Analysis for Nadal-Berdych (ATP Miami)

Head-to-head record 3:3

Rafael Nadal will next confront Tomas Berdych for a spot in Sunday's title match. The two have evenly split their previous six career meetings, but Berdych has won all three of their matches on hard court at ATP Masters Series events. The 22-year-old Berdych defeated Querrey, Ferrero, Tursunov and Andreev to advance to his first semifinal of the 2008 season. He plays in his life-best form and he has yet to drop a set during the tournament. Berdych has the talent to blow anyone off the court and if he kept his nerves and had the same fighting spirit like Nadal, he would probably be a serious contender for the World No.2 as we think he is a better player than Nadal or even Djokovic in terms of tennis talent. As we said, his biggest weakness is his mental condition and unwillingness to fight when he doesn´t feel good. On the other hand, he seems to be well prepared and full of self-confidence this week, which could help him to defeat Nadal for the fourth time in a row on hard courts. If Berdych manages to break Nadal´s serve early, he is definitely able to destroy him. We have already said a lot about Nadal´s playing style and it would be wasting of time to repeat it. He deserves to be the world No.2 as he is probably the biggest fighter on the circuit. He has something what Berdych lacks – Spaniard tends to go after every shot even apparent winners from his opponents and this could make the match even more interesting. We see the equal chances on both sides and anything above 2.0 is worth trying.