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Miami Open Men’s Draw Analysis

By Nate Slaymaker

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Miami Open Men’s Draw Analysis

Novak Djokovic reasserted his dominance with the victory at Indian Wells. Pulling off the Indian Wells-Miami double is one of the toughest challenges in tennis. Djokovic has done it once before. Now that the draw is released, how does it look for the world No.1 and the rest of the field at the Miami Open?

Top Half 

The blockbuster match of the first round features the return of Juan Martin del Potro.

Novak Djokovic is the No.1 seed and starts off with a bye, as do all the 32 seeded players. Interesting first round matches include former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt against Thomaz Belucci of Brazil. The winner faces No.21 seed Pablo Cuevas. The always entertaining Marcos Baghdatis will face off against Simone Bolelli for the right to meet No.32 seed Viktor Troicki in the second round.

The blockbuster match of the first round features the return of Juan Martin del Potro. He matches up against Canadian Vasek Pospisil, who is making a mark in singles and just won the men’s doubles title in Indian Wells with Jack Sock. Pospisil may be frustrated with his last couple draws, facing Djokovic in the first round in Dubai and Murray in the second round last week. This will be another test for the up-and-comer and no easy comeback for the big Argentine.

In the second round, the winner of Del Potro-Pospisil will face Grigor Dimitrov, who is looking to live up to his ranking after some disappointing results this season. Also in this round, Jerzy Janowicz will likely face No.15 seed Roberto Bautista Agut and Tommy Robredo could draw Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The round of 32 is where the seeds would start to meet. Djokovic and big serving lefty Gilles Muller could be an interesting matchup there. Likewise, No.12 seed Gilles Simon draws the unenviable task of meeting Ivo Karlovic. If Dimitrov survives the second round, it won’t get any easier with John Isner in the waiting.

The round of 16 is where the competition heats up. David Ferrer and Simon have very similar in playing styles and those rallies could go on for days. Just about anyone Milos Raonic would face in this round would make for a great bout, be it Dimitrov, Del Potro, or Isner.

In the quarters, Djokovic would likely have no trouble with David Ferrer. The other projected quarterfinal is Kei Nishikori versus Raonic. Nishikori will be looking to advance after an early exit in Indian Wells. Even after a great result this past week, it will be tough for Raonic to live up to his seeding in this section.

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Bottom Half

Rafael Nadal is the No.2 seed in the bottom half and looked back in form at Indian Wells. Dangerous floaters in the bottom half are Jack Sock, Dominic Thiem, and Juan Monaco. Good friend Nicolas Almagro could face Nadal in the second round. The winner of Donald Young and Yen-Hsun Lu will face No.3 seed Andy Murray.

In the second round, No.6 seed Stan Wawrinka could meet wild card entry Thanasi Kokkinakis. After a first round loss in Indian Wells, Wawrinka will have to bring his best against the dangerous young Aussie. Also in this round, Kevin Anderson and Sam Queerey would be a matchup of very similar players with big serves and forehands.

When looking at the possible round of 32 matches in the bottom half, the return of Jo Willie Tsonga could created an appetizing matchup with countryman Gael Monfils. The winner will likely meet No.8 seed Tomas Berdych. Nadal could face another good friend in the third round if Fernando Verdasco makes it through.

In the round of 16, Lopez-Warinka would be a scintillating match. Berdych versus Tosonga or Monfils would also have high entertainment value. The projected quarterfinals are Murray-Wawrinka and Nadal-Berdych. Before Berdych beat Nadal this year at the Australian Open, the Spaniard had won the last seventeen meetings between the two players.

Both halves are fairly even in this tournament. The lone exception is the small section that contains Pospisil, Del Potro, Dimitrov, and Isner. Whoever comes out of that bunch will have earned it!

Top players with difficult draws: No.6 seed Stan Wawrinka, No.8 seed Tomas Berdych, No.9 seed Grigor Dimitrov,

Top players with easier draws: No.1 seed Novak Djokovic, No.3 seed Andy Murray, No.7 seed David Ferrer

Next: ATP Tennis Power Rankings

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