Events / Editor / 15 March 2007 /

With Roger Federer out of the way, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick look the men to beat as the Pacific Life Open - the first Masters event of the season - comes to the boil in Indian Wells, California.

Nadal wasted no time booking his quarter-final place with a 6-1 6-1 win over fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 22nd seed.
The win avenged Nadal's quarter-final defeat by Ferrero in the Masters event in Cincinnati in August.

The French Open champion now meets Argentina's 30th seed Juan Ignacio Chela in the last eight - and he has yet to drop a set in the tournament. Chela booked his quarter-final place with a 6-4 6-4 win over America's new kid on the block, Michael Russell.

Chela and Nadal stand 1-1 in head to heads but have not met since both those 2004 contests. Nadal won the first that year in Stuttgart 6-2 6-3, while Chela responded in Cincinnati with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 victory.

Nadal is trading at 1.16 to reach the semi-finals and is 3.15 to win this Masters opener.

Third seed Andy Roddick is also through to the last eight after toppling French number one and 15th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 6-3. The American's reward is a tenth meeting with Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic.

Big-serving Roddick leads 6-3 in head to heads, but Ljubicic has won two of their last three clashes. The most recent was in the Masters Cup in Shanghai at the end of 2006, when Roddick won in the round-robin stage 6-4 6-7 6-1.

Eighth seed Ljubicic reached the quarters after grinding out a 2-6 6-4 6-2 win over tenth seed David Nalbandian of Argentina. His one worry now will be his right knee, which troubled him in the first set and required treatment.

That could give Roddick a significant edge and he is trading at 1.49 to beat Ljubicic (3) and earn a semi-final clash with either Nadal or Chela.

One bit of good news for Ljubicic is the absence of Federer. The world number had beaten him in the last two years at Indian Wells.

Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw, teenage stars Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Britain's Murray, the 13th seed, overcame Russia's fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 6-4 to avenge last year's defeat in the second round.

On a day of revenge, ninth seed Tommy Haas of Germany made up for his semi-final defeat by Fernando Gonzalez at the Australian Open, beating the Chilean fifth seed 6-3 6-2.

That victory earned him a quarter-final clash with Murray. It will be their first meeting on the ATP Tour, but Betfair punters see Haas as the favourite to progress. The German is 1.71 to reach the last four with Murray trading at 2.34.

Djokovic and Julien Benneteau fought out a 14-point first game with the Frenchman breaking serve in their last 16 clash. But that was as good as it got, as the young Serb took control.

Djokovic edged the first set 6-4 then ran away with the second set 6-1, as he finished his match within minutes of Murray's win. His victory avenged last year's defeat by Benneteau at Indian Wells.

The 12th seed now meets David Ferrer, after the 14th seed battled past fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya 1-6 6-2 6-3. Moya was the last unseeded player to fall in the men's event.

Ferrer and Djokovic have met once with the Spaniard winning in three sets in Bucharest, but that was back in 2004 and Djokovic is a different proposition these days as he looks to build on his tournament victory in Adelaide at the start of the year.

Djokovic is trading at 1.53 to make the semi-finals, with Ferrer available to back at 2.78.

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