Events / Ben Caudell / 21 March 2009 /

Ben Caudell makes his picks for what he believes will be a battle of immense proportions...

Andy Roddick was in immense form last night as he dispelled Novak Djokovic's chance of winning back-to-back titles at Indian Wells. Roddick will attempt to reach his fist ever Master Series final when he faces Rafael Nadal in this evening's semi final.

Both of yesterday's selections were successful. Vera Zvonareva was the first to reach the final after beating doubles partner Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. Vera, the fourth seed, did not drop her serve once in the match and broke her eighth seeded opponent three times, once in the first set and twice in the second set, to improve her head-to-head record over Victoria to 4-0. Zvonareva will now play raining champion Ana Ivanovic in the final after the Serbian ended the tournament's Cinderella story, denying Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova her first ever WTA final at the age of just 17. The unseeded youngster, who had already dispensed of Jelena Jankovic, and Agneiszka Radwanska, was unable to match in-form Ivanovic's blistering ground strokes with the Serbian winning comfortably 6-2 6-3

Today's Selections

Andy Murray (GB) v Roger Federer (SWI)

This is a battle of immense proportions. Andy Murray has won their last three meeting since last year's US Open final which Roger Federer won. The dangerous Scot has an overall 5-2 head-to-head over the Swiss, a record no player other than Rafael Nadal can match. Murray has put to bed any injury or viral problems he may have had during the lead up to this semi-final match and he is looking stronger than ever.

Federer has struggled slightly against the big hitters at this year's tournament, he was forced into a third set by Fernando Gonzalez and came very close to going to a decider against Fernando Verdasco.

It is very rare to see Federer's starting price above [1.8], he has won this event three times before and is looking like a man possessed. The press have recently stated that Roger doesn't care much about tournaments outside of Grand Slams. This will only infuriate the former number one into wanting to win this tournament for the fourth time and silence his doubters.

There is only one winner for me today and at the this price, I will be getting heavily involved

Selection: Back Roger Federer @ [1.8]

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