After his very convincing display against Jose Acasuso in the second round, Andy will no doubt be full of confidence as he takes on another clay court specialist, Fernando Verdasco, in today’s third round clash.

The 22 year old Spaniard made it through to the third round with a very tight victory over big serving, Ivo Karlovic in the last round. Verdasco, who is the number 32 seed in the Pacific Life Open, has not enjoyed a good start to the year, and coming into this tournament he had only won two matches.

This third round encounter will be a repeat of last year’s match when Andy and Verdasco met in the second round at the 2005 Pacific Life Open. Andy won that match in a close third set tie break and will be hoping to repeat his victory over the Spaniard this time around.

Here are Verdasco’s stats from the ATP site:

Birthdate:15-Nov-83
Birthplace:Madrid, Spain
Residence:Madrid, Spain
Height:6’2’’ (187 cm)
Weight:179 lbs (81 kg)
Plays:Left-handed
Turned Pro:2001
Career High INDESIT ATP Ranking – Singles:30 (1/16/2006)
Career High Stanford ATP Doubles Ranking:67 (4/25/2005)

Speaking about Verdasco last year, Andy said: “I mean, he gets a lot of action on the ball, especially when he’s set. And, you know, he’s a confidence player; he goes for so much on his shots. So if he’s confident, he’s very, very, very good. I mean, he hits the ball about as hard as anyone I’ve played. I think he has a lot of up side. The pace that he hits on, it’s probably the biggest forehand I’ve played against. He just absolutely kills it.

Andy and Verdasco are fourth out on the Stadium One court today, with play beginning at 11am PST. Go to this link to see the Pacific Life Open television schedule and for live scoring links: [1] http://www.andyroddick.com/pacific-life-open-tv-schedule/

Stay tuned to AR.com for all the latest news from Indian Wells. Go Andy!