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Marathon Man Mahut is the man who took out Fernando Gonzalez in his last career match in a third set tiebreak thriller on Wednesday night. Berdych had been having a very solid, consistent season before being destroyed by Almagro last week in the third round of Indian Wells, eating a bagel in the second set.
Berdych has lost to Nadal twice, Djokovic and Roddick here the last four seasons, making the finals in 2010 and semis in 2008 and playing a very competitive match with Rafa last season in the QF. Overall he has a 16-7 record at this event and a 3-0 H2H over Mahut, defeating earlier this season in the Montpellier QF 6-3 6-4.
Can Nicolas turn around the H2H here and play as well as he *supposedly* did vs Gonzo in R1 to upset Berdych? Or will Tomas continue his winning ways in Miami and stretch his advantage vs Mahut to 4-0? Personally, I smell an upset on the card potentially, if Nicolas serves well. The match vs Gonzalez will help him with his confidence and players playing their first event of a tournament vs their opponents having already played matches at the event is something the underdog takes advantage of often. I expect a Berdych win but I don't think it will be as routine as some would expect.
Berdych has lost to Nadal twice, Djokovic and Roddick here the last four seasons, making the finals in 2010 and semis in 2008 and playing a very competitive match with Rafa last season in the QF. Overall he has a 16-7 record at this event and a 3-0 H2H over Mahut, defeating earlier this season in the Montpellier QF 6-3 6-4.
Can Nicolas turn around the H2H here and play as well as he *supposedly* did vs Gonzo in R1 to upset Berdych? Or will Tomas continue his winning ways in Miami and stretch his advantage vs Mahut to 4-0? Personally, I smell an upset on the card potentially, if Nicolas serves well. The match vs Gonzalez will help him with his confidence and players playing their first event of a tournament vs their opponents having already played matches at the event is something the underdog takes advantage of often. I expect a Berdych win but I don't think it will be as routine as some would expect.
