Miami

The second half of the American hard court back-to-back Masters/Premier events gets underway for the seeds today, at least on the women's side with the Miami/Key Biscayne Sony Ericsson Open.  Here's the players who have points to defend:

-Andy Murray and Victoria Azarenka are the defending champions. I think this would be absolutely HUGE for Vika if she could defend here.  And for Andy, I have no confidence he can win this tournament again.

-Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were the other finalists in 2009 but Serena is out injured and sometimes we wonder about the whereabouts of the Djoker.

-Last year's semifinalists were Roger Federer, Juan Martin Del Potro, Venus Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.  Del Potro is out injured so he will lose his semifinal points.

-Players with quarterfinals to defend are Nadal, Verdasco, Tsonga, and Roddick for the men; Li, Benesova, Wozniacki, and Stosur for the women.
It will be interesting to see what effect rest has on this tournament, if those booted early can regain their form after a week off while others were playing.  I'm think about Federer, Djokovic, Verdasco, Kuznetsova, Henin, etc.  Also Venus Williams skipped Indian Wells so she will be the best rested and definitely one of the favorites.