On Sunday, the 2010 French Open gets underway.  Before the first ball is struck at Roland Garros, here’s a taste of how the proceedings may unravel on the gentlemen’s side.

Since 2006, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer had made it a habit of contesting for the trophy on the final Sunday. Last year, Robin Soderling interrupted that cycle by ousting Nadal in the fourth round.  After descending a wee bit in the rankings, with a record three Masters clay court titles, Nadal returned to his familiar spot at number two this week.  Therefore, this sets up the possibility of a final featuring defending champion Federer and his old nemesis Nadal.

By far, Nadal has been the best clay court player this season.  As such, it’s almost a given penciling his name as a finalist.  In examining the draw, Nadal, the top seed in the bottom section, appears to have a green line through the round of 16.  In the quarterfinals, the Spaniard could see slight resistance from fellow countrymen Fernando Versdasco and Nicolas Almagro.  The latter in particular competed well against Nadal in Madrid.  Still, Nadal should pull through.

Also in the bottom half are Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic, potential semifinal adversaries for Nadal.  Last year, Roddick had a career best showing in Paris by reaching the round of 16.  In the first round, Roddick takes on veteran Jarkko Nieminen, then, a possible third round match with Juan Monaco.  Hence, the American may say his goodbyes to Paris early. Assuming Roddick advances to the quarters, he could face the second best performer on clay this year, David Ferrer.  Considering that Roddick has not competed since the Sony Ericsson Open and with clay being his least successful surface, it hard to imagine Roddick progressing to the second week.

Despite a clay title and two other finals, Djokovic went down in the third round in 2009.  This year, Djokovic withdrew early in Serbia and his best result was the semifinals in Monte-Carlo. Consequently, for Djokovic, resting may be a blessing.  On the other hand, it could be a curse, not allowing the Serb to be clay fit.  With former French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero potentially as a third round opponent and Ferrer in the quarterfinals, the third seed could have his hands full before getting a crack at Nadal.

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Until the match is played, regardless of the statistics, there is no certainty as to the victor.  However, in this case, the numbers did not lie.  Today, in the Sony Ericsson Open final, Andy Roddick, the favorite on paper, improved his record to 6-2 versus Tomas Berdych.  Roddick defeated Berdych 7-5, 6-4 for his second ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami and his 29th career trophy.

Twice this season, these two have battled with Roddick taking both matches in straight sets.  Yet, the manner in which Berdych moved on to the finals, with wins over Roger Federer, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling, the Czech appeared to have at least an outside chance. With a forehand crosscourt winner, Berdych held at love his initial game.  Then, with a backhand volley winner, Berdych put Roddick in 0-30 predicament.  By coming with 130 mph heat, Roddick managed to hold for 1 all.  Later, Roddick faced another 0-30 situation when Berdych connected on a backhand crosscourt pass for a winner.  Despite not finding first serves, Roddick elicited enough return errors on his second serve to get to 3 all.  Next, as the set progressed, Roddick found the groove on Berdych’s serve.  When Berdych botched  a makeable forehand up the line, Roddick had his first break point of the day.  Although Berdych wiped that one away, later, he double faulted giving Roddick another opportunity.  The American took it when Berdych’s forehand landed wide.  Subsequently, at 40-0, with an ace, Roddick wrapped up the set.

In the second set, with a backhand pass for winner, Roddick earned break point.  Again with an unforced forehand error, Roddick seized a 1-0 edge.  Despite letting a 40-15 game reach deuce because of double fault, Roddick still consolidated 2-0.  Following two easy occasions on serve, when Roddick missed an uncomplicated forehand to get to 30 all, Berdych seemed to have a slim opening.  Yet, with a backhand down the line pass, Roddick arrived at game point and with an ace had a 4-2 lead.  After Roddick readily got to 5-3, with a deep return, he caused a forehand blunder from Berdych for his first match point.  In the longest rally of the day, 31 strokes, Berdych terminated the point with an overhead winner.  Later, Berdych saved another match point and finally held for 4-5.  However, for the Czech it was delaying the inevitable. Roddick had permitted no break point the entire day and he had no plan to be generous although it was Easter.  With an overhead winner, Roddick had double championship point.  When Berdych netted a down the line backhand, Roddick wrote his name on the trophy.

Roddick performance was pretty clean with 25 winners and 16 unforced errors, while Berdych had almost twice as many in the latter category and just 2 more winners.  Berdych was the first Czech male to reach the finals in Miami since Ivan Lendl.  Lendl won the tournament twice, in 1986 and 1989. In the post match analysis, Berdych had the following responses when MiamiTennisNews.com posed:

Q.  Seemed [that] your first serve was off?

BERDYCH: . . .  my serve was not that good.  But still, . . . I just lost two close sets. . . He [got] one chance and he just took it.  That’s how it is . . .  maybe I would get one then it would be different.

Q.  It seems . . .on the first break chance that he had in the first set, . . .  you made an error on the first serve and then the clap from the crowd.  Was that a distraction for you?

BERDYCH:  No, that’s usual, especially here . . . when you play in States against American, that’s all right.  That’s how it is.

Coming on the heels of a letdown in the finals in Indian Wells, Roddick admits prevailing a the Sony Ericsson Open is a relief considering he had been the favorite both times.  Roddick spent his formative years in Boca Raton, therefore, this trophy is special to him.  After the victory,  Roddick said he has a lot of fond memories of the area “lots of firsts . . . playing the Orange Bowl, the Sunshine Cup, junior Davis Cup and winning that for the first time . . . [this venue]it’s one of those places where . . . going down a hallway . . . I don’t need to look for signs to see where I’m [going]. . .  it [‘s] just kind of   ingrained.  It’s a great crowd. I never feel really uncomfortable on the center court. It’s a big title for me. ”

Berdych’s ranking rises from 20 to 16 while Roddick moves up one spot to number 7.  Roddick earned his 5th Masters shield with this win.  In addition, Roddick becomes only the fifth multiple winner of this title keeping company with Andre Agassi, holder of 6, Pete Sampras with 3, Ferderer and Lendl each with two.  All in all not a bad consolation prize.

The recipient of the Sony Ericsson Open men’s trophy will be decided this afternoon as Andy Roddick and Tomas Berdych clash in the finals.  That will be followed by the WTA doubles final.

The winner in Brisbane, this is Roddick’s fourth final of the year.  However, in his first ATP 1000 Masters’  final in Indian Wells, Roddick was disappointed by Ivan Ljubicic.  The victor in Miami in 2004, Roddick will attempt to capture his second championship in South Florida.  If Roddick succeeds, it will be his first Masters’  title since 2006 in Cincinnati and the 29th of his career.

After prevailing over Roger Federer, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling to advance to the finals, Berdych tries to put the cherry on this spectacular run with his first title of the year.  Moreover, Berdych is in his first ATP Masters 1000  final since 2005 in Paris where he was triumphant.  In contrast to Roddick, not only is this Berdych’s first final of the year,  he is trying to collect  his 6th career title.  The Czech is 2-5 lifetime versus Roddick and has already lost twice to him in 2010.  While Berdych has a record of  5-4 in finals, Roddick is 28-19.  With the prior wins and the vast differential in experience, Roddick is the clear favorite.

The tournament ends with the women’s doubles with the new team of Samantha Stosur and Nadia Petrova, seeded 3rd, taking on the duo of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.  For Stosur and Petrova, this is their second consecutive final, they were defeated two weeks ago in Indian Wells.  In 2006-07, Stosur won the championship with Lisa Raymond and in 2004 Petrova carried it with partner Megan Shaughnessy.  Petrova and Stosur have a combined 40 doubles titles. For Dulko and Pennetta, this is their initial final at the Sony Ericsson Open.  In addition, that tandem possesses a total of 15 trophies.  Again, because of their wealth of experience,  the 3rd seed have a distinct advantage.

Here is the order of play :

STADIUM start 1:00 PM
[16] T Berdych (CZE) vs [6] A Roddick (USA) – ATP SINGLES FINAL
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) vs G Dulko (ARG) / F Pennetta (ITA) – WTA DOUBLES FINAL

The grand duel predicted between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters in the Sony Ericsson Open Final never materialized.   Instead, it was a 58 minute blow out as Clijsters ran away with the match 6-2, 6-1 to gather her second championship trophy in Miami.

After the semifinal with Justine Henin where Clijsters almost let the match get away, Kim knew that she would need to be well focused for the finals.  That’s exactly how Clijsters came out.  From the first game, Clijsters placed Venus’ serve under fire with two errors at 0-30.  Despite recovering to hold, this was a glimpse of how the rest of Venus’ day would unfold.  With Venus unable to find a first serve, Clijsters punished a second serve, forcing Williams into a forehand miscue for break point.  With another forehand error by Williams, Clijsters obtained the break for 2-1.  During the change over, Venus briefly called the trainer to re-wrap her left knee and right thigh.  Despite two double faults the subsequent game, Clijsters managed to get enough help from Williams in terms of mistakes to consolidate for 3-1.  The thinking was that Williams would rise up and challenge;  however, that did not happen.  Up 40-15, Venus botched an overhead then double faulted for deuce.  Williams also threw in a second straight double fault to give Clijsters break point.   When Venus netted the volley, Kim had a double break edge at 4-1. Thus, Clijsters sprinted away with the first set.

Still, the torture was only beginning  for Williams.  Subsequent to starting the second set with a double fault, Venus faced break point when a backhand crosscourt traveled long.  Despite erasing that with a good serve for deuce then getting to game point, Venus could not string together two consecutive points.  With a forehand up the line winner, Clijsters arrived at her second break point.  Venus allowed Clijsters the easy road to a second set lead by double faulting.  Following Clijsters consolidating with a love game, Williams shoveled herself into a 0-30 ditch.  At that moment, the crowd demanded a response from Venus with a round of applause.  Yet, this was to no avail.  Williams dumped another backhand into the net to face triple break point.  Unlike her match with Henin, Clijsters was not in a charitable mood.  Kim provoked a forehand crosscourt mistake from Venus to again widen the gap by a double break .  Next, with a backhand down the line winner, Clijsters grabbed an impressive 4-0 lead.  The subsequent game, Venus at least held to make the score respectable.  However, serving to lengthen the match, Venus committed her 29th unforced error to hand Kim triple match point.  With another flying forehand by Venus, Kim won the championship.

Taking nothing away from Clijsters, this was far from the performance expected from Williams, a 5 time Wimbledon champion.  Therefore, in the post match interview, MiamiTennisNews.com tried to ascertain exactly what the issue was with Venus:

Q.  Were you having timing issues with [your] serve today?
WILLIAMS:  No, . . . I think it was more or less my groundstrokes. . .  on my serve I go for it a lot, so that’s kind of the norm. . . I did start missing more first serves in the second set, so that didn’t help my cause.

Q.  Is it surprising to see how well Kim and Justine have done after their comeback and to just be able to go through a lot of top ranked players right off the [bat]?

WILLIAMS:  Yeah,. . . they’re playing really, really well.  This is just great and amazing for them.  They’re playing great.

After the match, Clijsters had this to say in reference to competing against someone who is struggling:  ” you constantly have to tell . . . and remind yourself to really keep [being aggressive and move forward], especially when you see that you have a second serve . . . it’s easier when things are really exciting and you’re both playing really [well] . . .  you almost have to be dominant and . . .  bring your best level.  But, when you feel like your opponent is not giving [her]  best tennis or bringing [ her] best tennis, you just really want to try . . . not focus on [her]  too much and just really focus on yourself.  [To] try to keep focusing on what you’re doing well.

For Clijsters, this win represents her 37th career title and her second of the year.  Kim prevailed in Brisbane over Justine prior to the Australian Open.  Clijsters’ ranking will move from 16 to 10 on Monday.  As a result of this defeat, Williams’ 15 match winning streak come to an end.  Regardless, Venus will get a slight bump in the ranking from 5 to 4.

The women’s final is front and center this afternoon as Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters bang heads for the Sony Ericsson Open trophy.

Venus attempts to avenge her fourth round 2009 U.S. Open loss and to stop a three match skid to Clijsters.  If Venus is successful, she will claim her third consecutive title; her first in Miami since 2001 but her fourth overall.

For her part, Clijsters tries to prevail in her second final this year.  She defeated fellow Belgian Justine Henin earlier this year for the Brisbane title. The winner in Miami in 2005, Clijsters is looking for her second trophy.

Later, Max Mirnyi and Mahesh Bhupathi battle Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes in the ATP doubles final.  Mirnyi captured the title last year with partner Andy Ram and is going for a record fifth doubles championship in Miami.  His teammate this year has yet to seize this prize in Miami.

In the late afternoon, a benefit for the victims of the earthquake in Chile takes place.  “Champions for Chile” features doubles action with Jim Courier and Andy Roddick partnering to play against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Gustavo Kuerten.

In the second male semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open, the majority of the highlight reel was filled by Tomas Berdych.  Berdych, the 16th seed, squashed Robin Soderling, the 5th seed, 6-2, 6-2 to move on to the finals where his ultimate challenge will be Andy Roddick.

When Berdych sent a forehand wide following a great return in the initial game of the match, Soderling had break point. However, with a series of booming serves including an ace on game point, Berdych held.  Similarly, Soderling had a comfortable game his first time out.  But, on his second trip, Soderling was pushed to deuce.  Nevertheless, with a forehand winner, Soderling pocketed the game for 2 all. Yet down at 2-3, Soderling made two errors; then, with a forehand up the line winner, Berdych gave himself triple break point.  When Soderling dumped a backhand into the net, Berdych moved ahead 4-2.  After easily consolidating, Berdych broke Soderling at love for the second successive occasion to terminate the set.

Up to this juncture, Soderling had two primary problems, a low first serve percentage and too many errors, particularly with his main weapon, the forehand.  Yet, despite being blown off the court the first set, Soderling’s body language was positive.  In the first game of the second set, when Berdych committed an error serving at 30-0, Soderling pumped his fist.  That attitude at least helped Soderling out of a tight spot in the second game.  As a result of a double fault, Soderling stared at double break point.  Although with difficulty, Soderling carried the game for 1 all.  Then for the first time in the match, by forcing a couple of mistakes on Berdych’s serve, Soderling had 0-30.  Still, with Soderling incapable of finding a decent return rhythm, Berdych inched in front 2-1.  The next game, when Soderling’s forehand up the line missed its mark, Berdych had break point. Luckily, Soderling came up with the answers, erasing a total of two break points to equalize things at 2 all.  However, serving at 2-3, Soderling’s forehand up the line miscue resulted in a break point for Berdych.  Unable to find the range with another forehand, Soderling handed Berdych a 4-2 advantage.  After Berdych consolidated quickly for 5-2, he pressured Soderling into a caravan of errors to arrive at match point.  Then, with a return winner, Berdych ended the match and claimed the remaining final spot.

After his tremendous victory, MiamiTennisNews.com wanted to know how Berdych was able impose his will on the match:

Q.  The last two times you met Robin, one was in Sunrise in a challenger series here, and [the other in] Kuala Lumpur.  He pretty much beat you handily.  How did you change your game plan or tactics today?
BERDYCH:  Yeah, I mean, it was I would say pretty simple.  Both of those matches he was playing really aggressive[ly] and I was just . . . waiting for some mistakes or something and giv[ing] him too much time to just do on the court whatever he want[ed].  So, this time I just need[ed] to play more aggressive. . .  Step a little bit more into the court, try to play faster and a little longer shots against him, and just not give him too much time.  Then all the errors can come.  That’s what happened today.  I was serving pretty [well] today.  But, I would say really [the] key point was in the first game when I was break point down. . . Maybe if . . .  he took [that game] and start[ed] really strong, the match could be different.  It wasn’t, so I’m happy for that.

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In their semifinal encounter at the Sony Ericsson Open, Andy Roddick defeated Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his second straight final this year at an ATP 1000 Masters event.

Following a game where Roddick allowed Nadal to touch the ball only once, his next time up, the American dropped serve.  Although Nadal had to salvage break point, he consolidated and got his nose in front 3-1. The balance of the set, Roddick put on a service clinic.  However, the single break was sufficient for Nadal to grab the first set.

In the second set, Roddick upped the ante by being more aggressive.  Although Roddick failed to capitalize on his second break point, with Nadal serving at 3-4, Roddick baited him into two miscues. In addition, with a forehand up the line winner, Roddick obtained triple break point.  Then by sticking a crosscourt forehand winner, Roddick gained the break for 5-3.  Next, with a love game, Roddick held to send the match to a third set.

In the decisive set, after Nadal guarded serve at love, he forced an error from Roddick to procure break point.  But, with a big serve, Roddick provoked a backhand return error for deuce.  Later on, with two huge volley winners, Roddick equalized the set at 1 all.  Soon, by zeroing in on a volley by Nadal, Roddick made a sensational lob.  Despite Nadal tracking that shot down, his only option, the tweener traveled long resulting in double break point.  When Nadal netted a forehand, Roddick went up a break 2-1.  Whilst Nadal did his utmost to make a push on Roddick’s service games, he was unable to find the key.  Serving at 3-5, Nadal sliced a backhand volley into the net, handing Roddick match point. With the Spaniard’s forehand landing wide, Roddick placed a period on the match.

Afterwards, MiamiTennisNews.com asked Nadal this question:

Q.  What do you think made the difference out there in today’s match?

NADAL:  Well, I think I started the match playing pretty well in the beginning.  Later, I had the match well under control in the first set with my serve. . . in the second set Andy was serving well . . . I didn’t have a lot of chances on the return.  He play[s] very aggressive game and started to play more aggressive[ly] in the game where he did . . . break.  It was a change and it was [a] surprise for me.  After that, in the third, you know, he put more pressure on my serve, attacking more.  He was serving very regular, pretty well the third, second.  Just congratulate him.  He’s playing really well.

Despite the disappointing result today, Nadal is pleased with his performance the last couple of weeks. The Spaniard hopes that success in terms of the titles is around the corner.

After coming up short at Indian Wells, for the second tournament in a row, Roddick attempts to collect his fifth career Masters’ shield.  Roddick’s last one was in Cincinnati in 2006.  This is the American’s second time in the finals in Miami.  In 2004, he beat Guillermo Coria in the title bout.  On Sunday, Roddick will meet either Robin Soderling or Tomas Berdych.  These two have their semifinal encounter tonight.

For the most part, when Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin meet, the extraordinary performance by these players keeps spectators on the edge of their seats.  In the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open last night that was again the case. Still, moments of brilliance by both athletes were overshadowed by too many lows. In an error plagued match, Clijsters outlasted Henin 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 to secure her place in the finals along side Venus Williams.

With a forehand error by Clijsters, Henin got a break point in the opening game of the match.  However, as a result of superior serving, Clijsters held.  After an initial love service game, her next time up, Henin let a 40-15 game get away due to a string of forehand errors.  Thus, Clijsters obtained a break and promptly consolidated. As Henin served at 2-5, because of a volleying mistake, Clijsters arrived at double set point.  With an overhead winner, Clijsters broke Henin and claimed the set.

Clijsters’ domination persisted through the early phase of the second set; she broke Henin to put herself ahead 3-0.  Three games short of a straight sets victory, Clijsters’ play dove.  Serving at 3-1, Clijsters netted a volley and committed a double fault wiping out her break advantage.  Thanks to that invite, Henin equalized the set at 3 all.  Later on, with a return winner, Henin obtained a break for 6-5.  However, because of double faults and errors, Henin wasted a set point.  With a forehand up the line winner, Clijsters squared the set.  Nevertheless, Henin assumed control of the tiebreaker, prolonging the semifinal.

The last set, Henin produced a few sensational backhands to break at love for 2-0.  But, the subsequent game, two double faults, including one at love-40, permitted Clijsters entrance back into the match.  After readily holding, Clijsters broke Henin at love for the second straight time to capture her 4th successive game and a 4-2 lead.  Despite the serve repeatedly let her down, Henin was tenacious.  Henin’s swatted away another break point to stay one break behind at 3-4.  Aided by Clijsters’ double fault and a forehand crosscourt winner, Henin arrived at triple break point.  Because of a miscue by Clijsters, the set was leveled at 4.  Still, Clijsters was equally stubborn.  Her second opportunity, Clijsters broke for 5-4 with a backhand winner .  Yet, serving for the match, Clijsters double faulted on double break point.  Eventually, the set moved on to a tiebreaker.

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The men play today at the Sony Ericsson Open for a spot in the finals. Moreover, both the afternoon and evening sessions have doubles semifinals.

In the first semifinal of the day, Andy Roddick battles Rafael Nadal.  Although Nadal has a 5-2 lead in their series, on hardcourt their record is tied. Tonight in the second semifinal, Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych play for a berth in the finals.  Soderling leads that match-up 4-2.

The ultimate ATP doubles space will be filled by either the 8th seed, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, or the 4th seed, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi.  In women’s doubles, 3rd seed Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur take on Jie Zheng and Yung-Jan
Chang.  The last match of the day features 4th seed Rennae Stubbs and Lisa Raymond versus Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.

Here is today’s complete schedule :

FRIDAY, APRIL 2

STADIUM start 1:00 PM

[4] R Nadal (ESP) vs [6] A Roddick (USA) – ATP
Y Chan (TPE) / J Zheng (CHN) vs [3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) – WTA
[4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) vs [8] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[16] T Berdych (CZE) vs [13] M Youzhny (RUS) or [5] R Soderling (SWE) – ATP
[4] L Raymond (USA) / R Stubbs (AUS) vs G Dulko (ARG) / F Pennetta (ITA) – WTA

At the Sony Ericsson Open, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling claimed the remaining semifinal positions.  Berdych pulled his act together against Fernando Verdasco to win 4-6,7-6,6-4.  Conversely, Soderling expedited Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets 6-1,6-4.

In the first set, after Verdasco survived a love-40 game, he worked his way to double break point.  Verdasco broke for a 3-2 advantage.  With that sole break, Verdasco went on to capture the first set.

One of Berdych’s greatest issue was too mistakes on the forehand side.  His initial game of the second set, Berdych dropped serve.  Verdasco then rubbed out a break point to get to 2-0.  But, as Verdasco served at 3-2, Berdych picked on his rival’s backhand to get to double break point.  When Verdasco’s forehand landed long, the set was tied at 3 all.  After double faulting to give Verdasco break point, Berdych maintained serve for a 4-3 edge.  As the set progressed, Berdych found his forehand and forced a tiebreaker.  In carrying the tiebreaker, Berdych sent the match into a third set.

At 3 a piece in the decisive set, with back to back backhand errors, Verdasco faced double break point.  With a spectacular backhand pass, Berdych secured the break for 4-3.  After Berdych consolidated, Verdasco held at love to force him to serve for the match.  With Verdasco’s forehand miscue, Berdych had double match point. Then, with a forehand winner, Berdych seized the victory.

Tonight, Soderling raced through the first set taking it 6-1 against Youzhny.  However, in the second set, Youzhny woke up, making it more compelling.  After Soderling sprinted to a 3-1 lead, Youzhny held at love to keep the deficit to one break.  The following game, Youzhny had break point and capitalized.  Still, Soderling was too much for his rival.  The next game, Soderling wrestled another break from Youzhny and consolidated for 5-3.  Although Youzhny held at love, Soderling guarded serve to claim the match. Soderling and Berdych will square off in the semifinals.  In their head to head series, Soderling leads 4-2.

In doubles action, Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo 6-3,6-0 to advance to the finals.  Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi beat Arnaud Clement and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4,6-7,10-4 in the quarters.  Tomorrow, they will face Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the semifinals.