miami, or will we have another surprise set of finalists?