JOIN USNadal, Djokovic sail into quarters
World number one Novak Djokovic and second ranked Rafael Nadal moved into the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open with straight set victories on Tuesday.
Djokovic, a 7-5, 6-3 winner against Richard Gasquet, had a game on his hands in the opening set when he was broken in the fourth game by a fine backhand winner from the Frenchman.
The Serb, defending champion, broke back in the sixth only to face break point in the ninth game, but three times he held firm and was able to emerge with the set.
The Frenchman’s determination faded in the second set as Djokovic broke in the fourth and sixth games to run out winner in one hour 40 minutes.
Djokovic will play Spain’s David Ferrer, who beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal, a three-time finalist at the Miami Masters series event, beat 16th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-4.
Nadal will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the quarterfinals, after the Frenchman defeated Florian Meyer of Germany 6-3, 6-2.
Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinals matchup with Janko Tipsarevic, who earlier beat unseeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, 6-2.
In other fourth round action, American Mardy Fish fought past Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 and will face Argentine Juan Monaco.
Monaco beat Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-0.
Wozniacki stuns Serena
Caroline Wozniacki enjoyed her first victory over Serena Williams, winning 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to set up a semifinal clash with Maria Sharapova.
Wozniacki had lost all of her three previous meetings with the American but was on top early, breaking in the third game of the first set.
Second seed Sharapova eased into the semifinals after ending her jinx against China’s Li Na with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win.
The Russian had lost her previous four meetings with Li in straight sets, including the semifinals of last year’s French Open, but needed just 68 minutes to seal victory on Tuesday.
Bhupathi-Bopanna win
Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna came from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 against Michael Llodra of France and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and move into the semifinals.
The sixth-seeded ‘Indian Express’ duo took an hour and eight minutes to beat their third-seeded opponents.
The Indian combo saved as many as four breakpoints out of six that the French-Serbian pair got. While on their part, Bhupathi-Bopanna could cash in on just one out of the three breakpoints they got.
The Indians will next take on the winner of the other quarterfinal match between the Polish-Serbian duo of Lukasz Kubot-Janko Tipsarevic and Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Canada’s Daniel Nestor.