Novak Djokovic will be bidding to win the third Indian Wells-Miami double in his career after his triumphs in the two US hard-court tournaments in 2011 and 2014. Diego Sampaolo
The Serbian star, who won at Indian Wells last Sunday after beating Roger Federer in three sets, won the Miami title four times in his nine appearances at Key Biscayne in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2014 and finished runner-up to Andy Murray in 2009. So far he has won 21 Master 1000 titles. With his triumph at Indian Wells Nole has lifted his 50th ATP trophy overtaking his coach Boris Becker who won 49 titles. He is now the 11th player with most ATP titles in the Open Era and the third among active players behind Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
Seven players have won the Indian wells-Miami double in the same season since 1991. Djokovic is bidding to become the first player to make this double three times and the second player to win Indian Wells and Miami in two consecutive years.
Nole will start his Miami campaign on Saturday against either Paolo Lorenzi or Martin Klizan in the second round in the top-half of the draw. He could potentially meet either Pablo Cuevas or Tommy Robredo in the third round before facing off against David Ferrer in the quarter final. Ferrer will first have to beat either Jiri Vesely or Federico Delbonis in the second round, Lukas Rosol in the third round and either Giles Simon or Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round.
Djokovic could face a possible semifinal clash against either last week’s Indian Wells semifinalist Milos Raonic or Kei Nishikori, who reached the Miami semifinals last year. Nishikori, who boasts a 18-4 win-loss record this year and won in Memphis last February, reached the semifinal last year in Miami after beating Roger Federer but withdrew from the semifinal against Djokovic because of a back injury.
Raonic and Nishikori could renew their battle in Miami. The Japanese player leads 4-2in their last six matches since last May. Raonic showed good form last week at Indian Wells where h ereached the semifinals.
Nishikori will open against Andrei Golubev or Mikhail Youzhny in the second round and the winner of the interesting first round match against Marcos Baghdatis and Simone Bolelli in the third round and either Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round
Raonic could square off in the third round against Juan Martin Del Potro who will make his come-back after being sidelined for two months since Sydney but could face a tough match in his section of the draw against last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov who struggled to find his rhythm in the last tournaments of the year at Rotterdam, Acapulco and Indian Wells.
In the third quarter of the draw 2014 Australian Open Stan Wawrinka will face Carlos Berloq who upset Australian rising star Thanasi Kokkinakis in the opening match in three sets with 6-4 3-6 6-2.
Wawrinka is on collision course against 2009 and 2013 Miami champion Andy Murray, who lost the Indian Wells semifinal against Djokovic. The Scotsman will open against Donald Young before possible matches against Santiago Giraldo in the third round and Kevin Anderson in the fourth round.
The bottom half features Rafa Nadal, who reached the Miami final four times but has never triumphed in this tournament. The Mallorcan legend, who won 27 Master 1000 titles, will start his Miami campaign against Nicholas Almagro before a possible match against Fernando Verdasco in the third round and another all-Spanish derby against Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the Round of 16.
Nadal lost four finals at Kei Biscayne in 2008 against Roger Federer in 2005, Nikolay Davydenko in 2008 and Nole Djokovic in 2011 and 2014. Miami is one of the three Master 1000 tournaments together with Paris Bercy and Shanghai which Nadal has never won in his career.
Nadal is on collision course for a potential quarter final clash against Tomas Berdych in a re-match of this year’s Australian Open match won by the Czech player.
In the semifinal of the draw’s bottom half Nadal could potentially face either Wawrinka or Murray.
For Murray it’s a “home” tournament as he reached the final in two of the past three years. He won at Kei Biscayne in 2009 and 2013 and finished runner-up in 2012. Murray is three match wins away from becoming the ninth active player to reach the milestone 500th win on the ATP Tour.
Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray have dominated in 40 of the last 44 Master 1000 Tournaments. The only player who managed to break the dominance of the Big Four in the most recent editions of the Miami tournament was Andy Roddick who won here in 2010.
