Djokovic, Federer, Blake Cruise into Quarters

Some players had a little easier time getting into the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open than Rafael Nadal did. Roger Federer is staying true to form beating Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-4. The good news for Federer is that Tommy Haas gave Andy Murray his ticket out of the tournament in a three-set match. Murray beat Federer in the first round at Dubai but Murray only proved what the rest of us already knew: he’s not consistent enough to be labeled with the big dogs, not yet.

James Blake slipped past Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Nadal. Bad news for the Spaniard, Blake leads head-to-head 3-0, but the two also haven’t met since the Tennis Masters Cup in 2006.

Mardy Fish also advanced to the finals with a hard-fought victory over Lleyton Hewitt and…Stanislas Wawrinka? Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych and Marcos Baghdatis and, thanks to Hyung-Taik Lee, didn’t have to face David Ferrer.

And since the NCAA tournament is just about to tip off, why don’t we pick the semi-finalists? I’m going to have to put Roger and Nalbandian through to the semis (that should be a good match!) and Djokovic will be through to face….crap…if we go with seeding, Nadal is in. If we go with head-to-head records, Blake is in. Blake is more rested; he dispatched his opponent a lot easier…but Nadal did win this tournament last year…gotta stick by Wedgie-Man for this one, he’ll be the fourth one in the semis.