The second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season gets underway Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with 47 of the Top 50 players in attendance.
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who is coming off his 13th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, looks to win his first title in Miami. He has reached two Miami finals in 2005 (l. to Federer in five sets) and last year (l. to Davydenko). Nadal is the top seed in Miami after Federer held the top spot going in the last five years.
Six players have accomplished the Indian Wells-Miami title sweep in the same year since 1991 when Jim Courier pulled it off. Federer is the only active player to win both titles in the same year, as he did it back-to-back in 2005-06.
Defending champion Nikolay Davydenko withdrew with a foot injury but there are three former winners in the field -- Novak Djokovic (2007), Federer (2005-06) and Andy Roddick (2004).
The Miami champion has been ranked in the Top 10 every year since 1992 with Courier the last winner outside the Top 10 at No. 18 in 1991.
In the first quarter of the draw, Nadal, who owns a 14-5 lifetime record in Miami, opens against Simone Bolelli or Teimuraz Gabashvili. The first seed Nadal could face is No. 26 Ivo Karlovic in the third round but the Croat is 0-5 lifetime in Miami. In the fourth round, the Spaniard could meet No. 16 Stanislas Wawrinka or No. 20 Igor Andreev. He is 7-1 lifetime combined against both players. In the quarter-finals, Nadal could face No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 11 David Ferrer, No. 17 Marin Cilic or No. 30 Jurgen Melzer. Ferrer could play Cilic in the third round. The only player who has beaten Nadal is Ferrer, winning the last two hard-court meetings although he's 3-6 lifetime against his countryman. Ferrer is a two-time semi-finalist (2005-06) in Miami.
In the second quarter of the draw, No. 4 Andy Murray, who is coming off a runner-up effort in Indian Wells, takes on Marc Gicquel or Juan Monaco in his first match. Murray, a semi-finalist two years ago, could meet No. 27 Mardy Fish in the third round (Murray leads 2-1). In the fourth round, Murray could take on No. 14 David Nalbandian, a semifinalist in 2006, or No. 24 Richard Gasquet. Murray has a losing record against both players -- Nalbandian (0-2) and Gasquet (1-2). Murray's possible quarter-final opponents include No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, a semi-finalist in 2004, No. 18 Radek Stepanek or No. 32 Feliciano Lopez. Gonzalez and Stepanek could meet in the third round (Stepanek leads 2-1) while Madrid natives Verdasco and Lopez could also square off in the third round (tied 2-2).
In the bottom half of the draw (third quarter), No. 3 and 2007 champion Novak Djokovic plays the winner of a qualifier and Philipp Kohlschreiber in his opening round match. The first seed Djokovic could meet is No. 31 Paul-Henri Mathieu in the third round (Djokovic leads 3-1). But Mathieu will first have his hands full with the winner of Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis (Baghdatis leads 3-0). In the fourth round, Djokovic could play No. 13 James Blake or No. 21 Tomas Berdych, who reached the semi-finals last year. Djokovic is 1-0 against both players. In the quarter-finals, Murray could meet No. 7 Gilles Simon, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 23 Robin Soderling or No. 29 Rainer Schuettler. Djokovic is 7-1 against Simon, Soderling and Schuettler combined but is 1-4 against Tsonga. Simon, who is 1-3 in Miami, could meet wild card and former ATP World Tour Champion Lleyton Hewitt (vs. qualifier) in his opening round match. Hewitt, a three-time semi-finalist (2000-02) in Miami, is looking to break an 11-match losing streak against Top 10 opponents.
In the final quarter, No. 2 Federer is not the top seed for the first time since 2003. The two-time champion (2005-06) has a 30-8 record in Miami and he plays his first match against a qualifier or Michael Llodra. Federer, who is looking to capture his first ATP World Tour title of the season, could face No. 28 Nicolas Kiefer or Fabrice Santoro in the third round. Santoro, the oldest player in the draw at 36, is 6-2 against Kiefer. Federer is 11-3 lifetime against Kiefer, winning the past 10 meetings, and 9-2 against Santoro, winning the past eight encounters. Federer's possible fourth round opponents include Spaniards No. 15 Tommy Robredo or No. 19 Nicolas Almagro. Federer is a combined 13-0 against both players. In the quarter-finals Federer could face No. 5 Andy Roddick in Miami for the second straight year, No. 9 Gael Monfils, or Russians No. 22 Marat Safin or Dmitry Tursunov. Federer is 33-4 lifetime against the foursome. Roddick, who has won the most matches (23) on the ATP World Tour this season, could play Tursunov in the third round (Roddick leads 3-1). Roddick has a 22-8 record in Miami and he's reached the quarter-finals or better in four of the past five years (except '05). Last year he beat Federer in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Davydenko in the next round. Monfils is 2-0 against Safin, a possible third round opponent. Safin could have a difficult opening round test with '06 Miami finalist Ivan Ljubicic (tied 2-2).
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_2773.ASP)
14 years ago