Sony Ericsson Daily Bets: Nadal and Soderling should make the final

Events / Sean Calvert / 02 April 2010 /

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Rafael Nadal should be able to handle Roddick's serve on a slow surface

"One of Roddick’s two wins came way back in 2004 and Nadal has won the
last three in a row, all on different surfaces – clay, grass and hard courts."

Sean Calvert previews today's semi-finals in Miami where Rafael Nadal should be able to handle the Andy Roddick serve and Robin Soderling should make light work of an exhausted Tomas Berdych.

It turned out to be a great Thursday night, thanks to a surprising, but most welcome show of mental strength from Tomas Berdych, of all people.

And Robin Soderling also swept aside Mikhail Youzhny to bring about a timely double, which sets us up nicely for the weekend.

But first on court, Andy Roddick and Rafa Nadal square off for the eighth time later today for a place in the final, with the Spaniard holding a 5-2 overall lead in their head-to-head series.

One of Roddick's two wins came way back in 2004 and Nadal has won the last three in a row, all on different surfaces - clay, grass and hard courts.

Perhaps the most relevant of their historic meetings are the ones at Indian Wells on slowish hard and undoubtedly Nadal's most favoured conditions (other than clay) and he has won in straight sets both times.

Roddick has been steady if not spectacular in Key Biscayne this week and in truth he hasn't really been tested so far, but he has performed to his usual steady Miami form of reaching either the quarters or the semis.

The American hasn't reached the final since he won it in 2004 and I can't see any way that he can improve that stat today with Nadal playing his way back to near his best, as he showed against Tsonga.

Nadal dropped a set against a temporarily inspired David Nalbandian earlier in the tournament, but this is not an event for the big servers and Roddick's main weapon isn't going to be aided by the pacy conditions he craves.

Nadal is around [2.16] for a 2-0 win and that looks the call in this one.

Bercych and Soderling have plenty of history too, as this will be their tenth meeting, with Soderling leading 6-3 in their head-to-head series.

The Swede has won the last four in a row, including the last three in straight sets, so with Berdych admitting he was tired even before the Verdasco match, he should be exhausted after that lengthy encounter yesterday.

Soderling is a confident choice in this one at [1.4] and he might well do it in two at around [2.0].

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