ATP Masters Series: Miami

Well, the men's and women's singles draws have been released for next week, so might as well get started here.

Hewitt gets a qualifier first up, and then a potentially tricky second round clash with Gilles Simon. I reckon Simon is an OK matchup for Lleyton, though, and he actually has a pretty decent little section with Nieminen or Schuettler probable in the third round. Federer avoids Murray until the final at the earliest, which is good for him. He's easily got the 'soft' half of the draw with Kiefer a possibility in the third, and then clay court bullies Robredo and Almagro duking it out in the other third round clash there. Can't see him being stopped until the final, and I'm expecting Rafa to be there too. Does any one know if Guccione will attempt to qualify?

The women's draw sees the Williams Sisters return, and Dokic has Edina Gallovits first up which is winnable, but then Wozniacki awaits in the second. She really needs a win first up, though, for her confidence. Stosur, however, has a Swedish girl - Sofia Arvidsson - who I know nothing about, and then Bammer in the second. Both winnable, so she'd be disappointed with anything but a third round appearance (against Safina, probably).

Should be a good week.

SBI said:

Well, the men's and women's singles draws have been released for next week, so might as well get started here.

Hewitt gets a qualifier first up, and then a potentially tricky second round clash with Gilles Simon. I reckon Simon is an OK matchup for Lleyton, though, and he actually has a pretty decent little section with Nieminen or Schuettler probable in the third round. Federer avoids Murray until the final at the earliest, which is good for him. He's easily got the 'soft' half of the draw with Kiefer a possibility in the third, and then clay court bullies Robredo and Almagro duking it out in the other third round clash there. Can't see him being stopped until the final, and I'm expecting Rafa to be there too. Does any one know if Guccione will attempt to qualify?

The women's draw sees the Williams Sisters return, and Dokic has Edina Gallovits first up which is winnable, but then Wozniacki awaits in the second. She really needs a win first up, though, for her confidence. Stosur, however, has a Swedish girl - Sofia Arvidsson - who I know nothing about, and then Bammer in the second. Both winnable, so she'd be disappointed with anything but a third round appearance (against Safina, probably).

Should be a good week.

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Guccione didn't try and qualify, and he didn't enter qualifying last week at Indian Wells, is he injured or something? Or is he simply playing on the challenger circuit. Dudi Sela will be Hewitt's opponent in the first round, getting through as a Lucky Loser. I thought he was well inside the top 100, so I'm not too sure how he wasn't a direct entrant.

Anyway Hewitt is playing Sela at about 7:00pm Miami time Tomorrow, which is 10:00am AEST. It doesn't look like Fox Sports is covering the match, as it looks like their broadcast begins on March 29.

andrepetz said:

Guccione didn't try and qualify, and he didn't enter qualifying last week at Indian Wells, is he injured or something? Or is he simply playing on the challenger circuit. Dudi Sela will be Hewitt's opponent in the first round, getting through as a Lucky Loser. I thought he was well inside the top 100, so I'm not too sure how he wasn't a direct entrant.

Anyway Hewitt is playing Sela at about 7:00pm Miami time Tomorrow, which is 10:00am AEST. It doesn't look like Fox Sports is covering the match, as it looks like their broadcast begins on March 29.

Click to expand...

Guccione has been out of the top 100 since he lost his points from Sydney last year, he's around 130 at the moment i think but probably lost some points this week from a challenger last year. Anyway, he's been playing $50k challenger events in Thailand after the Davis Cup and has not been going very well. Lost two weeks in a row in the first round, once to Udomchoke and another to Quershi. This week he won his first round match against some thai wc. He really needs to have a big week there or he rankings will slowly contiune to slide (although does not have anything really to defend in the clay season). Klein has been going awfully over there to, lost to thai player gooch beat in the 5th rubber of that DC tie, ranked 800 or so in the world, then retired the next week and isn't playing this week so he might of picked up an injury.

I really like Lleyton's draw. He should beat Sela as long as he doesn't play his 60 year old type of tennis he's been doing at times. Simon is an interesting matchup, considering he's out of form as well, this is a make or break win here for Lleyton and the rest of the year i feel. Considering he's starting tomorrow, if he does win, a 2nd round matchup with Simon won't be on tv that's annoying. They don't have any tv coverage anywhere till sunday.

Sam can make the 3rd round if she doesn't start choking like she will, Bammer was playing well but i thinks he has an injury. Hopefully Dokic can play better and win her first round. And also not to make excuses that she needs to take a break even though she's playing one match every 2 or 3 weeks. If you want work up the rankings, this is the tour, going to have to deal with it.

I'll post some kind of preview probably tomorrow evening. Right now I'm so busy and somewhat stressed!

ATP draw:
http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/3/en/assets/pdfs/draws/09ATP_MDS2.pdf

WTA draw:
http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/3/en/assets/pdfs/draws/09WTA_MDS2.pdf

Williams' sisters unlucky to be on the same side of the draw, would've waltzed into the final. Think this tournament will see the return of Jankovic, has been out of form for a while now but i think she's due for a good run. And the draw was pretty kind to her. Kuznetsova will still struggle, can only see her falling further from here. Fight for the Azarenka/Ivanovic quarter will be interesting.

STADIUM start at 11:00am
Not Before 7:00 PM
[LL] D Sela (ISR) vs [WC] L Hewitt (AUS)

COURT 2 start 10:00am
Not Before 5:00 PM
E Gallovits (ROU) vs [WC] J Dokic (AUS)

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
G Voskoboeva (KAZ) vs V Dushevina (RUS)
S Arvidsson (SWE) vs S Stosur (AUS)

Dokic def. Gallovits 6-3 7-6
Stosur def. Arvidsson 6-1 2-0 rtd
Yakimova def Gajdasova 6-7 6-4 6-2

Lleyton Hewitt just strating now.

All 3 aussies winning today Even though Groth lost. Jelena might be able to get some confidence and Sam didn't have an oppournity to choke

Lleyton struggles to get past Sela, this was the week I was hoping he would have a breakout and win a few matches, now I'm not so sure. I wish this Hewitt/Simon would be on tv.

A result that might show slow this surface is: Hernadez def. Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4. Ivan was playing solid tennis alst week.

MEN:

[1] Rafael Nadal ESP v Bye
Simone Bolelli ITA v Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS
[Q] Frederico Gil POR v Mischa Zverev GER
Bye v [26] Ivo Karlovic CRO
[20] Igor Andreev RUS v Bye
Yen Hsun Lu TPE v Eduardo Sch**** ARG
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Andreas Seppi ITA
Bye v [16] Stanislas Wawrinka SUI

[11] David Ferrer ESP v Bye
Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR v [Q] John Isner USA
[Q] Amer Delic USA v Steve Darcis BEL
Bye v [17] Marin Cilic CRO
[30] Jurgen Melzer AUT v Bye
Jose Acasuso ARG v Janko Tipsarevic SRB
Potito Starace ITA v Martin Vassallo-Arguello ARG
Bye v [6] Juan Martin Del Potro ARG

[4] Andy Murray GBR v Bye
Marc Gicquel FRA v Juan Monaco ARG
Ryan Sweeting USA v Nicolas Massu CHI
Bye v [27] Mardy Fish USA
[24] Richard Gasquet FRA v Bye
Stefan Koubek AUT v Albert Montanes ESP
Viktor Troicki SRB v Nicolas Devilder FRA
Bye v [14] David Nalbandian ARG

[12] Fernando Gonzalez CHI v Bye
Igor Kunitsyn RUS v Guillermo Canas ARG
Juan Ignacio Chela ARG v Bobby Reynolds USA
Bye v [18] Radek Stepanek CZE
[32] Feliciano Lopez ESP v Bye
Gilles Muller LUX v Sam Querrey USA
[Q] Benjamin Becker GER v [WC] Jesse Levine USA
Bye v [8] Fernando Verdasco ESP


[7] Gilles Simon FRA v Bye
[LL] Dudi Sela ISR v [WC] Lleyton Hewitt AUS
Jarkko Nieminen FIN v Ivan Navarro ESP
Bye v [29] Rainer Schuettler GER
[23] Robin Soderling SWE v Bye
Arnaud Clement FRA v [Q] Robert Kendrick USA
Agustin Calleri ARG v Christophe Rochus BEL
Bye v [10] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA

[13] James Blake USA v Bye
Julien Benneteau FRA v Florent Serra FRA
Mikhail Youzhny RUS v Jeremy Chardy FRA
Bye v [21] Tomas Berdych CZE
[31] Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA v Bye
Ernests Gulbis LAT v [WC] Marcos Baghdatis CYP
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER v [Q] Frank Dancevic CAN
Bye v [3] Novak Djokovic SRB

[5] Andy Roddick USA v Bye
Diego Junqueira ARG v [WC] Yuki Bhambri IND
[Q] Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ v Tommy Haas GER
Bye v [25] Dmitry Tursunov RUS
[22] Marat Safin RUS v Bye
Ivan Ljubicic CRO v Oscar Hernandez ESP
Victor Hanescu ROU v [Q] Michael Russell USA
Bye v [9] Gael Monfils FRA

[15] Tommy Robredo ESP v Bye
[WC] Brendan Evans USA v Jan Hernych CZE
[Q] Taylor Dent USA v [Q] Ricardo Mello BRA
Bye v Nicolas Almagro ESP [19]
[28] Nicolas Kiefer GER v Bye
[Q] Thomaz Bellucci BRA v Fabrice Santoro FRA
[Q] Kevin Kim USA v Michael Llodra FRA
Bye v Roger Federer SUI [2]


Well it’s the back-end of the North American Masters 1000 events as the big stars head to Miami in what should be another entertaining week of tennis. The tournament is underway with the unseeded players taking to the court yesterday and some interesting results have already occurred.

Roger Federer is a two time champion here and holds a 30-8 W/L record. He performed well in Indian Wells but was knocked out in the Semi Final to Murray after a lackluster 3rd set. He has what can only be described as a dream draw and for that reason I see him reaching the final. Kiefer is his likely 3rd round opponent and he doesn’t exactly strike fear into too many players these days. Robredo likely awaits in the 4th round and while he did reach the Quarters here in 2007 his record otherwise is poor. And given he retired in Indian Wells due to a wrist problem it remains to be seen whether he’s 100%. Assuming all goes to plan Federer would then meet Andy Roddick, and even though the American is playing career best tennis and did beat him here last year, he’s no match for Federer, a quick glance at their H2H supports this.

There are a few men in the other quarter who could potentially cause a threat in the Semi Finals. Novak Djokovic is the one that stands out but given his form in 2009 he probably won’t make it this far. He was knocked out in his first match at Miami last year to Kevin Anderson so he will be looking to make amends and for once it presents an opportunity for him to claim some ranking points. Berdych’s year has continued on a downward spiral after the heartbreaking loss to Federer at the Australian Open. He will face Mikhail Youzhny in the 2nd round who is a real chance at ending the hopes of Berdych. However he did reach the SF here last year so perhaps the courts suit his game. Tsonga will be hoping for a more successful week, Blake is also in this quarter as is 7th seed Gilles Simon. He will face wildcard Lleyton Hewitt who beat Dudi Sela in 3 sets today. This will be a fascinating match and given Simon’s poor form I give the edge to Hewitt to cause an upset.

Coming off his 13th Masters shield, Rafael Nadal will be hoping to go one step further than he did last year. His draw is manageable but he could have a scare in the 3rd round as he will likely face big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic. In their two meetings both have gone the distance, and when they met in Queens last year Nadal won in a 3rd set tiebreak. If he can get past this test it should be smooth sailing until the Semi’s. If he survives this far Del Potro will suffer the same fate he did a week ago in the Quarters whereas Ferrer/Cilic/Wawrinka and co don’t seem like legitimate challenges to me.

Possibly the most exciting quarter of the draw is the bottom section of the top half. Andy Murray heads the list and he’s on track to face Mardy Fish in the 3rd round. Fish was terrible at IW so he’ll be looking for a better week. Gasquet v Nalbandian is on the cards for the 3rd round which would be a great match. Also likely to meet in the third round is Verdasco and Lopez, another exciting match which would feature terrific shotmaking. The first round match of Muller and Querrey is fascinating and the loser unlucky to exit so early.

Disappointingly, Ernest Gulbis is already out as he was thrashed by Marcos Baghdatis for the second time this year. A few months ago I was convinced Gulbis was the real deal and would be knocking on the door of the top 5 in a few years time but now I’m not so sure. He’s young but not that young and to me he’s heading down the same path of Berdych. He’s talented but for whatever reason can’t put it all together. He needs to work on improving his shot selection, remaining focused at all times and making less errors.

Prediction: Murray

To be honest I make this prediction without any degree of confidence. Murray does have a tough draw and he could face Nadal in the Semi Finals but despite this I think he’s a real shot at winning. The Indian Wells final wasn’t a true reflection of where he’s at and the wind basically ruined any chance he had at winning. He’s shown he can beat Nadal, as well as Federer, so it’s just whether he has enough in the tank after a tough campaign in California. Roger Federer was the last man to go back-to-back at Indian Wells and Miami in 2006 so it can be done. I think Nadal will reach the Semi’s but I think Murray will extract his revenge. I’ll call a Murray/Federer final with Murray winning.

Women’s preview to follow…

WOMEN:

(1) Serena Williams USA vs bye
Timea Bacsinszky SUI vs (WC) Alexa Glatch USA
Pauline Parmentier FRA vs Mara santangelo ITA
(32) Shuai Peng CHN vs bye

(17) Zheng JIe CHN vs bye
Virginie Razzano FRA vs Qualifier
Karin Knapp ITA vs Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE
(14) Alize Cornet FRA vs bye

(9) Nadia Petrova RUS vs bye
Qualifier 1 vs Qualifier 2
Ekaterina Makarova RUS vs Yung-Jan Chan TPE
(23) Ai Sugiyama JPN vs bye

(25) Aleksandra Wozniak CAN vs bye
Qualifier vs Na Li CHN
Tathiana Garbin ITA vs Klara Zakopalova
(6) Vera Zvonareva RUS vs bye

(3) Jelena Jankovic SRB vs bye
Gisela Dulko ARG vs Lordes Dominguez Lino ESP
Sabine Lisicki GER vs Petra Kvitova CZE
(26) Iveta Benesova CZE vs bye

(19) Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP vs bye
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS vs Qualifier
Marina Erakovic vs Qualifier
(16) Dominika Cibulkova SVK vs bye

(10) Agnieszka Radwanska POL vs bye
Tamarine Tanasugarn THA vs Nathalie Dechy FRA
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP vs Yanina Wickmayer BEL
(21) Kaia Kanepi EST vs bye

(30) Sara Errani ITA vs bye
Qualifier vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER
(WC) Tamaryn Hendler BEL vs Shahar Peer ISR
(5) Venus Williams USA vs bye

(8) Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS vs bye
Monica Niculescu ROU vs Qualifier
Nicole Vaidisova CZE vs Qualifier
(28) Alona Bondarenko UKR vs bye

(24) Alisa Kleybanova RUS vs bye
Galina Voskoboeva RUS vs Vera Dushevina RUS
Qualifier vs Olga Govortsova BLR
(12) Marion Bartoli FRA vs bye

(13) Caroline Wozniaki DEN vs bye
Edina Gallovits ROU vs (WC) Jelena Dokic AUS
Lucie Safarova CZE vs Anne Keothavong GBR
(18) Patty Schnyder SUI vs bye

(31) Carla Suarez Navarro ESP vs bye
(WC) Coco Vandeweghe USA vs Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP
(WC) Anastasia Pivovarova RUS vs Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA
(4) Elena Dementieva RUS vs bye

(7) Ana Ivanovic SRB vs bye
Qualifier vs Sorana Cirstea ROU
Francesca Schiavone ITA vs Tsvetna Pironkova BUL
(26) Agnes Szavay HUN vs bye

(22) Anna Chakvetadze RUS vs bye
(WC) Melanie Oudin USA vs Daniela Hantuchova SVK
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS vs Qualifier
(11) Victoria Azarenka BLR vs bye

(16) Flavia Pennetta ITA vs bye
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR vs Maria Kirilenko
(WC) Arantxa Rus NED vs Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
(20) Amelie Mauresmo FRA vs bye

(27) Sybille Bammer AUT vs bye
Sofia Arvidsson SWE vs Samantha Stosur AUS
Mathilde Johansson FRA vs (WC) Sania Mirza IND
(2) Dinara Safina RUS vs bye


The Williams sisters are back after once again skipping Indian Wells. Their return to the tour will likely result in another trophy in the Williams trophy cabinet. Serena is a 5 time champion at Miami and it’s hard to see anyone beating her. Indian Wells champion Vera Zvonareva is in her quarter but it’s hard to see her maintaining her level of play. One of a number of early casualties at IW, Alize Cornet will be looking for a change of fortunes. The likely slower courts should mean she’s a chance at having some success, no more than a 4th round appearances though as Serena will send her packing.

Venus Williams has an extremely easy draw, a draw that should ensure an all Williams encounter in the Semi Finals. Errani is the seed in her immediate bracket, the out of form Radwanska looms in the round of 16, and while Jankovic might be tipped as the one to advance from this quarter I can’t see it happening given her current level of play. One match of interest is Lisicki v Kvitova, a battle of the young guns.

For the third time already this year Caroline Wozniacki will face Jelena Dokic after Dokic beat Edina Gallovits in straight sets. Noticeably it was Dokic’s first win since the Australian Open and it should give her confidence. Elena Dementiva is a former champion here and with that in mind, and given her favourable draw, I think she’ll make the Semi’s. The opposite quarter is the most stacked section of the draw. Safina is the 2nd seed and will face the underrated (looks wise…) Mathilde Johansson. Ana Ivanovic is there and faces Mariya Koryttseva who beat my girl Sorana Cirstea. Cirstea is now at an embarrassing 0-6 on the year. Still got faith though, the end result will be good. Mauresmo is here too and I’m hoping she will face 18 year old Arantxa Rus in the 2nd round. Watch out for Rus, former #1 junior and a stunner. Azarenka and Chakvetadze are also in this section.

Prediction: S.Williams

For all the reasons I’ve mentioned above. When she’s at the top of her game, or probably even 75%, she wins, it’s that simple. Given her dominance at this tournament and the fact there is no one else other than Zvonareva who is at their best right now, it’s hard to see anyone else taking this title. I liked what I saw in more ways than one from Ivanovic last week so she’s got the potential to challenge for the title. She’ll need to get past surging youngster Azarenka and 2nd seed Safina but she made positive steps last week. Serena's 6th Miami crown is just a matter of time.

Thanks Drummond for the preview, I forgot about Djoko's loss to Anderson here last year, man that was one funny result. Good opportunity to gain some points if he can pick up his game.

Anyone do the ATP Bracket Challenge game, was about 3500 out of about 15000 i think after IW, got Nadal winning again here. Just playing too well not to pick him, if he does end up with Murray in the semis, it'll be interesting. Federer really should be making the final here, fairly simple draw, with Roddick in the quarters, just has to hope Djoko hasn't found form. I have Lleyton making the quarters here this week (bit much i know), but really this is a huge chance to at least make the 4th round.

Serena will have to the pick in the women's, loves this tournament and most of the players are in awful form at the moment. Hopefully, i'll be able to see some of the tournament this time around unlike IW.

Just too add on what i posted about Guccione eariler, he's gone ahead and lost to a Swedish qualifier ranked outside the top 300 6-4, 6-4 in that thai challenger. He really needs to pick it up. It's rather frustating because he was having ok results in the early US swing.

Bad luck for Dokic beaten 3-6 7-5 2-6 by Wozniacki.

11 Aces to wozniacki
11 Df's tp Dokic

^Thats the game right there.

Stosur destroyed Bammer 6-1 6-1
Most likely Bammer still suffering the effects of her shoulder injury from Indian Wells, cause there's no way Stosur got through a match against a seed without choking.
Now she plays Safina next up.

Simon easily over Hewitt 6-1 6-2

Few seeds falling:

Almagro & Soderling on the Mens side.
Bammer & Bartoli for the women. - Leaves that quarter disgustingly wide open, Bartoli out, Bondarenko bundled out by Vaidisova and in the process winning only 1 game. Kuznetsova in terrible form, pushed to 3 by Paszek. Who knows?

Hewitt got owned by Simon. Bad sign. 3 games. I can't remember Hewitt being beaten that easily in a long time. Good to see Dokic get a set, but those DF are holding her back.

Safin vs Monfils should be good

That's a horrific result from Hewitt, 3 games against an out-of-form Simon. This is getting worse and worse. I said this will set up what his year will be with this result, sadly this does say it all. Next event is the US Claycourts Champs in Houston for him.

Nice to see Dokic get a set, espically after the result in memhpis between these two.

Really curious to see how Sam will go against Safina, has had a pretty gift draw in these first two rounds though. No choking please.

Speaking of horrific, unknown Serb Victor Troicki def. David Nalbandian 6-1 6-3.

David Nalbandian does it again.

Unbelievable some of his stats..
30% of 1st serves in for the entire match.
57% of 1st serve points won.
0/6 BP's converted.

Wow, wrong again on Jankovic.
Crashed out in straight sets. She can say goodbye to a heap of points.

Quick question guys, when is Sharapova due back?

She's apparently targetting the clay courts of Rome in May.

Ok, that is good, so my Wimbledon bet is still on..I was a bit worried I had blown 200 bucks down the drain. But seriously WFT how can she go from being "a week or two away" from playing the Australian Open to being out for another 3 months!

bombersno1 said:

Ok, that is good, so my Wimbledon bet is still on..I was a bit worried I had blown 200 bucks down the drain. But seriously WFT how can she go from being "a week or two away" from playing the Australian Open to being out for another 3 months!

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Shoulder is not healing the way she hopes. I don't balme her for making sure she's healthy. What were the odds on that Wimby bet?

Only watched about 15 mins of Delic/Cilic this morning, not much to say, Delic could be an alright player if he concentrated better.

bombersno1 said:

But seriously WFT how can she go from being "a week or two away" from playing the Australian Open to being out for another 3 months!

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....Recovering from plastic surgery looks like. Definitley had something done....



Looks terrible.

Sam! No choking this time! Beats Safina in three!

Actually even better, in straight sets!
6-4 6-1
She'll play the winner Pennetta/Mauresmo

N Li (CHN) d [6] V Zvonareva (RUS) 64 36 62
[25] A Szavay (HUN) d [7] A Ivanovic (SRB) 64 46 61

^That makes 4/8 top seeds gone.

Ivanovic surely would be close to dropping out of the top 10, on current form there's absolutley no way she'll defend all her points at Rolland Garros.

Safin lost to Monfils in a tight one. Ah Safin