Miami: Men's Quarterfinals

The story of Miami so far on the men's side was supposed to be the resurgence of Andy Roddick after he pulled a major upset of Roger Federer (their head-to-head is now 21-3 Federer) while the latter was the hottest player on tour.  But then Roddick goes out the next day and is embarressed by Monaco, leaving us wondering slightly what to think of the Federer/Roddick match especially given both players 2012 form.  But six of the top 8 seeds still remain in the draw (that matches the women), so there should still be some exciting matches to come.

On the American side, Mardy Fish has rebounded with nice wins over Anderson (QF in '11) and Almagro, and is now (thanks to his pal Roddick) only a win over Monaco away from defending his SF points from last year, a task that seemed impossible just a week ago, especially with Federer in his quarter.  Isner, somewhat expectedly, flopped against Mayer, but the Americans have turned a decent tournament so far.  Overall they are 9-10.  For the "junior" players Querrey and Harrison won first round matches, but Young, Sweeting, Blake, Kudla, and some others all disappointed.

Here are the ATP's last eight:
1) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
2) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
4) Andy Murray (GBR)
5) David Ferrer (ESP)
6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
8) Mardy Fish (USA)
9) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
21) Juan Monaco (ARG)

Matchups today and tomorrow are Djokovic/Ferrer, Fish/Monaco, Murray/Tipsarevic, and Nadal/Tsonga.

Half the quarterfinalists are repeates from '11:  Djokovic (Champ), Nadal (F), Fish (SF), and Ferrer (QF).  Only Nadal and Djokovic reached the quarters at both Indian Wells and Miami this year.  Monaco reaches his 5th Masters QF with suprisingly only one on clay, but has reached the semis just once ('10 Shanghai).  It is just the 3rd Masters QF for Tipsarevic.  Really not much of else of note has occurred in this tournament.

Seeds losing their first match were 15) Lopez, 24) Granollers, and 28) Chela.  Only 3 seeds lost in the round of 64 compared to 14 women!  Fish, Tipsarevic, and Monaco have lost one set, the other quarterfinalists have lost none.