Rafael Nadal loses to Andy Roddick in semi-finals in Miami

The relative decline of Rafael Nadal, who began 2010 saying he was lacking confidence and admitted he was "scared" during one of this week's matches, continued with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat by Andy Roddick in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open here. The former world No1 from Spain became increasingly subdued, failing to convert a break point early in the final set, and the setback leaves him with only one appearance in an ATP World Tour final this year. It means that, when Nadal begins his clay-court build-up this month before his attempt to regain the French Open, it will be 11 months since he won a title. However, Nadal started this semi-final well enough. He moved around quickly enough to hit forehands from all over the court, broke Roddick's serve in the third game, and clung to the advantage to close out the first set. Nadal ran into trouble with a poor service game at 3-4 in the second set and Roddick, after capitalising to level at one set all, raised his standard significantly, especially off the ground. That helped the American break for 2-1 in the decider and again in the final game, carrying him to successive finals – here and at Indian Wells – for the first time.