Catching Up on Indian Wells

I admit that after Roger Federer was upset in the third round (he had three match points!), I didn't really keep an eye out on what's happening over at Indian Wells, but there has been some interesting results. Like world no. 2 Novak Djokovic out in straight sets in the fourth round to Ivan Ljubicic. Or how about 6th seed Robin Soderling blistering to the weekend by pummeling Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and more impressively world no. 4 Andy Murray in straight sets? Andy Roddick also have done well for himself to reach the semifinals.

And other than his absolutely hideous shorts, the man of the tournament, however, is no one other than defending champion and world no. 3 (weird, right?) Rafael Nadal. People underestimated him, but not only is he one match away from the final of the first Masters tournament of the year, but he is also in the finals of the doubles tournament. Bad knees? What bad knees? Whatever happens, he should be quite proud at what he accomplished in the past few days, though it's certainly not over yet. I'm hoping to see a French Open rematch between Nadal and Soderling. Both will have more than a title to play for.

As for the women's side, it was hard to really feel passionate about it after Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kim Clijsters, and Justine Henin faltered early. Great showing for Sam Stosur to reach the semifinals and it should mean she will crack the top 10 in rankings next week. Stosur is also still alive in the doubles tournament. The finals will have a face off between 2nd seed Caroline Wozniacki and 6th seed Jelena Jankovic. It will be the first title of the year for either one of them.