Roddick v. Nadal Headline Indian Wells Semifinals

The 19-year-old Djokovic is one week younger than Murray and both players are attempting to break into the ATP Top 10 Rankings for the first time. The winner will not only reach their first ATP Masters Series final but crack the Top 10 in Monday’s ATP Rankings. The 13th-ranked Djokovic is 15 points ahead of 14th-ranked Murray. The last teenager to reach the Indian Wells final was Andre Agassi (19) in 1990 (l. to Edberg).

In the first semifinal, Roddick and Nadal meet for the third time (tied 1-1) but for the first time since December 2004 in the Davis Cup final (on clay) in Seville. Nadal, who won in four sets, was ranked No. 51 at the time and Roddick No. 2. Roddick won the only previous hard court meeting 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the US Open in 2004.

Roddick is looking to reach his eighth (4-3) career ATP Masters Series final and complete a career sweep of the four North American Masters Series tournaments. He already has won titles in Miami (2004), Canada (2003) and Cincinnati (2006, ’03).

If it comes down to tie-breaks, Roddick holds an edge over Nadal. The American has won the past nine tie-breaks he has contested (14-3 this year), including all five this week (at least one in each of his four matches). Roddick has not faced a break point in his 45 service games. Nadal is 3-3 in tie-breaks this year. Both players have yet to drop a set.

Roddick, 18-3 this season, has reached the semifinals or better in all four tournaments this year but he has yet to win a title. His best result was a runner-up in Memphis (l. to Haas). His last title was at ATP Masters Series Cincinnati (d. Ferrero) on Aug. 20, 2006.

Roddick has won nine straight against left-handers since his last loss to Gilles Muller in he first round of the 2005 US Open.

Nadal has not won a title since defending his Roland Garros title in June last year – his fifth title of 2006. In 2005 he won 11 titles, including four ATP Masters Series crowns.

Nadal has won four ATP titles on hard courts: ATP Masters Series Montreal and Madrid, Beijing (all 2005) and Dubai (2006). He also reached the ATP Masters Series Miami final in 2005 (l. Federer in five sets). He is 6-1 in his career in ATP Masters Series finals.

Since that title in June, he has gone 12 tournaments without a title, his longest span since it took him 24 tournaments to win his first ATP title in 2004.

In the second semifinal, Djokovic won the previous meeting against Murray 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the third round of ATP Masters Series Madrid last October

Djokovic is appearing in his first ATP Masters Series semifinal. The 19-year-old Serb has yet to drop a set and he enters with a 17-4 match record. He began the year with his third career ATP title in Adelaide (d. Guccione) before falling to Federer in the Australian Open fourth round. He has lost to two players: Federer (twice) and Youzhny (twice).

Murray is making his second appearance in an ATP Masters Series semifinal (’06 Toronto). The 19-year-old Scot comes in with a 19-3 match record after saving two match points in his quarterfinal win over No. 9 Tommy Haas on Friday night.