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  • Dubai Day 2 Bottom Half preview

    3/5/08 4:39 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    - Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick are both in action today as they attempt to set up an intense quarterfinal clash.

    Andy Roddick vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu

    Roddick and PHM have met just twice before, once in Wimbledon last year where Roddick won in straights, and in Canada in 2005, where Mathieu scored an intense upset over Roddick. In his defence, Roddick was playing the worst of his career, and his 2005 US Open “record” will show just that. Nowadays, Roddick should have no trouble. He has been playing well recently, winning the San Jose title and falling to Soderling in Memphis. Roddick in his previous round looked very comfortable and served excellent. Mathieu, on the other hand, has had quite a good year as well. He's reached his career high ranking of 14(!) just this past week. This won't be a cakewalk, but Roddick should pull through.

    Richard Gasquet vs. Igor Andreev

    Recent Top 10 inductee Richard Gasquet looked solid in his opening round win over a player he had never defeated before in Dmitry Tursunov. Gasquet has won already two meetings with Andreev this year so far. In Sydney and the Aussie Open, Gasquet won both affairs. Gasquet in this match will try to play solid aggresive tennis, leading with that incredibly gifted backhand of his. Andreev can try to mix it up and might get Gasquet a bit off balance with his high topspin game, but the Frenchie should take this one.

    Rafael Nadal vs. Mikhail Ledovskikh

    Nadal isn't really a fan of playing Russians named Mikhail, especially on hard courts or in Dubai. This one, however, isn't Youzhny, its just Ledovskikh. After last round's grueling match against Kohlschreiber, Nadal shouldn't have any problems dispatching of Ledovskikh. He is a qualifier here that spent most of his time playing challengers last year and into this. Not winning challengers, mind you, just playing in them. He reached his career high ranking of 171 this past week. There is no way Nadal could possibly lose this match. His hardcourt form may be absolutely dreadful, but a loss here to Ledovskikh would be the ultimate confidence annihilator.

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