NADAL REIGNS AFTER EIGHT MONTH DROUGHT

By Rafael Nadal's standards, it was a long dry spell.

Nadal captured his first title since the French Open, beating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the Pacific Life Open.

"It was a very great week for me, a very, very important week," he said. "I have (gone) eight months without any title, but I came back with a big one."

When Djokovic's forehand sailed long on the final point, Nadal raised his arms, then flopped on his back and lay there a moment, arms still extended, as the fans laughed and cheered.

A five-time champion last year and an 11-time winner in 2005, Nadal had gone a stretch of 12 tournaments without winning, dating to his successful defense of the title at Roland Garros last June.

He said that, even though he hadn't won for a while, his game remained essentially the same.

"Sometimes you're a little luckier, a little bit more confident," Nadal said. "But well, I wasn't a disaster in those eight months."

Nadal has been ranked No. 2 for a record 86 consecutive weeks, with Roger Federer a distant No. 1. The three-time defending champion at Indian Wells, Federer lost his first match in the event this year, ending his 41-match win string.

Asked earlier in the week if he was disappointed he wouldn't get to face Federer in the final, Nadal said, "No, no, no. Seriously, no."

After his victory over Djokovic, Nadal said he doesn't really consider himself vying with Federer for the top spot now.

"Right now, Roger's not my competition. Roger is the best in history, so my goal is continuing winning tournaments and continuing being (high) in the ranking," Nadal said.

"I think if I play like this, I can win another major."

He jumped on Djokovic quickly in the Indian Wells final.

Nadal was up 2-0 before Djokovic got his first point of the match, leading off the third game. By the end of the first set, the 19-year-old Serb had won only 12 points to Nadal's 26.

Djokovic got his game going with his serves and powerful forehands in the second set, but Nadal was able to come up with the critical shots late in the set.

Tied 5-5, the Spaniard broke Djokovic's serve, wrapping up the game by whipping a powerful backhand passing shot by the charging Djokovic. Nadal then held serve to finish the championship match that lasted just 93 minutes.

Djokovic, who won his third tour title at Adelaide the first week of this year, is ranked No. 13.

On Saturday at Indian Wells, 2002 winner Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia took the women's title again, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. A two-time champion in the desert tournament, the 23-year-old Hantuchova has not won any other tour events.

NADAL PUMMELS RODDICK

Nadal brushed aside Roddick [6-4,6-3] in 73 minutes.
The second-ranked Nadal showed there was quite a gap between him and No. 3 Roddick, at least on this hot, still afternoon in the desert. The Spaniard consistently won points by keeping the ball deep to Roddick's backhand for several exchanges, then driving forehand winners past the American.Roddick often could only stand and watch as winners bounced just inside the line.

Although Roddick had his serve working, with a couple at 147 mph among his 16 aces, everything else seemed to go Nadal's way.

On one Roddick serve of 138 mph in the second set, Nadal whipped a forehand return across court that Roddick had no chance of getting. And when Roddick came to the net, Nadal usually came up with passing shots for winners.

Nadal converted three of 10 break point opportunities. Roddick had none.

The match was the third the pair have played. Roddick won in the second round of the U.S. Open in 2004, and Nadal beat him on clay in the Davis Cup final later that year.

Nadal, who won five times last year after capturing 11 titles in 2005, is looking for his first championship since the French Open last June, going a stretch of 12 tournaments without a title.

DJOKOVIC - MURRAY

Andy Murray, persevering after he twisted his left ankle in the second set, outlasted Tommy Haas 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8) in their night match to advance to the men's semifinals. He will face another 19-year-old, Novak Djokovic, who beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4.

The other semifinal will match No. 2 Rafael Nadal against No. 3 Andy Roddick. The men's final is Sunday.

Murray, from Scotland, turned his ankle and took a scary-looking tumble in the third game of the second set. Rushing to his right to hit a forehand, he stepped awkwardly on his left foot and went down in a heap, clutching his ankle and cringing.

He spent some 10 minutes sitting on the court, had his ankle taped, rose and stepped on his left foot rather gingerly, then was ready to play again.

Up 2-0 in the second set when he went down, Murray didn't seem to favor the ankle when play resumed, covering the court well and walking without a noticeable limp.

Following the match, he said that the pain in his ankle subsided relatively quickly, but that his right hip -- which he landed on when he fell -- began to bother him, and so did the large scrape on his right knee. Earlier in the match, he had a large blister on the ball of his right foot treated.

"I just hope tomorrow when I wake up, everything's not sore," said Murray, whose semifinal is scheduled to begin around 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Djokovic, from Serbia, has been on a roll. He won at Adelaide in the first week of the year and has reached the quarterfinals or better in five of the six events he's played.

MIAMI STARTS MONDAY

CLICK HERE FOR MIAMI NEWS

TWO DOUBLE FAULTS

I just got back from a walk with Murphy, and happened to catch the last two points of the women's semi.
TWO DOUBLE FAULTS!!!!!!!!
Good walk, Murph dog!
Murph says, "I find women's tennis such good exercise!"

NADAL-RODDICK in one Semi

WEDGIES: PAIN OR PLEASURE

Rafael Nadal will play Andy Roddick in the Pacific Life Open semi-finals after tough quarter-final victories on Thursday.

Second seed NADAL outfought Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5 7-5
In a tight contest in which both players launched huge strokes from the baseline Nadal was more secure on the big points. When Nadal gets looser fitting Capri's
[for God's sake] and stops butt-picking his wedgies, his endurance on court will increase dramatically [OR MY ENDURANCE TO WATCH HIS MATCHES WILL].
Nadal forced Chela into a backhand error to break him to 6-5 in the second set and won the match when the Argentine made another mistake on his backhand. If Chela took a few lessons from me and fixed his serve and pathetic volley, he would be a contender. That jumping backhand has to go, too!

Third seed RODDICK overcame Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 7-6.
Roddick has yet to face break point in four matches in the tournament, and Ljubicic could not threaten his service as Roddick fired 12 aces and a slew of service winners and backed them up with huge forehands.
Ljubicic fought off one set point at 6-5 with a backhand volley winner but Roddick cashed in on his second with a backhand crosscourt to clinch the tiebreak 9-7
Roddick needed four match points in a brilliantly played second set tiebreak which he won 10-8, finally closing out the match with a hard return at Ljubicic's feet.

Nadal and Roddick have not met since the Davis Cup final in 2004 in Seville, a match the Spaniard dominated a few months after the American had crushed him at the U.S. Open.


British No. 1 Andy Murray plays his quarter-final on Friday against ninth seed Tommy Haas. Serb Novak Djokovic plays Spain's David Ferrer in the other quarter-final.

TSN may broadcast the semis at 3 pm. Maybe!

DOG DAY AFTERNOON

Temperature on court nears 120 F.

Every day is cloudless with the air temperature hovering around 95 F.

Most critters would welcome shade in the desert.

However, the players remaining in the draw at Indian Wells revel in not having to play in the shadow of Roger.

The ones to benefit are those in the top half-

Murry vs Haas and

Djokovic vs Ferrer.

The bottom half is much heavier with

Ljubicic vs Roddick and

Chela vs Nadal

The winner will come from the bottom half.

I watched a few minutes of the women's tennis this afternoon, but realized

my time was better spent walking the dog.

Murphy loves women’s tennis.

But he’s the only one.

ROGER: OVER AND OUT

Defending champion Roger Federer 's 41-match winning streak was broken in the second round of the Pacific Life Open by lucky loser Guermillo Canas, 5-7, 2-6. This is the World No. 1's first loss since losing to Great Britain's Andy Murray at the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati last August.

Canas moved into the main draw as a lucky loser, as he was the highest-ranked player to lose in the last round of qualifying. He defeated Czech Jan Hajek., 6-1, 6-1, in the first round of the main draw and was optimistic about his chances against the three-time defending champion.
The Argentine got off to a great start, breaking Federer early in the first set. The Swiss broke back at love and had two set points at 5-4. Federer failed to convert, and the set seemed headed for a tiebreak when Canas broke again to take the set 7-5.

Federer called for a trainer and twice received treatment for blisters on his feet. He continued to play, but was never again a factor as he continued to overhit his forehand, committing 15 unforced errors and allowing Canas to break twice.

This is Canas's second victory over the Swiss. He defeated Federer in 2002 en route to his most important title, the ATP Masters Series Canada. The Argentine returned to the ATP circuit in September 2006 after a 15-month doping suspension. During the recent Latin America clay court swing, Canas won his seventh career title in Costa do Sauipe. His next opponent is Spaniard Carlos Moya, who upset the 26th-seeded Radek Stepanek, earlier in the day.

Notwithstanding his injury timeouts, Federer announced his intent to proceed with his evening doubles match. He and his partner, fellow Swiss Yves Allegro, are scheduled to face Spaniards David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo.

INDIAN WELLS

PACIFIC LIFE OPEN link

FEDERER - SAMPRAS

World number one Roger Federer has revealed that he visited Pete Sampras in Los Angeles recently and practised with the seven-time Wimbledon champion.

Sampras retired in 2002 but Federer admitted: "Surprisingly he was very good, but not good enough to beat me!"

Swiss star Federer, who won his 10th Grand Slam at the Australian Open, is closing in on Sampras' record of 14.

Federer beat the American in five sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2001, the only occasion the pair met.

Federer is on a winning streak of 41 matches and has won the last three Grand Slam events, prompting Sampras to say in January that he expected the Swiss player to surpass his record.

Federer, 25, said it had been his idea to visit Sampras at his LA home.

"I had the idea of seeing how good he plays because he was one of my favourite players when I was growing up," he said.

"Beating him in his backyard in Wimbledon was so special to me, so I wanted to try to beat him in his house.

"It was very enjoyable to actually hit with him. He was playing very well."

Comparisons are often drawn between the two Wimbledon legends and Federer said the pair could meet in an exhibition match at some stage in the future.

"It would be kind of cool to maybe play an exhibition against him but we'll see," said Federer.

Sampras, 35, announced earlier this year that he would play in a seniors series this year

INDIAN WELLS - THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

Indian Wells click on this link.

This tournament is a semi-Slam along with Miami [ which is next on the schedule].
Here's the TV schedule:

TSN TV SCHEDULE

Mar 11th 11:30 PM

Mar 12th 2:00 PM

Mar 13th 4:00 PM

Mar 14^th 2:00 PM

Mar 15th 2:00 PM

Mar 16^th 2:00 PM

Mar 18th -Semi #1/ Women's Final 3:00 AM

Mar 19^th - Men's Final 12 AM

“AM” You’ve got to be kidding!!!!!

THE DESERT

The desert has a special place in my heart.

I spent a couple of years in the Mojave, in the early fifties, as a child and the memories are etched in my mind.

Driving into town, canvas water-bag hanging from the front bumper, the truck would rattle rhythmically as it hit the expansion joints of the concrete road and the desiccated carcases of the Jacks [rabbits] drawn to the headlights of the cars. The road ahead was a shimmering watery mirage.

Town, Twenty-Nine Palms, was a sneeze on the highway to L.A.

Summers were hot, 105 – 115 F, and air-conditioning the domain of the rich. Even in summer tho, on a clear cloudless night the temperature could plummet to freezing, and most nights were clear.

Summer was a season to be survived. We would hide from the sun in shadows, under Stetsons and shirts and jeans and boots.

Spring was the season of life and renewal. A few days of rain, right about now, would thrust the desert into a frenzy. The cactus, cholla, ocotillo, prickly-pear, agave, yucca, Joshua tree and sage would bloom in hours – changing the desert into a pallette of colours.

Much has changed. As a child, I could see forever – the mountains disappearing on the horizon. Now, smog is a constant cloak. The Salton Sea was fresh water reserve. Now, a cesspool of human waste.

Across the Joshua Tree National Park lies Indian Wells.

It's spring.

Tennis-life is about to be renewed.