Rafael Nadal stormed to his second consecutive one-way win at the Miami Masters with the second seed reaching the fourth round 6-2, 6-2 over Radek Stepanek.
“I’ve had a good, solid start of the tournament, two good matches, comfortable wins,” the Spaniard said. “I’m so happy to be in the fourth round.”
Fourth seed Andy Murray advanced without firing a shot as Canadian opponent Milos Raonic withdrew before their match with an ankle injury. Murray would face his next test against French 13th seed Gilles Simon, who beat Austrian Juergen Melzer 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Berdych exits
French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) while Bulgarian hope Grigor Dimitrov upset Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Serb Janko Tipsarevic beat Ukrainian Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Japan’s 16th seed, Kei Nishikori, continued to roll with a win over Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanovic, Azarenka advance
In women’s play, top-seed Victoria Azarenka raced easily to her 25th win this season without a loss, crushing Brit Heather Watson 6-0, 6-2. Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska dispatched Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1, 6-2 while French seventh seed Marion Bartoli moved on over Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).
Former number one Ana Ivanovic beat Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 7-6 (7-2). “I knew from the beginning that it will be a very tough third round for both of us,” Ivanovic said. “We always have tough matches.
I really tried to stay calm and work and concentrate on what I was doing out there.” The Serb next plays Venus Williams, who needed almost three hours to overcome fighting Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Williams managed to hang on in a match featuring 32 break points and 14 conversions. Number 65 Wozniak served for victory in the third set but put a return into the net.
Williams finally prevailed in a tiebreaker. “It was tough out there,” the seven-time Grand Slam champion said, “but also it was made even tougher because she played well. “I just kept coming back; I tried not to let anything discourage me today. I kept thinking about how I really need this match and I need these ranking points [to qualify for the Olympics]. I want to play well at the big tournaments.”
