Rafa Nadal moved into the Miami Open semi-finals with a straight sets win over American Jack Sock yesterday while second seed Kei Nishikori was sent packing after going down 6-4 6-2 to unseeded Italian Fabio Fognini.
Nadal staved off four break points to avoid going down a double-break early in the second set, a pivotal game that set the stage for his 6-2 6-3 victory on the Crandon Park Hardcourt.
Nadal’s poise and shotmaking came to the fore when 13th seed Sock threatened to take a stranglehold on the second set.
“That was the key of the second set, two-love (down), 15-40,” Nadal said. “With three-zero a player like Jack, you’ll probably be thinking third set.
“It was a double positive thing. I saved that game and got the break back (in the next game). The match was much closer than the result says.”
Nadal could face his long-time nemesis Federer in the final, with the Swiss, who has today a quarter-final against Tomas Berdych, on the other side of the draw.
Federer and Nadal have met twice this year, with Federer winning both times, in a memorable five-set final at the Australian Open and in a one-sided straight-sets fourth-round thumping at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
But Nadal is not looking ahead to Federer, because his semi-final opponent Fognini presents a potential banana skin. Nadal has a 7-3 career record but is mindful he lost to the Italian in a five-set thriller on the US Open hardcourt in 2015.
“It’s like a dream maybe,” said the 29-year-old Fognini after becoming the first unseeded player in 10 years to make the Miami semis.
“This is a big, big tournament for me. I’m happy about my performance. I’m just trying to be focused on my game and do my best.”
Meanwhile, Venus Williams beat top seed Angelique Kerber to advance to a semi-final against Britain’s Johanna Konta.
American 11th seed Williams, who is seeking her fourth Miami title, survived a long first set before she completed a 7-5 6-3 victory over Germany’s Kerber on a calm evening in south Florida.
Konta, the 10th seed, had earlier recovered from the brink of defeat to edge third seed Simona Halep in a three-set encounter that lasted two hours, 30 minutes.
Halep was only two points from victory in the second set, but could not put away her opponent, who pounced on the Romanian’s evident emotional fragility to prevail 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2.
Williams, 36, whose previous Miami titles came in 1998, 1999 and 2001, will meet Konta in the semi-final, while Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova faces Danish 12th seed Carolina Wozniacki.
Williams, playing in front of a crowd that included her popcorn-munching father Richard, took nearly an hour to take the first set from Kerber, but made quicker work of the second.
Halep, meanwhile, got down on herself after losing the second set tiebreak to Konta.
“It was a really tough match, very high level,” Halep told the WTA. “I was so close to winning, I was two points away in the tiebreak, but she played very strong and deserved to win.”
Despite the result, Halep took comfort from a solid tournament as she works her way back from a knee injury.
“I’m happy to be here after the break that I had. I’m just disappointed I lost a match I had in my hands. But my confidence is there, the game is there, I just need to play matches.”
Her post-match comments were more positive than her negative remarks to coach Darren Cahill after the second set. “This is my character,” Halep grumbled to her coach. “Two double faults at the end of the tiebreak and I miss all the balls.”
Cahill told a sullen Halep she was a better athlete than Konta, imploring her to make her opponent run in the third set.
“You can write yourself off but I’m not writing you off,” Cahill said. “It’s up to you. It comes from within... be brave in the big moments.”
But Halep was completely outplayed in the final set, and she said afterwards her exchange with Cahill was nothing out of the ordinary.
“It’s just my personality to be hard on myself. I want to change that in the future. I can say that I’m better than before, and I’m working on it.” - Reuters