ATP Miami - Roddick crashes out; Federer and Nadal through
The Sony Ericsson Open in Miami has claimed a couple of seeded players early. Andy Roddick succumbed to the effects of a chest infection and after a troubled time on court, the American went out to Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-4 7-6 (4).
10th seed Jurgen Melzer also met with an unexpected defeat, crashing out to Philipp Petzschner 6-3 6-4.
There were no problems for either Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer though as the pair took their opening matches with a degree of ease.
Nadal secured a 6-4 6-4 win over Kei Nishikori while Federer beat Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3.
Federer said afterwards; "I was able to play solid and keep him moving and serve at a high first-serve percentage. All in all, I'm really pleased."
Man of the moment Novak Djokovic is due to play James Blake on Monday and the Serbian is a strong tournament favourite at 6/4. Given the impressive run of form assembled in 2011, it is hard to argue those odds are skinny and both Nadal and Federer are going to have to work hard to stop Djokovic. However, I am going to take a chance on Roger Federer at 4/1 with Stan James. A dual past-winner of this event (2005 & 2006), the Swiss master is not done with yet and could be the value call.