Quarterfinals All Set at Rome Masters

There were several upsets in the second round, including Juan Monaco's win over fourth-seed Andy Murray, but six seeded players made it through to the last eight anyway.

Here are the quarterfinal match-ups:

Top half:
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [6] F Verdasco (ESP)
[12] F Gonzalez (CHI) vs J Monaco (ARG)

Bottom half:
[2] R Federer (SUI) vs M Zverev (GER)
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [5] J Del Potro (ARG)

Rome Masters "Big 4" Ranking Projections

The clay-court season is in full swing leading up to the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland Garros next month. The "Big 4" of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray are entered at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with 1,000 ranking points at stake. Here is a look at the ranking projections for Rome:



World No. 3 and Rome Masters defending champion Novak Djokovic needs to repeat his 2008 performance if he wants to keep his current ranking. But even if Djokovic defends his title, World No. 4 Andy Murray can still overtake him at No. 3 (on 11-May-09) if Murray reaches the semis at Rome. Murray can even overtake Roger Federer at No. 2 (on 11-May-09) if Murray wins the tournament and Federer fails to make the quarters.

Nadal Five-Peats at Barcelona

Duplicating his feat at last week's Monte Carlo Masters, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal won his fifth straight Barcelona title on Sunday by beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in straight sets. Nadal will attempt to win his fifth straight French Open title in June.

Here is the updated ranking points breakdown for the "Big 4". The points from last year's Monte Carlo Masters dropped off this week, hence the ranking points changes for Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray who were all idle last week. Barcelona has two entries for Nadal because of the change in the ATP World Tour calendar this year. Ranking points from last year's Barcelona tournament will drop off next Monday.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rz6RBRHTh1haPR3oqHqMcgQ

Post-Monte Carlo "Big 4" Rankings Update

This week's edition of the rankings looks strange, as there are two entries for Monte Carlo - this year's and last year's results. Last year's points get to stay an additional week because of the ATP World Tour scheduling changes in 2009.

That said, World No. 1 and Monte Carlo winner Rafael Nadal now leads World No. 2 Roger Federer (who was eliminated in the round-of-16) by a whopping 4,630 points:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXptjJ8oGmyUQA

World No. 3 Novak Djokovic gets to keep his current ranking with a finals appearance at Monte Carlo despite World No. 4 Andy Murray's semifinal result. Djokovic currently leads Murray by 570 points:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXqJoavSQJY0RQ

The points will "normalize" next week when last year's Monte Carlo ranking points drop off.

Nadal Claims Fifth Straight Monte Carlo Title

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal defeated Andy Murray in the semis and Novak Djokovic in the final en route to winning his fifth straight Monte Carlo championship. Nadal's title defense did not come easy though, as both Murray and Djokovic presented Nadal a formidable challenge. Murray pushed Nadal to a second set tiebreak, while Djokovic took a set from Nadal and for a moment in the final looked like he was going to deny Rafa his 27th consecutive win at Monte Carlo.

And so the European clay court season has begun, producing a familiar champion in the World No. 1, but posts this question - can anyone upstage Nadal in this part of the season which he has dominated in the past four years?

Former Number Ones Win Clay Court Titles This Week

Former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain won his first title in more than five years in the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, beating fifth seed Florent Serra of France in straight sets.

Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, another former World No. 1, won his first title in 25 months by defeating American Wayne Odesnik in the final of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston.

Hewitt, who is currently ranked 88th in the world, is also entered as a wild card at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters tournament. With Sunday's victory, he is expected to rise by at least 30 spots in the rankings.

Federer Playing at Monte Carlo Masters After All

World No.2 Roger Federer acccepted a last minute wildcard to play at Monte Carlo, the third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the season and the first on clay. He lost in the final last year for the third time in a row to four-time defending champion and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

Murray Wins Miami Title

World No. 4 Andy Murray beat World No. 3 Novak Djokovic to win at Miami. This is Murray's third title of the season, the most of any player to date.

Only 170 points separate Djokovic and Murray in the rankings:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXo8ebViYkVYFg

Federer Upset At Miami Masters

A day after World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was eliminated at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, World No. 2 Roger Federer followed suit, losing his semifinal match against Novak Djokovic.

When the rankings are updated on Monday, Nadal will have a 3,450-point lead over Federer:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXqmrTQJFlD1VA

Federer is expected to lose a handful of points in the coming weeks because of his intention to skip Estoril and Monte Carlo this year.

Del Potro Upsets Nadal at Miami, Will Rise to #5 Ranking

Top South American Juan Martin Del Potro upset World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in their quarterfinal match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. He will face Andy Murray in the semis. The other semifinal pits former Miami champs Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

After a quarterfinal appearance in Indian Wells, and now at least a semifinal berth in Miami, Del Potro will be the new World No. 5 when the rankings are published on Monday. It's a career-best for the 20-year old Argentine who has five ATP titles under his belt. He replaces Nikolay Davydenko, who will drop all the way down to No. 9 because of skipping Miami due to injury.

Del Potro earned his first victory against the "Big 4" on his 13th attempt. And what a way to do it, taking out the top-seeded Nadal who was seeking an Indian Wells-Miami double.

Here is Del Potro's head-to-head record against the "Big 4":

1-4 vs Nadal
0-4 vs Federer
0-2 vs Djokovic
0-2 vs Murray

"Big 4" Through to the Quarters Yet Again

The quarterfinals cast is complete at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, and the "Big 4" of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray are in it for the second straight Masters event. Not all of them made it through to the semifinals at Indian Wells, though. Will it be different this time around?

Here are the match-ups:

[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [6] J Del Potro (ARG)
[4] A Murray (GBR) vs [8] F Verdasco (ESP)
---
[2] R Federer (SUI) vs [5] A Roddick (USA)
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [10] J Tsonga (FRA)