By Sandra Harwitt

Here’s an interesting turn of events, a new trend that has long been needed. The women are actually playing competitive matches—and they’re interesting matches to watch.

No, I’m not dreaming. It’s the truth. The days when Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis won every match leading into a semifinal or final in 40 minutes flat, without even breaking a sweat, is at least gone for this Sony Ericsson Open.

Take Maria Sharapova. The leggy Russian is finally back to form after a long recuperation from shoulder surgery. But she had to compete hard to gain entry into her third Sony Ericsson Open final—she never won the title in either her 2005 or ‘06 final appearance. Sharapova had to rebound from one-set down in her last two matches: beating Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarterfinals, and then taking out Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals.

For Petkovic’s part, the Petko dance died at the hands of Sharapova, but she had a stunning run to the semis. She upset world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in a three-set fourth-rounder, then needed three sets to upend JJ – that’s Jelena Jankovic – in the quarterfinals.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters fell to Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals after playing two tough three-setters against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Ana Ivanovic, respectively. And Azarenka’s only two-setter was in the victory over Clijsters, otherwise she played three three-setters.

If you didn’t know any better you would think the WTA swapped places with the ATP. It’s usually the men who are playing closely contested matches.

Take Roger Federer. His fourth-round match against Olivier Rochus took only 48 minutes. Probably a good thing in this case as it didn’t go off until about 12:35 am, technically the next day of when it was scheduled. Fed’s next match only went seven minutes when a crooked neck forced Gilles Simon to retire after losing the opening three games on Thursday.

Fellow semifinalist Mardy Fish won all of his matches heading into the semifinals in straight sets this tournament, too.

And then there’s wunderkind Novak Djokovic who also has yet to lose a set en route to the semifinals. And this guy is playing such incredible tennis these days – he’s 23-0 for the year with titles at the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells.

Roaring Rafa: Rafael Nadal didn’t disappoint fans who were starting to get a little nervous that the Friday night semifinal extravaganza between him and Roger Federer might not go off as hoped. NO offense, Thomas Berdych, but no one was too excited about the possibility of a Federer-Berdych semifinal.

Nadal, however, isn’t No. 1 by mistake. He pulled out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win to save Friday night’s long-awaited Rafa and Rog semifinal. Nadal is 14-8 up on Federer, but Federer will be way more rested after only playing three games on Thursday afternoon.

One thing you can count on is that the Crandon Park stadium will be a packed house for the 23rd edition of the Rafa-Roger show. And Miami fans know how to rock the joint.