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Could this be the rivalry that defines the tennis year? In Miami this afternoon, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will meet for the third time in three months.
There is plenty of history to this encounter, for these two have been rivals and friends since the age of 12. Now Djokovic has established himself at the top of the world rankings, while Murray, though still very much the junior partner in terms of silverware, has never started a season with as much purpose.
The luck of the draw placed Murray in Rafael Nadal's half in every Grand Slam tournament but one through 2010 and 2011, but in Australia this year the routine changed and he lost to Djokovic in a five-set, five-hour semi-final that nevertheless underlined how much progress he has made.
Then, in Dubai at the beginning of this month, Murray had a shot at some small payback, which he delivered with a straight-sets win over Djokovic in the semi-final (before losing to Roger Federer).
That win came on a speedy court, where he was able to hurry Djokovic into an uncharacteristic number of mistakes, but the slower conditions here at Crandon Park are likely to produce some long, thigh-burning rallies.
The last two meetings in Miami have been shared. Djokovic beat Murray 6-1 6-0 in the semi-final on his way to the title in 2007. It was the Serb's first success in such a high-profile tournament -- the Sony Ericsson Open sees itself as the "fifth major". And then, in 2009, the favour was returned as Murray won 6-2 7-5 in the final to record one of the finest wins of his career.
He beat three members of the world's top 10 to kick off a solid stretch that carried him up to No 2 in the rankings -- the highest position he has yet occupied. The recent form of the two men is hard to judge. Murray has had two walkovers on his way to today's final, as both Milos Raonic and Nadal pulled out with injury. That means he has spent less than six hours on court.
Will the lack of match-time affect him? "It's never happened to me before," he said. "To get two in one week is strange. So I don't really know how I'm going to feel, but I'll definitely be fresh."
Djokovic, meanwhile, has played a perverse couple of matches in which he started in command before lapsing in the second set and allowing his opponent -- David Ferrer on Wednesday and Juan Monaco on Friday -- back into the contest.
"I can't afford to do that again," Djokovic said after his 6-0 7-6 win over Monaco. "As you can see, it could easily have gone into a third set. I was serving for both matches and couldn't close them out. But I'll try not to have that let-down in the final."
Telegraph
