Andy Roddick takes on old rival James Blake in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Roddick and Blake are no strangers to each other having met ten times over the course of their illustrious careers. Roddick has always had the edge, even when they were both juniors and he leads 7-3 on the head-to-head.
Blake has beaten his compatriot just once on hard courts and although many of their matches have been desperately close, Roddick has always just had that extra edge when it matters.
Blake's career has been on the wane for the past few years and at the age of 31, with his ranking dipping down outside the top 150 it is hard to see him carrying on for more than another couple of seasons.
Roddick remains established in the top ten though he endured a frustrating 2010 season. The American shone in the first couple of Masters Series events, winning Miami and making the Indian Wells final but from then on his season was blighted by injury and illness.
He had a poor Aussie Open in January but has since won Memphis and led the US Davis Cup team to victory in Chile and will be. However he needs to repeat last year's performances over the next few weeks to avoid dropping out of the top ten.
Prediction: Roddick in three
