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  • Sony Ericsson Third Round Preview: First Quarter

    3/31/08 4:50 PM | Ricky Dimon
    Sony Ericsson Third Round Preview: First Quarter In addition to Roger Federer against Robin Soderling, the three other third-round matchups in the first quarter of the draw all have clear favorites, at least on paper. However, that does not mean some high-quality tennis won't be produced.

    Jose Acasuso vs. Dudi Sela
    As he usually does, Acasuso played great on the clay earlier this year, but last week in Indian Wells it looked like his fine form would not carry over to hard courts. The Argentine lost to struggling Max Mirnyi 7-5, 7-5 in the first round. It's been better so far in Miami, however, as Acasuso has taken out Santiago Ventura and No. 21 seed Lleyton Hewitt, both in straight sets. Sela has not found much success on the ATP Tour this year--or ever--but he scored a nice first-round victory over Nicolas Kiefer in Indian Wells before falling to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It's already been a dream tournament at the Sony Ericsson Open for Sela, who took out Hyung-Taik Lee and and 14th-seeded Tommy Robredo in straight sets on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Acasuso had too big of a game for Hewitt and that might be the case again on Monday, but at the very least it should be a tight match.

    Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Julien Benneteau
    This is an all-French affair, but that's just about where the similarities end. Tsonga achieved instant stardom by finishing runner-up at this season's Australian Open, while Benneteau is a 26-year-old veteran who has posted some strong results in singles (including this year), but is still a more highly-regarded doubles player. The charismatic Tsonga has far more talent and should have the support of the Grandstand crowd behind him, but Benneteau is looking strong in Miami with three-set wins over Rainer Schuettler and No. 19 seed Ivo Karlovic (in a third-set tiebreaker, not surprisingly). Count on Tsonga coming through in two tight sets, as it's hard to imagine many breaks of serve taking place in this contest.

    Andy Roddick vs. Ivo Minar
    Roddick already has two titles in his brief 2008 campaign, in San Jose and then a big one in Dubai. The American has 16 ATP match wins this season alone, whereas Minar has won just 19 in his entire career (including two this week over Olivier Rochus and 30th-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela). Roddick and Minar have met have met once before, and that came last year in the USA-Czech Republic first-round Davis Cup tie. Roddick won that one on clay, his worst surface, so there's no reason to think he will have any trouble against the unheralded Minar on a hard court Monday night. Then again, Roddick wasn't expected to have that much trouble in his last match against Dudi Sela, was he?

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