If you want to judge the semifinal encounter between Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych by their previous results here at the Sony Ericsson Open, then you’d have to hand the decision straight off to “Rafa.” Who can forget the fantastically entertaining 2005 final that Nadal eventually lost to Roger Federer 2-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) 6-3, 6-1 at Crandon Park.

In comparison to the 21-year-old Nadal, this marks the first occasion that the 22-year-old Berdych has advanced this far in four consecutive years playing at this tournament. His best prior result was two consecutive third-round showings the past two years.

While this might be the talented Berdych’s first semifinal berth at the Sony Ericsson Open, it won’t be his first encounter with the three-time French Open defending champion. These two Europeans have played on six occasions, and are dead even at three matches apiece.

The interesting thing about their previous meetings, beyond the fact that Nadal won their last two outings, is that Berdych has stood taller in their three meetings on hard courts – the 2006 Madrid quarterfinals, the 2006 Canada round-of-16, and the 2005 Cincinnati round-of-64.

Nadal is definitely a fan favorite around the world – no matter where he goes he seems to have a loyal following. That will definitely be the case here in Miami where Spanish, Nadal’s native tongue, is also a favored language.

Now as most tennis fans know, Nadal is the King of Clay, having won the French Open, or as many refer to it as Roland Garros, the last three years running. However, fans should not be fooled into thinking that Rafa doesn’t know his way around a hard court, despite the three losses to Berdych. In fact, Nadal has won five career titles on hard courts, and he’s reached the Wimbledon final on grass the past two years.

Nadal is still in the hunt for his first title of the year with his last victory coming in Stuttgart last July.  

Expect to hear a lot of Ole, Ole, Ole and Rafa, Rafa, Rafa from the crowd. That should not discourage Berdych from the task he faces though. He knows how to beat Nadal, and most especially on a surface like they’re playing on today.

Berdych has been a talent in the waiting, and he’s already collected three career titles. The interesting thing about the trophies in his trophy case is that they have all come on different surfaces – he won his first title on clay at the 2004 Palermo tournament, his second on indoor carpet at the 2005 Masters Series Paris and the third on grass at the 2006 Halle event.

Berdych is a big hockey fan which comes as no surprise as it is something of a national pastime back in the Czech Republic. He is certainly capable of giving Nadal a run for his money, but in the end, it won’t be Berdych skating into the final.

Andy Roddick comes to today’s match as the happiest guy in the world. Yesterday he did something he’s been waiting to do since August 2003 – win another match against Roger Federer.  Roddick has now won two of 17 matches against Federer, but from the broad smile on his face you would think he’d just won all their encounters.

Good luck for Roddick has come in the way of his beautiful – and we hear very lovely – fiancé, model Brooklyn Decker.

As for Davydenko, he seems to be a Middle East kind of guy as he reached the semifinals at both Doha and Dubai earlier this year. That makes this the third semifinal of the year for the Russian, but he hasn’t gone past that round so he needs to get his game in gear.

Of course, it can’t be denied that this is not looking like the match where he’s going to get over the semifinal slump.  Maybe the good news for Davydenko is that instead of playing Roger Federer in the semifinals he is going to face Andy Roddick. And it’s not just that Andy is a very credible No. 6 in the world while Federer is No. 1. It’s that in career match history, Davydenko has only lost to Roddick in all five of their meetings, while against Federer he’s lost all 11 times they’ve played.

It’s hard not to like both Berdych and Davydenko, but come Sunday afternoon we’ll be watching Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick dueling it out for the title.