/ Editor / 13 March 2007 /

Big Guns go through

Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick remain on course to meet in the semi-finals at the Indian Wells Masters after both eased through their third-round ties with straight-sets victories.

World number two Nadal, looking for his first title since the French Open last May, made it through to the fourth round with a 6-4 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Third seed Roddick, who has not won a tournament since the ATP Masters Series title in Cincinatti in August, progressed thanks to a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) defeat of Belgium's Olivier Rochus.

They will now meet Juan Carlos Ferrero and Richard Gasquet in their respective last-sixteen matches, and will certainly fancy their chances of lifting the title now that top seed Roger Federer has been knocked out.

Roddick admits that the shock result on Sunday has certainly opened up the tournament but was a little disappointed not to have ended his drought against the world number one.

"I want to beat Roger," Roddick said. "Obviously, it helps out everybody, it takes the toughest player out of the draw, but at the same time I'm going to have to figure it out one of these times anyway.

"You can't sit back and hope that he loses because that's not going to happen a lot."

Nadal though was more ambivalent towards Federer's demise and said: "For me it doesn't matter if he is in the tournament or not. I have beaten him before.

"He is always in the other half of the draw so I have to concentrate on one match at a time."

Betfair punters seemingly feel that the winner will come from one of these two, whose cause was certainly helped by sixth seed James Blake falling in the third round. The Spaniard is favourite at 3.85 to lift the trophy, while Roddick can be supported at 6.4.

Britain's Andy Murray, who is in the same half of the draw that both Federer and Blake have exited, is next best in the market at 8.2, ahead of Tommy Haas at 8.8 and Novak Djokovic at 9.4.

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