The quarterfinals of Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships includes six of the Top 11 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, led by No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 3 Novak Djokovic, No. 4 David Ferrer, No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 6 Andy Roddick, and No. 11 Andy Murray.
In the first match, No. 4 seed David Ferrer plays Spanish countryman Feliciano Lopez for the sixth time (Lopez leads 3-2). Neither player has won consecutive times in the series (Lopez won the last meeting). Ferrer, who enters with a 9-3 match record, is appearing in his third quarterfinal of the season – Auckland (l. to Benneteau) and the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic). The 25-year-old Spaniard is trying to reach his first ATP semifinal since the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai where he advanced to the final (l. to Federer). Lopez, the lowest-ranked player remaining at No. 41 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, is making his first showing in an ATP quarterfinal this season. Last year he reached his lone ATP semifinal on clay in Stuttgart in July (l. to Nadal). He is 14-32 lifetime against Top 10 opponents and trying to defeat a Top 10 for the second straight round.
In the next match, British No. 1 Andy Murray takes a 3-2 career mark (winning last three) against No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko. The 20-year-old Murray enters with a 12-2 match record on the season with ATP titles in Doha (d. Wawrinka) and Marseille (d. Ancic). His only losses have come in the first round at the Australian Open (l. to Tsonga) and Rotterdam l. to Haase). Murray has an 11-12 career mark against Top 10 opponents, including 10 wins over Top 5 competition (10-8). He is trying to register two Top 10 wins in the same tournament for the second time in his career. Last year at AMS Indian Wells, he defeated No. 4 Davydenko in the 4th Rd. and No. 9 Haas in the quarterfinals. Davydenko is 11-3 on the season and he’s looking to reach his second ATP semifinal in 2008. He opened the campaign with a semifinal in Doha (l. to Murray) and followed with a 4th Rd. at the Australian Open (l. to Youzhny).
In the evening session, No. 6 Andy Roddick battles No. 2 Rafael Nadal for the fourth time (Nadal leads 2- 1). The 25-year-old Roddick has yet to drop serve in the first two rounds in his first visit to Dubai. He has a 12-2 record on the season. After opening the year with a third round exit at the Australian Open (l. to Kohlschreiber), he put together an eight-match winning streak beginning with a victory over Austrian Jurgen Melzer in first round Davis Cup action. He followed with his 24th career ATP title two weeks ago in San Jose (d Stepanek), and reached the quarterfinals last week in Memphis (l. to Soderling). Nadal, 21, has a 10-2 record in Dubai and he won the title two years ago by defeating Roger Federer in the final. He also reached the quarterfinals in 2004 and in ’07, both times losing to Russian Mikhail Youzhny. The World No. 2 has a 12-3 mark this season, reaching the final at Chennai (l. to Youzhny), semifinals at the Australian Open (l. to Tsonga) and second round at Rotterdam (l. to Seppi). IF he wins the title, would move within 125 points of No. 1 Roger Federer.
In the final match, unseeded Igor Andreev of Russia looks for his second straight Top 10 win as he takes on No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic is 2-0 lifetime against Andreev, winning both previous meetings on clay last year. Andreev is 10-16 lifetime against Top 10 opponents and he’s never beaten two Top 10 opponents in the same tournament. The 24-year-old Moscow native is 6-6 on the season with a quarterfinal showing in Buenos Aires two weeks ago (l. to Acasuso). His lone ATP semifinal last year came on clay in Gstaad in July (l. to Seppi). The 20-year-old Djokovic reached the quarterfinals in his Dubai debut last year (l. to Federer). The World No. 3 is off to a 10-2 start this season; he opened the campaign by winning his first career Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open (d. Tsonga), but lost in the second round in his only other ATP tournament appearance this season, in February at Marseille (l. to Simon). (ATP Digital Services)
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