Nadal and Tsonga meet in Miami quarterfinal

Rafael Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will clash as the bottom half of the draw takes the court in the Sony Ericsson quarterfinals.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal has defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga four times on hard courts. The Spaniard’s overall record is 6-3, with wins over Tsonga on every surface except carpet. 

The problem for Nadal is that Tsonga won their last meeting, a few months ago at the World Tour Finals. Worse still, Tsonga seems to be in outstanding form, as evidenced by his impressive win over Florian Mayer.

Nadal wasn’t particularly impressive in his fourth-round match against Kei Nishikori. The world No. 2 won in straight sets, but it wasn’t a routine encounter. Nadal had some trouble with his knee and had to have the trainer come out to tape it up.

The court conditions weren’t great for Nadal’s match, but he will need to be in much better form against Tsonga to move into the semis.

Prediction – This could well be another upset of one of the top 4 elite. Tsonga in 3.