JOIN USWorld number one Rafael Nadal continued his ruthless rampage through the Sony Open on Monday, crushing Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-1, 6-0 to reach the fourth round at Crandon Park.
Also through to the next round is Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, who looked sharp in a no-nonsense 7-5, 6-4 victory over Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Nadal, who has reached the final three times but never lifted the Miami title, blew past Lleyton Hewitt in the second round before overwhelming Istomin in less than an hour in a centre court master class.
Next up for the Spaniard is a fourth round meeting on Tuesday with Italian 14th seed Fabio Fognini, who advanced with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback win over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut. Further down the road is a possible semifinal meeting with third seed Wawrinka, who beat the Spaniard in the final of the Australian Open to claim his first Grand Slam title.
"I played a very complete match," said Nadal, who was given a warning for slow play. "No match is perfect but I did a lot of things very well. No mistakes, serving with good percentage, and playing a lot of winners.
"My movements were better than what I did last event events. That's a very important thing for me."
Wawrinka, who has admitted to suffering something of a Grand Slam hangover, has already matched his best effort in six visits to Miami. His win set up a last-16 meeting with Ukraine's Alexander Dolgopolov, a 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) winner over Serb Dusan Lajovic.
Canadian 12th seed Milos Raonic blasted his way into the fourth round with 6-1, 6-2 win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in 56 minutes.
Serena on fire
World number one Serena Williams led a stampede of top seeds into the quarterfinals but big sister and three-time Miami champion Venus could not join the party. After getting her title defence off to a slow start, SErena stepped it up a gear against Coco Vandeweghe, sweeping past the young American qualifier 6-3, 6-1 in 79 minutes.
But Serena's big sister Venus could not complete the Williams family double, falling 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 to Slovakian 10th seed Dominika Cibulkova just as the centre court clock was about to strike midnight. Li Na was no less ruthless, the Chinese world number two demolishing Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-2 in 61 minutes while Agnieszka Radwanska grinded out a 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-2 victory over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
Fourth seed Maria Sharapova defeated Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 while Kerber also needed three sets to get by Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Former world number one and 12th seed Ana Ivanovic seemed headed for a quarterfinal berth after comfortably taking the first set against eighth seed Czech Petra Kvitova but fell apart after that, committing 11 double faults en route to a stunning 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 loss.