Daily Briefing - Nadal & Federer One Win Away From Semi-final Battle

© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal has won 19 straight sets against quarter-final opponent Tomas Berdych.

Two of the most successful players in ATP World Tour history are one win away from a semi-final clash but in their way lies a pair of players who have given them a lot of trouble in the past.

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First up is No. 3 seed Roger Federer against No. 25 seed Gilles Simon. Although there’s a No. 3 next to his name, Federer has arguably been the second-best player in the world so far this year, winning just as many matches as Djokovic and his only losses having come to the Serb. Federer is 21-3 on the season, losing to Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals, the Dubai final and Indian Wells semi-finals. The Swiss has been showing his best here in Miami, not losing a set en route to the quarter-finals, and in his most recent match, against Olivier Rochus in a fourth round match that didn’t start until after midnight on Tuesday night, he smacked 32 winners to just 12 unforced errors to win, 63 61. That bumped his record in Miami to an amazing 39-10, which is highlighted by title runs in 2005 and 2006. Simon is no pushover though - a former World No. 6, Simon actually has a 2-1 head-to-head record against Federer, winning their first two meetings in 2008 and giving Federer all sorts of trouble in their third meeting, pushing him to five sets before falling in a three-hour, three-minute duel at this year’s Australian Open, 62 63 46 46 63.

"He's a great player so matches against him are never easy," Federer said after their last match. "This is the first win I've had against him. I wasn't playing poorly to lose the third and fourth sets. I really think Gilles took it to me. Every time we play we go the distance, so hopefully we don't play each other anymore."

At night, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal faces No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych. Nadal has rolled to the quarter-finals or better here for the fifth straight year. In his last tournament since the Australian Open, Nadal reached the final at Indian Wells, falling to Djokovic in three sets. He’s cruised through to the quarter-finals here without dropping his serve (27 games held), putting on his best performance in the last round with a 61 62 drubbing of No. 21 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov. This is the sixth time in eight career appearances here Nadal has reached the quarter-finals - he is 24-7 lifetime here. His best results were runner-up finishes in 2005 (to Federer) and 2008 (to Nikolay Davydenko). Berdych has been very strong this year though, this being his sixth quarter-final in seven ATP World Tour events, and Miami has been good to him, as his 16-6 career record here includes one semi-final (2008) and one final (last year - he beat then-No. 1 Federer en route to the title match, where he lost to Andy Roddick). Nadal has won eight matches in a row against Berdych (leads 9-3 overall), including 19 straight sets. Only four of those sets going to tie-breaks. Berdych won three of their first four meetings.

THURSDAY QUARTER-FINAL FED-EX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play

Stadium

(3) Roger Federer (SUI) vs (25) Gilles Simon (FRA) Simon Leads 2-1
08 ATP Masters Series Toronto Hard R32 Gilles Simon 2-6 7-5 6-4
08 Tennis Masters Cup (China) Hard RR Gilles Simon 4-6 6-4 6-3
11 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Roger Federer 6-2 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-3

FEDERER FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 29-year-old Swiss is appearing in the quarter-finals (or better) for the eighth time in 13 attempts …He opened the tournament Saturday with a 63 63 win over Radek Stepanek and followed with a 76(4) 64 victory over No. 32 seed Juan Monaco and 61 62 over Olivier Rochus on Tuesday night
• Has a 39-10 career mark and his wins total is No. 3 in tournament history behind Andre Agassi (61) and Pete Sampras (42)…Last year he lost in the 4th Rd., losing to Berdych in three sets (held one M.P.)
• He captured the title in 2005 (d. Nadal in five sets) and 2006 (d. Ljubicic in three tie-breaks)...Also a runner-up in 2002 (l. to Agassi in four sets)
• He captured the doubles title in 2003 (w/Mirnyi) and one of two players (Richard Krajicek) in tournament history (since 1985) to win both titles during their career

2011 Highlights:
W: Doha (d Davydenko); F: Dubai (l Djokovic); SF: Australian Open (l Djokovic); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic)

2011 in Review:
• The Swiss native has a 21-3 match record on the season and he’s trying to reach his fifth semi-final or better in as many tournaments…He advanced to his fourth semi-final (or better) at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells where he lost to Djokovic in three sets…All three losses have come to Djokovic, in the semi-finals at the Australian Open and in final in Dubai on Feb. 26
• He fell to No. 3 after Indian Wells and last year was No. 3 for 11 weeks, the last week of Oct. 11
• He opened the campaign with his 67th career title in Doha (d. Davydenko) in his 96th final…Since losing to Djokovic in last year’s US Open semi-finals, has compiled a 42-5 match record, reaching final in six of nine tournaments during that span (four titles)
• He has won at least one ATP World Tour title for 11 straight years, best among active players along with Roddick…His 67 titles rank No. 4 on the Open Era titles list
• Has not won a Grand Slam title in his last four tournaments since capturing ’10 Aust. Open (d. Murray)
• He has 764 career match wins in ATP World Tour level play, which is No. 7 (moving ahead of Pete Sampras, 762) on the Open Era match wins list…Next target: No. 6 Stefan Edberg (806)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• He is the all-time leader in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match wins (231) and has a career mark of 231-69 with 17 ATP Masters 1000 titles (17-12), along with Agassi (17), trailing only Nadal (18)
• He has won six different tournament titles – Hamburg (four times), Indian Wells (three times), Cincinnati (four times), Miami (twice), Toronto (twice) and Madrid (twice) and runner-up in three others – Monte Carlo (three times), Rome (twice) and Shanghai…The only final he hasn’t reached is Paris

SIMON FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 26-year-old Frenchman is appearing in the quarter-finals for the first time in six visits (6-5 record)
• His previous best result was the fourth round two years ago (l. to No. 11 Tsonga)
• En route to the quarter-finals, the No. 25 seed has defeated Rainer Schuettler 64 63, Pablo
Cuevas 46 61 62 and Janko Tipsarevic 46 76(3) 62
• He is the second Frenchman (Tsonga in 2009-10) since 1999 to reach the quarter-finals or better here...In ’99, Sebastien Grosjean reached the final (l. to Krajicek) and Jerome Golmard advanced to QFs…Grosjean is the only Frenchman to reach the final in the tournament’s history

2011 Highlights:
W: Sydney (d Troicki); QF: Dubai (l Gasquet)

2011 in Review:
• The Frenchman is appearing in his third ATP World Tour quarter-final or better this season and he enters with a 14-7 match record (13-6 on hard)
• His best result came in January when he captured his eighth career ATP World Tour title in Sydney (d. Troicki) and following month reached quarter-finals in Dubai (l. to Gasquet)
• After his title in Sydney, followed with five-set second round loss at Australian Open to Federer (lost first two sets then rallied to force a fifth before falling 6-3 in fifth)
• He then lost in first round in Rotterdam (l. to Paire) and second round in Marseille (l. to Youzhny), both in three sets, before QF in Dubai
• In first round Davis Cup tie in Vienna, defeated Stefan Koubek in second rubber before falling in five sets in fourth rubber to No. 10 Jurgen Melzer
• At first ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, reached third round (d. Schuettler, l. to Karlovic)
• Has an 0-2 record against Top 10 opponents (12-30 in his career) and his last win came over No. 7 Verdasco in the second round of Valencia last November

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• Has a career record of 45-38 with his best result a runner-up in Madrid in 2008 (d. No. 1 Nadal in SF, l. to Murray)…Also semi-finalist in Toronto in 2008 and quarter-finalist in Cincinnati and Shanghai in 2009

FRENCHMEN IN TOP 50 -- Simon is one of six Frenchmen ranked in the Top 50 South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings:
11) Gael Monfils
16) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
18) Richard Gasquet
25) Michael Llorda
27) Gilles Simon
49) Jeremy Chardy

(1)Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs (7) Tomas Berdych (CZE) Nadal Leads 9-3
05 Bastad (Sweden) Clay F Rafael Nadal 2-6 6-2 6-4
05 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati Hard R64 Tomas Berdych 6-7(4) 6-2 7-6(3)
06 ATP Masters Series Toronto Hard R16 Tomas Berdych 6-1 3-6 6-2
06 ATP Masters Series Madrid (Spain) Hard QF Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-6(6)
07 ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo Clay SF Rafael Nadal 6-0 7-5
07 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass QF Rafael Nadal 7-6(1) 6-4 6-2
08 Sony Ericsson Open - Miami Hard SF Rafael Nadal 7-6(6) 6-2
09 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati Hard QF Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-5
09 ESP vs. CZE DC Final (Spain) Clay RR Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-0 6-2
10 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells Hard QF Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-6(4)
10 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass F Rafael Nadal 6-3 7-5 6-4
10 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Hard RR Rafael Nadal 7-6(3) 6-1 

NADAL FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 24-year-old Mallorcan native is appearing in the quarter-finals or better for the fifth straight year and sixth overall in eight years
• He opened the tournament Saturday night with a 64 64 win over Japanese No. 1 Kei Nishikori and followed with a 63 63 victory over countryman Feliciano Lopez and then over No. 21 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 61 62 to improve his career mark to 24-7…Has held serve all 27 games thus far
• Last year he reached the semi-finals (or better) for the third time, losing to eventual champ Roddick in three sets
• His best results a runner-up finish in 2005 (l. to Federer in five sets) and in 2008 (l. to Davydenko)… Also a quarter-finalist in 2007 (l. to Djokovic) and in 2009 (l. to del Potro)
• A Spanish man has never won the singles title in tournament history…Besides his two runner-up showings, Carlos Moya (2003) and Sergi Bruguera (1997) were also finalists

2011 Highlights:
F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic); SF: Doha (l Davydenko); QF: Aust. Open (l Ferrer)

2011 in Review:
• The World No. 1 has a 17-3 match record on the season and he’s appearing in the quarter-finals or better for the fourth time in as many tournaments…He lost in the final at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic in three sets) on Mar. 20…His last title came in Tokyo on Oct. 10, 2010 .
• He opened the season with a semi-final in Doha (l. to Davydneko) and followed with a quarter-final
at the Australian Open where he injured his left adductor early in match against countryman David
Ferrer (lost 64 62 63)
• Three weeks ago he led Spain to a 4-1 first round Davis Cup victory in Belgium by winning both of his singles matches (d. Ruben Bemelmans in second rubber, O. Rochus in dead rubber)
• Has ranked No. 1 for past 43 weeks (since July 7, 2010 after Wimbledon) and 89 overall since first taking over the top spot on Aug. 18, 2008

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• The all-time leader with 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (since 1990) is 18-7 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals…He has a 194-39 career match record
• He’s won at least two titles in each of the past six years (2005-10)…Won a personal-best four in 2005 and three each from 2007-10…He captured his 18th career title at age 23 and Agassi won his 17th title at age 34 in 2004…Has reached the final in eight of the current nine Masters 1000 finals (except Cincinnati)…He also won the former ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Hamburg in 2008

BERDYCH FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 25-year-old last year became the first Czech-born player to reach the final here since Ivan Lendl captured the title in 1989 (also won in ’86)
• Last season he was runner-up to Andy Roddick after defeating No. 1 Federer in the fourth round (saving one match point)…His previous best result was the semi-finals in 2008 (l. to No. 2 Nadal 76(6) 62)…He has a 16-6 career mark
• En route to the quarter-finals, has defeated Spaniard Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo 61 67(4) 60, Argentine Carlos Berlocq 76(8) 75 and German Florian Mayer 63 26 76(4)

2011 Highlights:
SF: Chennai (l Wawrinka); Dubai (l Djokovic); QF: Australian Open (l Djokovic); Rotterdam (W/O vs Tsonga); Marseille (l Cilic)

2011 in Review:
• The top player from the Czech Republic is appearing in the quarter-finals or better for the sixth time in seven tournaments this season and has a 19-6 match record
• He opened the year with a semi-final in Chennai (l. to Wawrinka) and followed with quarter-final efforts at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic), Rotterdam (W/O vs. Tsonga) and Marseille in February (l. to Cilic)…Also a semi-finalist in Dubai (l. to Djokovic)
• Played in first round Davis Cup tie vs. Kazahkstan and beat Kukushkin in second rubber and lost to Golubev in four sets in fourth rubber
• Has a 1-2 mark vs. Top 10 opponents this year (21-53 in his career)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• Has a 77-53 career match record and his best result was the title in Paris in 2005 (d. No. 10 Ljubicic in five sets)…Also runner-up here last year (l. to Roddck) and semi-finalist three other times – ’06 Madrid, ’07 Monte-Carlo and ’08 Miami