Miami: Quarterfinals

This post comes a day later than I would have like and I will combine the men's and women's editions due to the rain delay in Miami that postponed the concluded one match and completely washed out another.

Women's Quarterfinalists
2) Kim Clijsters (BEL)
3) Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
6) Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
8) Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
9) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
16) Maria Sharapova (RUS)
21) Andrea Petkovic (GER)
26) Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)

All eight players are seeded and we have five of the top 10 players still around, though 4 of them are in the same half of the bracket.  The notable absence is Wozniacki, who had her 5 Premier Mand/5 tournament championship streak ended by Petkovic in 3 sets in the 4th round.  Several players who lost early in Indian Wells turned their fortunes around and have done well in Miami (Clijsters, Zvonareva, Jankovic).  Is it possible that Sharapova is finally finding pre-injury form?

Only 2 players remain of the 8 quarterfinalists from 2010 Miami though Venus and Henin are not here:  Clijsters the defending champion and Radwanska who successfully defends her QF points.  I'm afraid that will drop Bartoli right back out of the top 10 (SF in '10).  Also only 2 players made quarterfinals at both Indian Wells and Miami:  Azarenka and Sharapova.  I think the level of form in the top 10-ish players continues to improve which is only good for the tour as we look toward the clay season.  Remember last year the big clay events were won by Martinez Sanchez, Rezai, and Schiavone.  While that was somewhat exciting in its own right, I don't expect 3 Cinderella winners again.

Quarterfinal matchups:
Petkovic def. Jankovic (3 sets)
Sharapova def. Dulgheru (3 sets)
Zvonareva vs. Radwanska
Clijsters vs. Azarenka

I will point out Dulgheru, who broke out in the clay season last year, had a couple decent results after that, then totally bombed and was 1-7 in 2011 coming into Miami.  I realize she beat 3 unseeded players to make the quarters, but one was Peng, but then she nearly beat Sharapova as the two sets she lost were both tiebreaks.  It looks like the Romanian #1 has turned it around.  Look for her to make some more noise on clay.  Also good is Sharapova, with back-to-back semis.  Now she gets Petkovic, a rematch of her AO loss.


Men's Quarterfinalists
1) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
2) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
3) Roger Federer (SUI)
6) David Ferrer (ESP)
7) Tomas Berdych (CZE)
14) Mardy Fish (USA)
25) Gilles Simon (FRA)
Kevin Anderson (RSA)

While a couple of big names bombed out early, including Soderling (albeit bothered by injury), Murray (second straight loss to an American qualifier), and defending champion Roddick (who will drop to around #15 in the rankings), we still have the Big 3 plus two other top 10 players left.  We also have Fish who took out del Potro in the 4th round, avenging his loss in the Delray SF.  Kevin Anderson is on the up and up after his 1st career title earlier this year in his hometown of Jo-burg.  We have some intriguing matchups which I'll get to in a minute.  This tournament really had quite a number of early upsets and real shockers including Rochus in the 4th round beating Youzhny and Baghdatis, Cuevas over Roddick, Andujar over Verdasco, Bogomolov (not to be confused with Dolgopolov) over Murray, Granollers over Wawrinka and Llodra.

Only 2 players remain of the 8 that made the quarters in the tempestuous Miami 2010:  Nadal and Berdych, the players that lost to Roddick in the final 2 rounds.  All of the others bombed real early -- 3rd round or before -- here (Roddick, Soderling, Verdasco, Tsonga, Almagro, and Youzhny).  Three players managed to navigate to the quarters this year at the both Indian Wells and Miami, and they are the big 3.  This time in Djokovic with the draw advantage and will only meet Federer or Nadal in the final.  The loss by Roddick now means the no. 1 American spot is up for grabs, and another win by Fish will give him that title.  The early loss by Soderling puts Murray back to #4.

Quarterfinal matchups:
Nadal vs Berdych:  As mentioned above, meeting between 2 guys who couldn't beat Roddick last year.
Federer vs Simon:  Rematch of AO 5-set match and Simon leads to head-to-head 2-1.
Ferrer vs Fish:  Can Fish become the #1 American against Ferrer?
Djokovic vs Anderson:  Now we'll see where the South African measures up.