Roger Federer

80 Down, 16 To Go

March 31, 2008

With the final 16 spots spoken for in the men’s singles draw, the Sony Ericsson Open is starting to produce a clearer picture of who is in it to win it in Miami, Florida this week.

The second round saw a significant number of favourites go down including No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 7 David Nalbandian, No. 8 Richard Gasquet and, most shockingly, the defending champion Novak Djokovic. However, the third round was much kinder to the top-seeded players as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko and James Blake all reached the round of 16.

Federer has had an easy go of things thus far defeating Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 and only needing to build a 6-4, 3-0 lead on Sweden’s Robin Soderling before he retired due to injury. Federer will now face Argentina’s Jose Acasuso for a spot in the quarter-finals. Acasuso took out Lleyton Hewitt in the second round in straight sets and also made quick work of Israeli Dudi Sela to get this far.

Nadal has been similarly fortunate having to face qualifier Benjamin Becker in the second round and another German in Nicolas Kiefer in the third round. He pushed them both aside without a thought but will now face Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fourth round. Mathieu is seeded sixteenth and should provide a tough test for the No. 2 Spaniard.

Another French favourite is out of the competition as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was defeated by countryman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-3. Benneteau will now face No. 6 Andy Roddick who defeated qualifier Ivo Minar in the third round. Roddick leads their head-to-head 2-1 but Benneteau came out on top the last time they met.

Davydenko has had a tough time so far this year and his struggles have continued in Miami. He has needed three sets to get through each of his first two contests and will now face Mario Ancic (Croatia) for the first time since 2006. Ancic has won two of their past three meetings and Davydenko is a prime candidate for another upset.

A semifinalist last year, Guillermo Canas is set to take on Russian Igor Andreev in what should be a tight fourth round match. Canas defeated Fernando Gonzalez in the third round while Andreev put Djokovic-killer Kevin Anderson on the sidelines.

In the doubles draw, top-seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan are breathing a little bit easier as both Pacific Life Open finalists were eliminated in the first round. No. 2 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic were defeated by Fernando Gonzalez and Agustin Calleri while Indian Wells champs Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich lost to Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil. The Bryan brothers are now the clear favourites to win their first championship of the year.