Rafael Nadal

A decision to begin charging to the net paid off for Andy Roddick on Friday as he rallied to beat Rafael Nadal , 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in their semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla. Once Roddick fell behind, he became more aggressive, even following his second serve to the net on occasions. The momentum turned when he won the last 11 points of the second set, including a 143-mph serve — fastest of the tournament — for a winner on the final point to even the match.

Rafael Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two tournaments seven times after beating David Ferrer , 7-6 (1), 7-5, in Sunday's Barcelona Open final in Spain. The second-ranked Nadal's 21st straight victory on clay followed up his eighth straight win in Monte Carlo, as Nadal won the 10th all-Spanish ATP final for the 48th win of his career. The sixth-ranked Ferrer lost his fourth Barcelona Open final to Nadal, who saved 12 of 15 break points for a 34th straight victory at Barcelona.

Two of the top contenders for the men's singles title at the BNP Paribas Open advanced with ease in early play Sunday, on another day when this Indian Wells Tournament sold all the tickets it is allowed to by local parking authorities. That would be 32,000. The winners were Juan Martin del Potro, seeded ninth, and Rafael Nadal, seeded second. Del Potro, the Argentine who stunned Roger Federerin the 2009 U.S. Open final and then faded from the scene for a bit with injuries and slipped all the way to No. 90, beat Marinko Matosevic of Australia, 7-5, 6-2. Nadal, 10-time Grand Slam champion and two-time winner here, ousted Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 6-1, 6-3. Were the seedings to hold to form, Del Potro would meet No. 3 Federer in the quarterfinals and that winner would face Nadal in a semifinal.

Rafael Nadal finally managed to beat Novak Djokovic in a final, thrashing the top-ranked Serb, 6-3, 6-1, on Sunday to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the eighth consecutive year and end a run of seven straight defeats to his rival in title matches. Nadal was hardly troubled by Djokovic in this one and broke the Serb's serve five times in a one-sided affair on clay to win his 42nd straight match at Monte Carlo. It was his first title since last year's French Open and the 47th of his career.

That sweaty but happy contestant skipping across the court in the neon yellow shirt Sunday was Rafael Nadal, no longer No. 1 but waving his index finger anyway after a third-round victory in the Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla. It has been 10 months since Nadal won a tournament, but he showed some of his old championship swagger by rallying past dangerous wild card David Nalbandian, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 6-2. Nadal, seeded fourth, remained on course for a showdown against the real No. 1, rival Roger Federer.

The learning curve keeps getting steeper for John Isner, tennis student. Wednesday's lesson was 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The lecture, at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, was given by professor Rafael Nadal, whose specialty is the doctoral study of hitting a tennis ball so hard for so long that the other guy crawls off the court at the end and asks for his mommy. Isner didn't quite do that. He actually won a set, which, in the world of pro tennis, against the likes of Nadal, is beyond survival.

There were backhands and forehands, slices and lobs, smashes and passes — and that was just on a single point of the BNP Paribas Open men's quarterfinal between defending champion Rafael Nadal and 19th-seeded Tomas Berdych on Thursday night at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. With a tricky night wind kicking up, giving flight to water bottles and tennis shots, Nadal showed both his grunting power and deft cleverness in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over Berdych. Next Nadal will get big-serving Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 20th, who well-described his own tennis as "clever" after his 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over 21st-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic will resume their budding rivalry in the Italian Open final at Rome on Sunday. Nadal overcame a stiff first-set challenge from Richard Gasquet before rolling to a 7-5, 6-1 win in the semifinals Saturday, and Djokovic was pushed to the limit in a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2) victory over fourth-ranked Andy Murray , extending his unbeaten streak to 38 matches after 3 hours and 1 minute of grueling baseline rallies. Djokovic beat Nadal in title matches at Indian Wells and Miami this year, then also won in Madrid last weekend, his first victory over the Spaniard on clay.

Rafael Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two tournaments seven times after beating David Ferrer , 7-6 (1), 7-5, in Sunday's Barcelona Open final in Spain. The second-ranked Nadal's 21st straight victory on clay followed up his eighth straight win in Monte Carlo, as Nadal won the 10th all-Spanish ATP final for the 48th win of his career. The sixth-ranked Ferrer lost his fourth Barcelona Open final to Nadal, who saved 12 of 15 break points for a 34th straight victory at Barcelona.

Roger Federer will meet Rafael Nadal in a second consecutive Madrid Masters final after beating David Ferrer of Spain, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, on Saturday. Nadal came from behind to beat Spanish countryman Nicolas Almagro , 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the first semifinal. Last year, Federer beat then No. 1-ranked Nadal in the final for his second Madrid title. Nadal, assured of returning to No. 2 in the rankings with Saturday's win, is aiming for his second title in Madrid.

BNP Paribas Open TODAY'S FEATURED MATCHES Stadium Court 1 Starting at 11 a.m. (Seedings in parentheses) Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond vs. Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova Not before 1 p.m. Juan Martin Del Potro (9) vs. Roger Federer (3) Not before 3 p.m. David Nalbandian vs. Rafael Nadal (2) Not before 6 p.m. Victoria Azarenka (1) vs. Angelique Kerber (18) Not before 8 p.m. Ana Ivanovic (15)

The tennis triumvirate that has made the men's game flourish for some time continued doing the same Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Not often do Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, play separate matches in the same session in tournaments. Seedings and built-in rest days take care of that. But they did so Wednesday, making a day-session ticket priceless. And the expected — these days almost presumed — took place.

Stadium Court 1 Starting at 11 a.m. (Seedings in parentheses) Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Pablo Andujar. Not Before 1:30 p.m. Victoria Azarenka (1) vs. Agnieszka Radwanska; Rafael Nadal (2) vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov (21); Roger Federer (3) or Milos Raonic (27) vs. Tomaz Bellucci. Not Before 7 p.m. Angelique Kerber (18) vs. Li Na (8). Not Before 8:30 p.m. Denis Istomin vs Juan Martin Del Potro (9).

They served a couple of nice appetizers to tennis fans Tuesday. A little caviar and Rafa, a little bruschetta and Roger. Yummy. The main course, porterhouse certainly, is quite likely to come to this BNP Paribas Open in Saturday's semifinals. If it happens, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden will be packed and poised to eat it up. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, together again. Of course, their victories Tuesday merely got each man to the Round of 16. Plenty of tennis to play. Many bumps and turns remain possible.

Two of the top contenders for the men's singles title at the BNP Paribas Open advanced with ease in early play Sunday, on another day when this Indian Wells Tournament sold all the tickets it is allowed to by local parking authorities. That would be 32,000. The winners were Juan Martin del Potro, seeded ninth, and Rafael Nadal, seeded second. Del Potro, the Argentine who stunned Roger Federerin the 2009 U.S. Open final and then faded from the scene for a bit with injuries and slipped all the way to No. 90, beat Marinko Matosevic of Australia, 7-5, 6-2. Nadal, 10-time Grand Slam champion and two-time winner here, ousted Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 6-1, 6-3. Were the seedings to hold to form, Del Potro would meet No. 3 Federer in the quarterfinals and that winner would face Nadal in a semifinal.

This top gun was supposed to be a wingman. Instead, Novak Djokovic became an interloper. Three or four years ago, the men's game was clearly the property of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. They were the royalty. Federer had served his time on the throne majestically, and the younger Nadal, all power and spunk and sex appeal and charm, was tugging on the royal robe. The ascension seemed scripted, established, kind of like with English kings. The Johns and the Henrys were established.

Rafael Nadal easily navigated another pothole on his road to history Sunday, a history with which he has not quite come to grips. Besides the best game in tennis at the moment, the Spanish star had everything going for him in his third-round U.S. Open match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Skies were blue, the temperature was perfect, the puffs of wind were more comfort than pain. Plus, his opponent, 42nd-ranked Gilles Simon of France, was present, but elsewhere. Two days ago, his girlfriend gave birth in France to their first child, four weeks early, and Simon acknowledged afterward that he was more interested in seeing new son Timothy than more of Nadal's forehand.

Reporting from Wimbledon, England — Rafael Nadal was a bit of a slow starter Monday at Wimbledon, finding himself down a service break in the first set to 31-year-old journeyman Michael Russell. But that was only a momentary falter, and it really didn't take long for top-seeded Nadal to beat the American and advance to the second round. Nadal won the match 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 58 minutes, and it was a solid start for the Spaniard in his title defense. By the finish, Nadal was smiling big, having earned appreciative whistles from the crowd.