Djokovic Unbeatable; Federer, Nadal Today in Miami; Clijsters v. Ivanovic
Novak Djokovic ran his career-best win streak up to 22 last night after a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of James Blake in the third round of the Miami Tennis Masters.
Djokovic, who is 20-0 in 2011, has lost just three games in his first two matches. Scary? Yes.
“To be honest, I’m taking it one match at a time and trying to win against the opponent that I have today and not thinking about what happened or what can happen,” said Djokovic.
“I have been really trying to use that serve and trying to get some free points out of it [serve] and tonight it was working really great. I think I’m quite a complete player. My game is based obviously on the baseline, but I need that serve so I can get more free points and put a lot of pressure on my opponent. That’s where I’m getting lately, so I’m happy with that.”
Djokovic has won all three tournaments he has entered this season – Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells. He’ll next meet countryman Viktor Troicki who was a three-set winner over Sam Querrey.
Juan Martin Del Potro also looked sharp thumping Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2 to earn his best win since the 2009 US Open. “It feels good. I played a really good match,” Delpo said. “I served much better than in the Kohlschreiber match, and that’s what I need if I want beat Top 10 players.”
DelPo moves on to play Mardy Fish on Tuesday.
“It will be a special match because I know him,” said Delpo of Fish who beat Richard Gasquet. “He knows my game. We’ve played many times against each other. And here in fourth round, every player is playing really well. So will be a nice match for both.”
David Ferrer, John Isner, Marcel Granollers and Kevin Anderson were among the other winners Sunday.
Today, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is on against his good friend Feliciano Lopez. While Nadal should breeze over his buddy, Roger Federer could get tested by Juan Monaco. If the courts are playing as slow as some players suggest the Argentine might be able to make an impression on the Roger.
“I’ve seen him play for multiple years, and he is a good player, nice backhands, good intensity,” said Federer of Monaco. “He’s gonna be playing in front of a South American crowd for sure, so it’s going to be a different type of a match.”
Roger beat Monaco in their only meeting at Hamburg in 2007.
And in the best men’s match, Alexandr Dolgopolov squares off against JW Tsonga tonight. I think the kid from the Ukraine might sneak out a win in that one.
There are some good looking women’s matches today – maybe the best single day of women’s tennis all season. Maria Sharapova meets Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki collides with Andrea Petkovic and tonight it’s Kim Clijsters against Ana Ivanovic.
All around, what a schedule!
Matches are televised live on the Tennis Channel again and the ATP has live official streaming.
MIAMI MONDAY SCHEDULE
STADIUM start 11:00 am
[4] S Stosur (AUS) vs [16] M Sharapova (RUS) – WTA
[1] C Wozniacki (DEN) vs [21] A Petkovic (GER) – WTA
Not Before 2:00 PM
[3] R Federer (SUI) vs [32] J Monaco (ARG) – ATP
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs F Lopez (ESP) – ATP
Not Before 7:30 PM
[21] A Dolgopolov (UKR) vs [15] J Tsonga (FRA) – ATP
Not Before 9:00 PM
[19] A Ivanovic (SRB) vs [2] K Clijsters (BEL) – WTA
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
C Berlocq (ARG) vs [7] T Berdych (CZE) – ATP
[Q] O Rochus (BEL) vs [13] M Youzhny (RUS) – ATP
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) vs [6] J Jankovic (SRB) – WTA
Not Before 4:30 PM
[5] F Schiavone (ITA) vs [9] A Radwanska (POL) – WTA
[25] G Simon (FRA) vs P Cuevas (URU) – ATP
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