It wasn't Andy Roddick that Roger Federer was playing in his second-round match in Miami. But judging by the one-sided result and the mannerisms of Federer's opponent, you needed to look closely to discern if it was Roddick or Sam Querrey on the other side of the net.

When the tennis finally resumed last night (after a five-hour rain delay), fans got to see what they had been looking forward to all day – Federer’s first match since his shock defeat to Guillermo Canas last week in Indian Wells. His opponent was feisty American Querrey, who defeated Igor Andreev in the first round.

I felt that Querrey was probably one of the more dangerous opponents that Federer could have been asked to jump back into the fray with. Sam would be supported by the American crowd, has a smoking forehand that could potentially trouble almost any opponent and, most importantly, he had absolutely nothing to lose. I happen to think that Federer would have much preferred to have drawn Andreev in this round.

I’ve seen Querrey play before, so I knew what to expect, but I think this match cemented my opinion that he’s basically a Roddick clone, aside from the obvious Adidas/Lacoste apparel differences. Take a look at their forehand motion and follow through – notice a similarity there? The backhand also bears similar resemblance. But I think the biggest giveaway is the posture, which is a spot-on imitation of Andy. I’m not saying that I approve or disapprove of it, but even though I met resistance on the message boards last night, I’m contending that Querrey is a doppelganger of Roddick, for sure.

On to the match. Early on, I felt that Roger looked a bit sharper than he did against Canas in Indian Wells. He was being more aggressive, and simply looked more confident. That confidence translates to comfort on the court, and is one of the most critical elements of a player who needs to succeed week in and week out. Thankfully for Federer fans, he seems to have picked up where he left off (in Dubai).

This isn’t to say that Federer was back '100 per cent', though. He sprayed a number of forehands -- his bread-and-butter shot --- wide, although the swirling winds likely had an influence on a few of these. He also didn’t take advantage of the many break points he was given – it took him until the sixth one in the opening set to secure the definitive lead.

Despite all this, Federer took the set with relative ease by a score of 6-4. Winning the set without any real trouble was just the thing he needed after more than a week off, especially against an opponent like Querrey, who as mentioned, could have presented some trouble to the Swiss ace.

Querrey’s game was a mixed bag. He had a number of impressive forehand shots which kept Roger at bay on occasion, and kept the pressure on with quite a few cannon serves; very Roddick-esque. But his service wasn’t as automatic as Roddick’s by any means – Querrey served up seven double faults, including one on match point, which indicated to me that he was feeling the constant pressure that Federer was applying.

Sam knew that one drop of serve would basically signal the match over, and that’s what happened in the fifth game of the second set. During the later moments of the match, Querrey became quite frustrated, very much like another American we all know.

In just over an hour, Federer took the match by a 6-4, 6-3 tally, never really losing control throughout the affair and winning an astounding 96 per cent of his first-serve points. This stat might have prompted the commentators to exclaim “perfection and grace – Roger Federer.” I’m not disagreeing, but it sounds to me like they were advertising a cologne instead of calling a tennis match.

One of Federer’s potential opponents could be the same Guillermo Canas of Indian Wells ’07 lore. The final match that the Tennis Channel showed yesterday was Canas’s tussle with Juan Carlos Ferrero, which began when the rains originally halted play. Five hours later, the two players best known for their clay-court artistry put on a fantastic conclusion to their match, much to the delight of those who waited in the grounds for so long.

Once again, Canas showed off his tremendous ball-striking abilities – he takes it early, and he’s deadly consistent – which was the main reason for the fall of Federer in California. Combine this with a quick step and the fleet Argentinian is a tricky opponent for anyone. So it wasn’t surprising that Ferrero was down match points, even though he did win the first set hours before. Juan Carlos saved two of them, but couldn’t take it into a tiebreak, dropping serve and falling 7-5 in the third and final set.

Federer, should he defeat the winner of the Nicolas Almagro/Potito Starace match, will get either Canas or Richard Gasquet in the fourth round. With Canas, it’s a rematch that most of the tennis world would like to see; with Gasquet, it’s a match that the author of this website would love to see. Either way, it’s must see.

*** For more men's tennis coverage, go to www.gasquetandracquet.com ***