So it was on to Miami today after a couple of days back in the office after Indian Wells... quite a contrast between the pastel desert landscape and the tropics of Florida, where everything that’s not paved over is lush and green. That’s not saying much when it comes to Miami, of course, but Key Biscayne is relatively unspoiled. Yet the hum and harder edge of the big city does carry over into the event.

And when you come alongside the spring break crowd, like I did – and after spending two weeks among the largely post-retirement population in the Indian Wells area – it’s definitely a very different vibe.

The other different thing, of course, is the rain here, but it did mean I was in good time to see Roger Federer play for the first time since The Loss.

Federer hasn’t two matches in row since Hamburg and Paris in – wait for it – 2003, so obviously a defeat today was unthinkable. On paper, he rebounded nicely from his defeat to Guillermo Canas in Indian Wells with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sam Querrey. Still, he was a little antsy in the blustery conditions late at night, if view from the press seats is anythign to go by – and it should be, because they’re excellent. Even up a break in a second set, Federer flicked away a ball in annoyance after missing. “I was feeling terrible a couple of days ago... no timing,” he said. “So I’m just happy I came through.”

Of course, if Federer hadn’t lost at Indian Wells, we’d just call that his usual slow start to a tournament.

In the stands was his comrade-in-dominance, Tiger Woods, but he's getting used to that: “It was way more difficult at the US Open... today was no problem. He was sitting far back, and it was much more easy. Now I know him too, so it’s more relaxed."

Federer noted that Woods stuck around despite the weather. "I called him up and said, 'Hey, it's raining here. You maybe want to go back to your ship [boat]. And he said, 'No, I'm going to come out and see you and wait around.'"

There was definitely no Annika Sorenstam watching the defending women’s champ – or too many other people either. Svetlana Kuznetsova got moved to an outside court because of the rain and finished well after midnight. Guillermo Canas otulasted Juan Carlos Ferrero in another barnburner, so the potential fourth-round Rematch with Federer is still a possibility.

It feels odd to arrive in the middle of an event, a bit like going to a restaurant too late for the buffet and having to order a la carte. With any luck, the food is better – and certainly the presentation is – but you miss getting a taste of everything.

One of the things I was particularly sorry to miss was the Andy Roddick vs. Martin Vassallo Arguello match. Not for any expectations of a great contest, or anything to do with Roddick, but just because it was a chance to write about Vassallo Arguello.

C’mon, don’t roll your eyes like that. Have I ever steered you wrong (this week, anyway)? It’s been high on the want-to-do list since Buenos Aires, when an Argentine journalist passed along some details about him. Vassallo Arguello is apparently pretty heavy into politics, partly thanks to having politically active parents  – his mother is a teacher and conflicting reports have his father as either a journalist or a government worker.

Vassallo Arguello had to do the normal signing-the-camera routine after one of his wins at the French Open last year, but instead of his name, he wrote Che Guevara’s famous line: “Hasta la victoria siempre” (always towards victory).

It’s not just a passive interest either. He was in Chile towards the end of last year, spending time with his Chilean girlfriend and working a bit with Chilean coach Horacio de la Pena, and happened to be there during Augusto Pinochet’s funeral. The event piqued his curiosity, and he joined the throngs with a hand-held video camera to talk to both supporters and denouncers of the divisive former leader. Finding he couldn’t get in to see the body, he got access by pretending to be a journalist and filmed the moment for posterity.

He also puts up tennis-related videos on a website he runs with another player, and at the French, called himself a ‘representative of the tennis poor.’

See? Told you.

Anyway, it’ll have to wait because Vassallo Arguello is out. Other events to have come and gone: Marat Safin losing to Feliciano Lopez in the most GQ match of the first round, and Juan Martin del Potro taking out Marcos Baghdatis. Tommy Haas’ good run this year hit a speed bump and Blake's rapidly declining year continued on its merry way.

The women’s draw, which is a fascinating one here, is just starting to revv up (more on that below). 14-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito got the early attention on the women’s side, and not just because no one could figure out how to write down her name (Larcherde Brito? Larcher de Brito? Larcher Debrito?). She won her first match against Meghann Shaughnessy before falling to Daniela Hantuchova.

So yes, tennis has actually been played these last few days, though official reports from the tournament made it hard to tell. Here are the headlines from the ‘Sony Ericsson Open Notes’ on Saturday:

SONY ERICSSON OPEN SETS ALL-TIME ATTENDANCE RECORD SHARAPOVA GIVES HER APPROVAL... “I think they’ve done a great job with the event.  I think they’ve added another dimension to the fans.  I’ve gotten to walk around the site a little bit before, without any crowd or anything.  It’s good to see, I think, anything that can help the crowd and make it more entertaining.  I think that’s what our sport needs is entertainment because after all, that’s what we are.”
STARS SHINE BRIGHT IN STADIUM COURT: Several celebrities were in attendance for Saturday’s day session at Stadium Court to watch Maria Sharapova and the beginning of the Venus Williams match before the rain appeared...
ROBERTO CAVALLI HOSTS SECOND FASHION SHOW OF THE TOURNAMENT
MATTEK AND PIN VISIT NIGHT TENNIS
UNITED STATES SPORTS ACADEMY HOLDS TWO AWARD CEREMONIES: 
COOKING SKILLS TO BE PUT TO THE TEST

Lest anyone think this is an unrepresentative sample because Saturday was a rainy day, here are the headlines from Friday:

SONY ERICSSON OPEN CONTINUES STRONG ATTENDANCE
MORE ON ATTENDANCE
BIG SATURDAY NIGHT EXTRAVAGANZA SET
FILA HOSTS FIRST FASHION SHOW OF THE TOURNAMENT
SONY ERICSSON WTA PLAYER PERFORMS NATIONAL ANTHEM
ATP AND NHL PROFESSIONALS INTERACT
NIGHT TENNIS REQUESTS THROUGH THE ROOF
AND THE WINNER IS: The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour held its annual awards ceremony Friday night inside the Sony Ericsson Main Interview room.

(By the way, the daily ‘schedule of events’ doesn’t have any matches listed on it either.)

But don’t let that fool you, because there’s some high-powered tennis to be played in the next couple of days, especially on the women’s side. Venus Williams had a frustrating day, going on and off several times before finally dispatching Maria Kirlenko at around 10:00 in the evening. Next up is the highly-anticipated match with Maria Sharapova, who wasn’t tested too much by the 17-year-old Yung-Jan Chan.

The match is tough to call because Sharapova still seems a bit wobbly (8 double faults today) and has to be a little distracted because her hitting partner/coach Michael Joyce is not in town for family reasons. Venus, meanwhile, is putting up good results well for someone still so early on the comeback trail, but doesn’t quite look like she’s playing at the top level yet. The fact that Sharapova finished her match so much earlier in the day should be an advantage.

Whoever wins, there’ll be an even more anticipated match to follow if Serena Williams beats Lucie Safarova – it’ll be either Serena against sister Venus, or Serena against Sharapova, whom she demolished in the Australian Open final.

Serena also finished late in the evening and rated herself “decent” today, though there were some scratchy moments during the late stages of the match – her first since that Australian Open final. But hey, she still has a match to play herself back into shape. As Serena said, for her, “the easiest part of tennis is playing tournaments.”

And to top it all off, it’ll be a quick turnaround: after playing today, they’re all scheduled to go back out there tomorrow, and the winners then get to play again for the third day in a row.

If there’s no rain.