Mid-Miami Report

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

With Fedal out, a Djokovic/Murray final looks a certainty. A lot of people at my tennis club (yes I do play, but not very well) tell me that the way he and Djoko play will hurt them in the long run. They also mention the way Federer tries to keep points short and tell me that it's much better to play like that because you get less injuries. Anyways, there are other players at Indian Wells. Cilic is seeded ninth, which surprised me, Ferrer is back to his usual consistent brilliant best and Delpo had to head home for personal reasons. Things are really starting to get down to the business end here and perhaps a Murrovic final isn't a certainty if someone can rise up. Anything could happen...



I thought I might suggest some gospel today...


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jurgen Melzer, AUT
...Absolutely nobody saw this coming. Delpo lost in the first round, perhaps distracted by events in his personal life, and then this quarter just opened up. Juan Monaco's continued slumps saw him lose to Ramos in three. He will drop out of the top twenty soon, and with a lot of points to defend coming up he could be in trouble. Blake beat Benny pretty easily and he's having a bit of a career resurgence as of late. With Jurgen beating Granollers, all the seeds in that section were out in the second round. Melzer actually nearly lost to Ricardas Berankis in the first round. He edged him in a third set breaker and then beat Granollers with little trouble 3 and 4. Delpo's conqueror Kamke proved a bit more of a challenge. Melzer lost the opener on a tiebreak but took the next two, winning 6-4 in the third. Unfortunately, he lost the first set to Ramos 6-2. He managed to come back and grind out the win by taking the next two 6-3, 6-3. He faces Ferrer in the quarters.
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RISER: David Ferrer, ESP
...Ferrer likes to slip through tournaments unnoticed. He likes those back courts, where he can concentrate on his game and on his opponent and on the match, too, of course. His first opponent Tursunov withdrew and David then beat 32nd seed Fognini 6-1 7-5 to advance to the fourth round. He played the 13th seed Nishikori there. It was over pretty quickly. Ferry won 4 and 2 to move onto the quarterfinals. It's a great way to forget a poor week at Indian Wells and he should be able to beat Melzer.
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SURPRISE: Max Mirnyi/Mikhail Youzhny, BLR/RUS
...They beat the top-seeded Bryans and then lost their second round match. Basically, they did a Rosol -- except at Wimbledon Nadal wasn't the top seed -- and lost in the next round. They defeated the Bryans 10-5 in the last set breaker but then lost to Haas/Malisse 10-8 in the last set breaker. Actually, the seeds in men's doubles have been poor over the past few weeks. The trend continued in Miami.
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VETERAN: Mikhail Youzhny, RUS
...He will be 31 in about two months. He is one of the few to have made a quarterfinal at every single slam at least once. In fact, he's made the US Open semis twice. He is 1-5 in 500 tournaments but 7-5 at 250 level. He was great in 2007 and in 2010. He has been a stalwart of the tour and the Russian number one here and there, too. His career has been pretty good, but like most people his age just keeps going up.
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COMEBACK: Tomas Berdych, CZE
...He is the Zombie king. He should have lost to Traver but came back to win 5-7,7-6,6-2. He served at 2-6 3-5 against Falla but came back to win 2-6,7-6,6-4. He hasn't played that well this week but is still here and is in the quarterfinals now. It hasn't been easy for him but he has managed to win two matches he should have lost. He seems to be in better form , having eased past the now engaged Querrey 6-1,6-1. If Gasquet can beat him, it is almost certain he'll be number nine on Monday. If Berdych wins, then Tipsarevic will only slip if he loses to Simon.
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NEW FACE: Williams, USA
...Rhyne, that is. I don't know much about him except the name. However, except that he just turned 22 on Friday and that he is about 130 in the world. He has been coming up for a while now and if he keeps putting in the results, big things are gonna happen for him. He was fortunate enough to get a wildcard into the tournament and although he didn't beat Giraldo, he looks a big prospect for the future.
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DOWN: Florian Mayer, GER
...Apart from those two Wimbledon quarters, he has been to the third round at slam level just a handful of times. He is in an almighty slump. He couldn't push Berdych all that much in Indian Wells and he crashed here, too. He barely tested Zemlja in a straight sets loss. It's almost beyond a slump now. He is playing terribly badly. Agassi decided to play challengers when he was in a slump. Perhaps Mayer should go and do the same. It may very well work.
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1. Miami Rd.4 - Gasquet d. Almagro
...6-7/7-5/7-6. I just watched this. It is the best three set men's match I've seen since Federer/Delpo at last year's Olympics. It was fantastic. There were loads of 20 and 30 shot rallies. There was even a 50 shot rally or two. The entire match was played to a very high standard. Gasquet nearly choked but really both men played an incredible match and I just lost track of time watching it. It was awesome. Almagro blew a 4-1 (double break) lead in the first and then faced 15-40, 4-5 but came back to win it. Gasquet edged the second and then they exchanged one break each before Gasquet closed it out in the third set breaker.
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2. Miami Rd.2 - Goffin d. Kohlschreiber
...7-6/4-6/6-2. This was an exciting match between two shot makers. Goffin continued his rise and did well in the one-handed backhand section.
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3. Miami Rd.2 - Isner d. Dodig
...4-6/7-5/7-6. This was a gripping, enthralling match with a lot of twists and turns. Isner managed to come out of his slump at times too. He finally edged it 7-5 in the final set breaker but it was a very good match, if a bit edgy at time.
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