Murray’s make a mess of Miami

Yesterday was a day to forget to British tennis, as both Murray brothers crashed out in their opening matches.

I had always believed Andy’s chances of beating Mario Ancic to be slim after his lacklustre American hardcourt season so far. The Croatian has been in fantastic form since making his comeback from glandular fever, and it was not a huge shock to see him come through 6-2 2-6 7-6.

Murray was apathy itself in the first set and it was painful to watch such a talented player descend into childish sulking. However one thing Murray will never lose is his will to win, and despite all the mutterings under his breath, the Scot stepped up his game to take the second set. Unfortunately he levelled off again in the third set, and whilst he made a fight of it, Ancic deserved the win that came his way.

It was no better for older brother Jamie, who’s first round loss with Max Mirnyi comes as a much greater surprise, given that they have been in excellent form of late, notching up two wins over the Bryan brothers. The pair went out rather tamely to Frenchmen Marc Gicqeul and Fabrice Santoro 6-4 6-4, a team unlikely to progress far in the tournament.

Maybe now that Jamie has some time off he might be able to find a barbers to cut his ever inflating hair!

Miami Master Series preview

This week will see the second Masters Series event of the year get under way in Miami.

The top two players in the world are yet to win a title this season, and will both be looking to change that here. However Federer has lost the air of invincibility he has been shrouded in for the last three years, whilst more and more opponents seem to be finding ways of hitting through Nadal’s heroic defense.

Novak Djokovic is without a doubt the form player in the world at the moment, and he has an excellent chance of defending the title he claimed here last year. Andy Roddick, who started the season so well, will be hoping to avenge his early loss at Indian Wells by having a good run in Miami, and if he finds his serve there are not many who can stop him.

On the British side of things, both Alex Bogdanovic and Anne Keothavong failed to make it through qualification. A-Bog went out to Serbian Victor Troicki 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the first round, whilst Keothavong made it to the second round before going out to the number four seed Anastasia Rodinova 6-1 3-6 6-3.

So, once again Andy Murray is our only British hope, and the Scot has been handed a very tough draw. He has a bye into the second round, but is likely to find himself up against the in form wildcard Mario Ancic. But, if he make it through that match he will fancy his chances of making it through to the semi-finals, where he could meet Roger Federer.