The big Tuesday schedule in Miami had already produced some big matches and a couple of big upsets.
It was no surprise that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray sailed through, but something of a surprise that Stan Wawrinka and David Ferrer were sunk by young talents Alexandr Dolgopolov and Kei Nishikori.
Would perhaps the biggest names of all, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, sail or sink? Judging by their form in Miami thus far, they seemed in little danger, despite playing a pair of flair players—respectively No9 seed Richard Gasquet and No14 Fabio Fognini.
Federer, up first in the late afternoon sun, was one of a clutch of men yet to drop a set. He was, in fact, yet to face a break point in his 1hr 17mins on court—during which he had dropped a total of 10 points on serve in two matches.
Nadal, on the other side of the draw, had posted similarly outstanding statistics. He had dropped only 16 points on serve, faced down all three break points he faced and finished off his opponents for the loss of just four games in a total of 1hr 8mins.
Unlike Gasquet, Federer had yet to face a seed, while the Frenchman had beaten the dangerous Kevin Anderson comfortably. However, the Swiss had a dominant record over Gasquet, with the Frenchman’s only two wins coming on clay. But this latest match promised much: the slower court might suit Gasquet, and Federer would have to take the initiative.
Both played aggressive tennis in their opening service games, Gasquet firing a backhand winner to seal his hold, Federer playing an air-bound 98mph forehand in hold his serve.
Gasquet determined to come to the net before Federer could, and it backfired: Federer broke in the third game with some extraordinary defence, and did not lose another game in the picture-book setting of lengthening shadows and deepening colours. He took the set 6-1 in 23 minutes, dismissing his first break point of the tournament along the way.
The second set began in just the same way, with Gasquet unleashing a glorious backhand winner down the line from inside the baseline to take the opening game. Federer replied with a forehand winner to level 1-1. This time, Gasquet took it to 2-2 before Federer put his foot down, broke, and broke again for the set, 6-2.
Federer hit 25 winners for just 13 errors, and lost only eight points on serve—taking his tally for all three matches to a grand total of 18.
However, he next plays a man who beat him in their last match: Nishikori took a three-set victory at the Madrid Masters just under a year ago. Not that Federer seemed overly concerned, having watched the gripping conclusion to Nishikori’s final-set tie-break win over David Ferrer.
“It was one of those thrilling ends to the match… Kei did a good job getting it done. I only played him twice but practised with him many times, so we know each other well so there are no real secrets out there.
“Clearly I think it’s an advantage at this point now that I had a quick match today and he had a really brutal match against Ferrer. Can I take advantage of it? Can he recover quickly? We will see tomorrow. But I’m sure we will see him out on the court, giving it everything he has. He always has.”
So Federer’s serving stats and his time on court threw down the gauntlet to Nadal: Could the Spaniard also maintain his fast and furious form? One thing was certain: Nadal’s possible quarter-final opponent, Milos Raonic, was challenging both he and Federer on the statistics front.
Raonic had yet to face a seed, but he also had yet to drop a set, and had accumulated 39 aces by the time he beat Lucky Loser Benjamin Becker, 6-3, 6-4.
That notched up the big young Canadian’s 100th career match win. But to win his 101st in Miami would take a truly extraordinary performance. He had yet to take set from Nadal in four matches.