RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM MIAMI TENNIS: WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FOES: RAFAEL NADAL, & JO-WILLIE TSONGA FACE COUNTRYMEN ON TSUNDAY

Written by: Staff on 29th March 2015

RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM MIAMI TENNIS: WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FOES: RAFAEL NADAL, & JO-WILLIE TSONGA FACE COUNTRYMEN ON TSUNDAY

epa04682711 Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Nicolas Almagro of Spain during a second round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 27 March 2015. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER |

Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Nicolas Almagro of Spain during a second round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 27 March 2015. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco used to face each other all the time–14 times at the ATP level prior to the summer of 2012, to be exact. But almost three years have passed since the two Spaniards last collided.

That drought will end on Sunday afternoon at the Miami Open. Their 15th career meeting will come during third-round action as Nadal looks to improve his head-to-head dominance of Verdasco to a 14-1 mark.

The world No. 3 has taken all six of their hard-court encounters, including when they most famously battled in the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open–with Nadal surviving 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4. A more infamous meeting came two seasons later in Cincinnati, where Nadal scraped out a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(9) victory. Verdasco, though, won their most recent tilt 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 on the clay courts of Madrid in 2012.

Nadal’s physical problems are reasons why they have not met in almost three years, but another factor is that Verdasco has not been advancing far enough in draws. The world No. 34 showed signs of being one and one in Miami, but he pulled out a rain-delayed match 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 over James Duckworth on Saturday. Nadal beat the bad weather on Friday, getting in his contest with Nicolas Almagro by cruising 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 29 minutes.

Both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils had to make up their second-round matches on Saturday. Tsonga’s clash with Tim Smyczek was the Frenchman’s first of the season, but only minimal rust was on display and he persevered for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Tim Smyczek of the USA during their second round match at the Miami Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida, USA, 28 March 2015. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

“I played pretty solid,” Tsonga assured. “I just had a little hole in the second set. But, it’s normal when I haven’t played in a couple of months now. I hope it’s going to be better and better, but for the first match it was already something good for me.”

Shortly after the No. 11 seed got the job done, Monfils also survived in three sets. He needed a final tiebreaker to outlast Filip Krajinovic 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4).

Tsonga leads the head-to-head series with his Miami doubles partner (they lost in the first round) 4-1 and all five of their previous collisions have come on hard courts. After losing their first two encounters, Monfils got some revenge in 2010 (Montpellier) only to down twice in a row again in 2012 (Doha) and 2013 (Tokyo).

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Miami tennis, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News, The Grandstand

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10sBalls_com says:

March 29, 2015 at 8:21 am

-@Dimonator REPORTS FROM @MiamiOpenTennis: WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FOES: @RafaelNadal- http://t.co/EGGBsgzmQo @tsonga7 #MiamiOpen #ATPMiami