ATP Masters Series - Miami

The first Masters Series event of the year was won by world number two, Rafael Nadal, now the ATP tour moves to Miami for the second Masters Series event of the season. World number one, Roger Federer, will be hoping to begin another long run of successive victories. At Indian Wells, his chances of breaking Guillermo Vilas’s win streak record were ended by another Argentine Guillermo, Cañas. Meanwhile, Nadal will be hoping to build on his confidence boosting success last week and go into the European clay court season with momentum that looked unlikely preceding Indian Wells.

Here’s a look at what the draw has in store for us over the next ten days…

Federer looking to make amends

It’s not often that the world number one loses, and when he does, the tennis world is sent into frenzy. Last week was no different as Roger Federer fell to Guillermo Cañas, the Argentine was an unusually strong opponent for Federer to meet so early in a tournament and Miami may be a similar case. Possibly facing Federer in round two will be Russian, Igor Andreev. Looking to climb the rankings again following a prolonged period out through injury last season, the Russian is top 20 calibre and has the ability to test Federer and give him a testing early round match. Many will expect that Federer will come out all guns blazing in Miami to put right what went wrong at Indian Wells, it will be interesting to see how the match with Andreev unfolds should it transpire. Standing in Andreev’s way is American hopeful Sam Querrey.

The remainder of the first quarter of the draw has delivered some interesting encounters and possible battles. Cañas meets Tim Henman in the first round and will be looking to further extend his dominance over the Brit, having won 5 of the previous 6 meetings. Waiting in round two will be former world number one and French Open champion, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The Spaniard looked anything but that in his last outing against Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells where he was brushed aside 6-1, 6-1, Ferrero will be hoping to vastly improve on that display. An all French encounter could be on show in the second round in the form of Richard Gasquet and Sebastien Grosjean.

The player most likely to meet Federer in the quarter-finals is ninth seed Tommy Haas. The German has been in fine form in the past few weeks and lost out to Federer in two tight sets in Dubai just a short time ago.

Up for grabs

The second quarter has no clearly defined favourite, with a number of the more marquee players in the section not playing their best tennis at present. Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian and Ivan Ljubicic can not claim to be in the kind of form that would see either of them as a strong pick to make it through. Of the three, Nalbandian is in the worst current state, and was beaten by Ljubicic in three sets at Indian Wells. Davydenko lost to Andy Murray last week having failed to take a chance to serve out the first set. You’d expect that the semi-finalist would still come from one of these three names, but who it will be remains to be seen.

Other players who will be hoping to take advantage of this quarter are Jose Acasuso, Tomas Berdych, Jarkko Nieminen and Carlos Moya. Berdych especially is in need of a few confidence boosting wins having had a poor season so far given the capabilities he possesses.

Young gun looks to continue rise

Andy Murray has risen to number twelve in the rankings and will be hoping for another strong showing in a Masters event to further elevate his position. The young Scot, coached by Brad Gilbert, reached his first Masters Series semi-final at Indian Wells following a bruising match with Tommy Haas. The bruises were courtesy of a fall on court, leaving Murray to carry a number of aches and pains most notably to his ankle and hip. Novak Djokovic put paid to any hopes Murray had of advancing further, with a straight sets win in the semi-final, taking advantage of an opponent who was not physically at his sharpest.

Murray has a tough road to travel if he is to reach the last four in Miami, most likely having to see off Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez and Andy Roddick. Incidentally, Murray has recorded wins over all three players in the past 14 months so will fancy his chances of possibly doing so again. Lleyton Hewitt was unable to build on a title success in Las Vegas, falling early in Indian Wells. Fernando Gonzalez has yet to hit the heights he reached at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the Chilean has not been able to ride that crest of a wave further as yet, but will be hoping Miami reignites the form he showed in the first Grand Slam of the year.

Being outplayed late in tournaments has been the story of Andy Roddick’s season so far, having previously been on the wrong end of strong business end performances from Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Tommy Haas this season, the American got another taste of semi-final defeat last week vesus Rafael Nadal. In his four semi-final appearances this season, Roddick has yet to win a set.

Nadal and Djokovic hoping to pick up where they left off

Indian Wells provided Rafael Nadal with his first title (and seventh Masters title) since the 2006 French Open and for Novak Djokovic his first Masters Series final. Both players will be hoping to continue that good form in Miami and have been drawn in the same quarter. Two players Rafael Nadal has not had the best time with in recent times are also in his section of the draw in the form of Mikhail Youzhny and James Blake. Nadal and Youzhny could meet in the 4th round, with the Spaniard possibly meeting Blake in the quarter-finals. Both Youzhny and Blake had disappointing showing at Indian Wells and will be looking to redeem themselves in Miami. Blake could meet Marat Safin in the 3rd round, with the Russian also looking for a good tournament to get his season going. Arguably the pick of the second round matches features Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Martin del Potro, this should be a tussle well worth seeing featuring two of the more talented young players on tour at present.

Sports Magician will be reviewing both Indian Wells & Miami following the conclusion of the Miami Masters.