At the Sony Ericsson Open today, the women finalists will be determined along with the semifinalists for the top half of the men’s draw.
For the third time, Venus Williams takes on Marion Bartoli. Their head to head stands at one all. Williams carried their 2007 Wimbledon final match while Bartoli won their last encounter in Stanford in 2009. In the ultimate session, Kim Clijsters clashes with Justine Henin. Earlier in the year, they played in the finals in Brisbane. Clijsters defeated Henin in three sets in what she stated was “ one of . . . most exciting matches I think that I’ve played [in] my career . . . we had a great time out there”.
In the initial male quarterfinal, Tomas Berdych faces Fernando Verdasco. After his amazing triumph over Roger Federer, Berdych attempts to at least equal his best result in Miami, he reached the semifinals in 2008. Berdych has 5-3 record against Verdasco. They’ve split their last two meetings.
Mikhail Youzhny and Robin Soderling battle it out for the ultimate semifinal berth. Soderling has been victorious their last three out of four matches. In Rotterdam this year, Soderling beat Youzhny. Soderling was well on his way to securing the trophy before the Russian retired with a hamstring problem.
In addition, there’s a sprinkling of doubles as Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo square off against Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes for a spot in the finals. Arnaud Clement and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga meet Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi in the quarterfinals. Last year, Mirnyi won the title with partner Andy Ram.
Here is today’s complete schedule :
THURSDAY, APRIL 1
STADIUM start 1:00 PM
[13] M Bartoli (FRA) vs [3] V Williams (USA) – WTA
Not Before 3:00 PM
[16] T Berdych (CZE) vs [10] F Verdasco (ESP) – ATP
Almagro/Robredo vs [3]Dlouhy/Paes
Starting at 7:00 PM
[13] M Youzhny (RUS) vs [5] R Soderling (SWE) – ATP
Not Before 9:00 PM
[14] K Clijsters (BEL) vs [WC] J Henin (BEL) – WTA
COURT 2 Not before 4:30 pm
Clement/Tsonga vs. [4]Bhupathi/Mirnyi