Kubot And Melo Conquer In Miami 2017 Thursday Doubles Highlights
Kubot And Melo Conquer In Miami 2017 Thursday Doubles Highlights
Mar302017
Roger Federer continued his stunning start to 2017 by reaching the Miami Open semi-finals with a dramatic win against Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych.
The 35-year-old Swiss survived two match points in the deciding tie-break before winning 6-2 3-6 7-6 (8-6).
Berdych double-faulted on Federer’s second match point to gift victory to the 18-time Grand Slam champion.
In the women’s draw, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the final by beating Karolina Pliskova.
The Dane, ranked 14th in the world, dropped a gruelling 62-minute opening set against the Czech second seed before recovering to win 5-7 6-1 6-1.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who is seeded 12th, meets Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the fourth men’s quarter-final later on Thursday.
The winner will play Federer, who has now won 17 of his 18 matches this year, in the last four.
Federer, who claimed his first major for five years at the Australian Open in January, served for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set, only for Berdych to break to love and go on to force a deciding tie-break.
However, he choked at the crucial moment as his losing streak against Federer – which goes back to March 2013 – was extended to a seventh match.
Federer’s progression means a meeting with long-time rival Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s final remains a possibility.
Spain’s 14-time Grand Slam champion Nadal, who lost to Federer in Melbourne, recorded a 6-2 6-3 win over American Jack Sock to reach the last four.
He faces Italian Fabio Fognini, who became the first unseeded player in 10 years to make the semi-finals by beating Kei Nishikori.
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A highly anticipated quarter-final clash on Wednesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau ended up being a dominant performance for fifth seed Rafael Nadal, who ended the inspired run of 13th seed Jack Sock 6-2, 6-3.
“I think I was under control during the whole first set. In the second set, it was so important to save that game at 0-2, 15/40, and then get the break back in the next game,” said Nadal. “It was two positive things in two straight games that probably created a lot of damage to him.”
Seeking his first title in Miami after finishing runner-up here on four occasions, Nadal will now play Fabio Fognini for a place in Sunday’s final. He leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with the Italian 7-3, but the pair has split their past six matches. Their previous encounter in Miami was a one-sided affair, with Nadal recording a swift 6-2, 6-2 win in their 2014 fourth-round clash.
“I know him very well and he knows me very well. We played a few times and he’s beaten me a couple of times, too. It’s a tough match,” said Nadal. “He’s playing well, so it will be a good challenge. I need to play my best, keep playing aggressively like I did today and hope to have my chances.”
Watch Full Match Replays
Nadal opened the match by immediately breaking Sock in the American’s first service game and racing to a 3-0 lead. Maintaining control of the baseline rallies, he continued to keep Sock off balance and grabbed a second break at 5-2 to take the opening set.
But Sock refused to go away quietly. Hitting his forehand with great authority, he broke Nadal to start the second set. The 13th seed had game points to grab a double break at 2-0, but the Spaniard managed to hold serve and then quickly regained momentum. Nadal leveled the match at 2-2 and a double fault from Sock on break point two games later gave the fifth seed a commanding advantage. He closed out the match on serve at the first attempt to wrap up the victory in one hour and 23 minutes. Nadal improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Sock to 3-0.