Tournament Update: Semifinal Play in Miami and Bryans Take the Doybles Title

On Friday, the first semifinal pitted Rafael Nadal (pictured right, click for larger) against Tomas Berdych, who came into the match with a 3-0 record on hardcourts against Nadal. Nadal broke at 4-3 in the first set, served for it at 5-3 but couldn't close out the set. He had a set point at 5-4* but didn't convert it. Berdych lost the first set in a tie break with a double fault. What more is there to say about the second set except that it was really easy, and it seemed as if Berdych just gave up.

In the second semifinal, Nikolay Davydenko didn't look like he had a 0-5 record against Andy Roddick (both players pictured left, click for larger). Looking like a different player than 24 hours before when he upset Roger Federer, Roddick was back to the passive meters-behind-the-baseline play that has lost him so many matches over the past few years. Untroubled by nerves, Davydenko took full advantage of Roddick's paceless short balls and served exceptionally well. Roddick was up 3-1 in the tiebreak but Davydenko won it in the end. At 1all in the second, Roddick played the only exceptional game of the match, pulling off an excellent backhand pass and return to break for 2-1. Just when it looked like he was getting some energy and getting the crowd to work for him, he went on to lose five games in a row and the match.

In the doubles final, Bob and Mike Bryan (pictured right, click for larger) played, according to them, one of their best matches in some time with a 6-2 6-2 win over Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi. It is the Bryans' 11th Masters title and good news that they finally won a final after four losses already this year.