Roger Federer

The prelims and first round are over and it’s all work from here on at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Top seed Roger Federer, 2nd seed Novak Djokovic, 3rd Seed Andy Murray and 4th seed Rafa Nadal are poised to get started in the second round after first round play concluded on Wednesday.

The first round was not without incident. American James Blake was on the brink of defeat at the hands of 18-year old Serbian wild card Filip Krajinovic before he managed a late second set break. Blake’s 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4 win was well contested on the center court in the featured evening match.

Blake will next do battle with 27th seed Thomaz Bellucci in round two. Argentine David Nalbandian, working to recover from hip surgery, breezed past Poland’s Lukasz Kubol in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Nalbandian was especially effective with his first serve, winning 82% of successful serves.

France’s Jeremy Chardy surprised Mario Ancic , a wild card entrant, 6-4, 6-4 and Belgian upstart Olivier Rochus caught Richard Gasquet unprepared in a 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-4 as Rochus turned away two break point opportunities in the third set.

Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Americans Taylor Dent played through round one. Lopez will meet Jo Wilfried Tsonga in round two and Dent earned the right to challenge Rafa Nadal.

In addition to the top four players, American Andy Roddick, Mikhail Youhzny, 7 seed, Marin Cilic, Indian Wells Champion Ivan Ljubicic and American John Isner are standing in the wins ready to challenge.

Isner appears to have a favorable draw and is in position to play through Tsonga to reach the quarters against Nadal, who he challenged in three sets last week.

Related Articles