Djokovic, Roddick eliminated in Madrid; No. 1 Nadal, No. 2 Federer advance

As heavy favorites No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid on Thursday in convincing fashion, it was other matches that caught my attention. Those matches included name makers Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic, as well as little known Top 20 Gilles Simon.

The first match that caught my attention was Frenchman Gael Monfils (pictured) beating No. 8 seed Roddick for the third straight time, this time winning, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the third round in Madrid. Frequently around the tennis world people talk about how overrated Roddick has been since winning the 2003 US Open and reaching No. 1 in the rankings. I have to admit that I am definitely one to question all his media attention due to his lackluster results over the last few years. Despite the boring results of late, I find it hard to believe that a player can beat Roddick three straight times, especially when they don’t have as much experience and they can’t stack up in the serving department like Roddick can. With that said, Monfils deserves a round of applause for earning three straight wins over Roddick, something that not too many ATP players besides Federer have accomplished. The Paris born star, once the No. 1 junior player in the world, currently owns a career high ranking of No. 18.

The second match that caught my attention was the match between No. 3 seed Djokovic and No. 14 seed Ivo Karlovic. Djokovic has put together an amazing tennis resume this season with titles at the Australian Open and the Masters Series Indian Wells and Rome, but this evening he fell to Karlovic, 7-6(4), 7-6(5). The monster-serving Croatian smashed 20 aces past Djokovic and lost only six points on his first serve throughout the match. Djokovic had three break point chances but couldn’t convert on any of his chances due to strong serving and great net play by the 6’10” Croatian. It seems to me that since Djokovic reached No. 3 in the world and has been running his mouth to the media more than usual, his results have been pretty average for a guy with a grand slam title and a Top 5 ranking. Whether it’s telling the media before Wimbledon that Federer was scared and would lose early (Federer reached the finals, where he lost to Nadal in five sets in one of the greatest ATP matches in the history of the sport) or if its not choosing his words wisely in front of a sold-out crowd at the US Open after beating Andy Roddick, I think Djokovic do less talking and stay focused on winning matches. He is truly capable of one day taking over Nadal as the top-ranked player in the world, but this year proved to me that he has been losing some matches that he should never even come close to losing.

The last match that caught my attention was the Gilles Simon match against American qualifier Robby Ginepri. The reason this match is important is because it’s the second time this week that the talented Frenchman has saved multiple match points en route to victory. On Monday in his first round win over Russian Igor Andreev, the World No. 16 fought off four match points to eventually win the match in a third set tiebreak. Today he was again on the brink of defeat facing two match points against Ginepri, but prevailed in a third set tiebreak, winning, 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(6). To fight off match points in a professional tennis match is not the easiest task, but to pull it off twice in three matches is superb.

Others Winners of Thursday in Madrid:
Third Round
No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. No. 15 Richard Gasquet (FRA), 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) def. No. 16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) def. Marin Cilic (CRO), 7-5, 7-6(2)
No. 9 Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) def. No. 7 David Nalbandian (ARG), 6-4, 6-2
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) def. No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI), 6-4, 6-4