Today, the Sony Ericsson is going to witness a first in its history.
When the men’s final is done, it will crown either world No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain or world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, and it will be the first time that a man from either country has captured the Miami title in its 24-year history.
For Nadal, who lost a thrilling five-set final here to Roger Federer in 2005, this could be his 10th career ATP Masters Series title. If he hoists the trophy, he would be the fourth player since 1990 to achieve winning at least 10 Masters Series shields – Andre Agassi won 17, Federer 14 and Pete Sampras 11 –and all of them have a Sony Ericsson Open title among their collection. In fact, just as a little factoid, Agassi won six Miami titles, which is one more than his wife, Steffi Graf, and now two-time reigning champion Serena Williams, have won.
But now back to business and the final between Nadal and Davydenko.
Nadal is not the first Spaniard to challenge for the Sony Ericsson Open. Two other Spaniards tried to capture the title – Carlos Moya in 2003 and Sergi Bruguera in 1997 – but couldn’t put their hold on the Waterford crystal trophy.
As for Davydenko, he’s the only Russian man to be in a final. His countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova won the title in 2006, Maria Sharapova was a finalist in 2005, Elena Dementieva a finalist in 2004 and Anna Kournikova was a runner-up in 1998. So in other words, if you’ve heard the expression “Win one for the Gipper,” Davydenko needs to “Win one for Russia men.”
Both Nadal and Davydenko boast good records when they reach the finals of tournaments.
Nadal, who heads into the upcoming European clay court season as the three-time French Open defending champion, has a 23-7 record in finals. Davydenko hasn’t reached the championship round as often as Nadal, but stands at 11 titles in 14 visits to the final.
These two guys have played each other twice, and Nadal has always reigned supreme. Nadal beat Davydenko in the round-robin portion of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, which is played on hard courts. He also beat him on clay last year in the Masters Series Rome semifinal.
Don’t expect Davydenko to be daunted by his two losses to Nadal. He learned that it’s quite possible to beat a player who holds a winning record over you on Friday night when he ended Andy Roddick’s perfect 5-0 record over him in the semifinals. Davydenko played brilliant tennis throughout to surprise Roddick 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a match where even Roddick said he was impressed with Davydenko’s serving.
The 21-year-old Nadal is cruising dangerously close to overtaking Federer’s stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking, and a win will move him even closer as he approaches his favorite time of the year on clay. Nadal’s only other run to a final this year ended to compatriot Carlos Moya in Chennai, India.
As for Davydenko, his highlights for the year were reaching the semifinals at both Doha and Dubai, leaving many to wonder if he should pull up stakes in Russia and move to the Middle East.
If both of these guys can play as well as they did in the semifinals – Nadal beating No. 10 Tomas Berdych and Davydenko scoring against Roddick – this should be a very entertaining match.
Just as an FYI for fans who are used to seeing the Sony Ericsson Open decided in a best-of-five-set match format for the men, the ATP has changed the rules and all ATP matches are now only best-of-three-sets, leaving the Grand Slam tournaments and Davis Cup as the arena for five-set encounters.
The great thing about this tournament is that the international media that often travel the tennis circuit got to see the break-out of Davydenko’s personality. He has always been considered a nice guy, but very quiet. But with his success here, especially over Roddick, he was not only happy but he even showed a glimmer of the funny guy we’ve heard he can be.
Don’t dismiss the always very steady Davydenko as not having a chance to win the Sony Ericsson Open title though. This Miami crowd has always considered Nadal a favorite, and is bound to be chanting some “Ole!, Ole!, Ole! and “Rafa!, Rafa!, Rafa!,” which could be difficult for Davydenko to handle.
It won’t pay to deal for Davydenko in this encounter for Nadal nets the winner’s paycheck.
In the women’s doubles final, the draw stayed to form with the top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber, a newly naturalized American, scheduled to take on second seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Black and Huber are in the hunt for their third title of the year having won Antwerp and Dubai. Don’t count on Srebotnik and Sugiyama as Black and Huber will sail past them to grab the goods. | 
