Rome Results: Giants Berdych, Ljubicic and Isner Advance; Ferrero Falls

The year's first mandatory clay-court Masters event has kicked off in Rome and all but one of the ATP's top 10 is competing. Roger Federer is entered in the doubles tournament with fellow Swiss Yves Allegro and the two earned a victory in the first round on Monday.

For a look at the Rome singles draw click HERE. Ps. for those of you who haven't heard the horrible news, Rafael Nadal and Federer are on the same side of the draw.

Anyways..on to the results.

John Isner dropped the first set of his match against Horacio Zeballos but recovered to take the next two sets and ultimately the match. Ivan Ljubicic was also pushed to 3 sets against Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu, but the Croatian prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-0. Phillip Kohlschreiber and Michael Llodra were also 3 sets winners.

In the tournament's first real shocker, clay-court specialist and 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was easily defeated by qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-0, 6-3 while Ernests Gulbis handled Marcos Baghdatis, also with ease, defeating the Cypriot 2 and 2 to get a crack at Roger Federer in the next round. Tomas Berdych, 10th seed, was a quick winner as well, joining others such as Juan Monaco, Potito Starace and Julien Benneteau in the 2nd round.

Indian Wells Results: Ljubicic Puts the Cherry on Top, Beats Roddick for IW Title

In last year's "5 Bold Predictions" I wrote that Ivan Ljubicic would retire in 2009. I find myself eating my words now, as the Croatian came out of nowhere to capture the Indian Wells title this week. His final round match with Andy Roddick was a serving fest, and despite the serve being the American's best shot, Ljubicic matched him ace for ace to win his first ever Masters 1000 title 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

“It was really a mind game,” Ljubicic, who at 31 is the second oldest IW winner ever, said. “When you have two big serves, not a lot of rallies happening, it’s a very mental match. I was fortunate enough to be more relaxed by the end of the match.”

Ljubicic was assisted by having gotten off to great starts in both breakers, as he raced out to 6-2 and 6-3 leads in them. The match featured no service breaks. After defeating Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick this past week, Ljubicic will have plenty to show for his efforts, as he will improve to 13th in the ATP rankings and will take home a hefty $605,500 pay check.

“I felt like I was winning my fair share of the rallies once we got into them,” Roddick, was was aiming to become the first American to win the BNP Paribas Open since Jimmy Connors, said. “I just ran into a guy who served great on the big points. Unfortunately that’s probably the one thing that I don’t have control over out there.”

Indian Wells Results: Ljubicic, Rafa, JJ and Stosur Reach Semis

After stunning the crowd in Indian Wells with his win over Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic kept his dream run alive, backing up his win with comeback 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Juan Monaco the day before his 31st birthday to reach the semifinals. “I got a phone call from my brother just after the match. He said that in Croatian time zone I finish just like couple seconds before my birthday, so it’s fantastic,” Ljubicic said.

6th seeded Jelena Jankovic is also having a surprisingly impressive week, having little trouble reaching the semifinals, beating Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-4. Lately the Serbian has had her fair share of difficulties regarding her tennis, but it seems as though she is back to her playing ways of 2008.

“I haven’t been playing well,” JJ said. “So it’s nice to get that feeling back and to be winning again and be in the end of the tournament again.”

In the night match, Rafael Nadal was electric in ousting Tomas Berdych in straights, 6-4, 7-6 (4). In his first tournament back since a knee injury hampered him in Australia, Nadal is crediting his performance thus far to his going for more on his groundstrokes, telling the press, "I’m playing a big forehand from baseline and going inside the court, being more aggressive.”

Sam Stosur has quietly been steamrolling her competition, as the Aussie has yet to drop a set in 4 matches, most recently defeating Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-6 (7). With her result so far, she will be assured a spot inside the top 10 for the first time in her career in next week's version of the WTA rankings.