The men’s singles draw has been whittled down to the last 16 at the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year at Miami, while the women’s field has been narrowed to just eight title contenders for the Sony Ericsson Open title, and at this stage of play there are a few certainties, but still more questions to be answered.
We can be certain that there’ll be no Indian Wells-Miami singles title double for 2010, as Ivan Ljubicic bowed out in the second round of the men’s draw in the current tournament, while Jelena Jankovic’s vanquished BNP Paribas Open semi-final opponent, Samantha Stosur, exacted her revenge over the Serb in the fourth round in Miami.
There’s also no chance of a successful title defence in either the men’s or women’s singles draws, with Andy Murray falling at the first hurdle, and Victoria Azarenka losing her fourth-round match.
The players remaining in the draw provide the questions. Can Roger Federer win his first title at this tournament since 2006? Will Rafael Nadal win the first Miami crown of his career, and first title of the year at this tournament?
And what about Venus Williams? She’s into the quarter-finals, and aiming for her third straight title of the year (winning at the Dubai Tennis Championships and in Bogota, before skipping Indian Wells). Justine Henin looks to have found form here too. Can the former world No. 1 win her first title since returning to competition from retirement in January?
Here’s a look at some of the recent action from the tournament.
Federer forced to fight
Federer has moved into the fourth round at Miami, although Florent Serra forced the world No. 1 to earn his place in the last 16. Federer’s BNP Paribas Open campaign earlier this month fell apart in the third round (Marcos Baghdatis recording his first victory in seven matches against the Swiss) and there were stages where this match deviated from the script as well.
In an un-Federer-like performance, the 16-time Grand Slam champion was broken on serve at 5-3 in the first set, and again at 4-1 up in the second. Serra must have scented just the slightest whiff of vulnerability about his opponent as he pushed both sets to tie-breaks, but the top seed did enough to fall across the line 7-6(3), 7-6(3) and line up a fourth round match against 16th seed Tomas Berdych.
No Murrays for Fish
The USA’s Mardy Fish has showed no signs of a hangover from his shock second-round victory over Murray with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Feliciano Lopez in the third round. The world No. 101 gained supremacy over the Scot with a superb serving display that included no less than 10 aces, but the worry is that Murray couldn’t find a way to penetrate the game of a player ranked almost 100 places below him.
"The last three tournaments have not been good," Murray told BBC Sport in a frank assessment of his recent results, for which the world No. 3 has offered “no excuses”. That loss follows Murray’s quarter-final loss to Sweden’s Robin Soderling at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where the Australian Open finalist offered up an error-strewn performance. He again struggled to find his range at Miami, and also struggled with his serve against Fish.
Comeback queens eye Miami crown
After making little impression on proceedings at Indian Wells, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin have - so far at least – returned with a vengeance at the Sony Ericsson Open. Henin cruised past Elena Dementieva in the second round here, and was untroubled by Vera Zvonareva in her fourth-round match as well, winning 6-1, 6-4.
Clijsters most recent tennis lesson at Miami was given to fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, with the US Open champion winning that round-of-16 match 6-4, 6-0. It’s a marked return to form for Clijsters, who seems to have finally put the pieces of her game back together after it fell apart against Nadia Petrova at the Australian Open in January
Henin and Clijsters are now one win away from a semi-final showdown, and in more good news for the Belgians, Yanina Wickmayer has also booked a quarter-final spot in the top half of the draw, where she’ll face Marion Bartoli, after the Frenchwoman powered past top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova – who was hampered by shoulder problems – 6-3, 6-0 in the fourth round.
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