Order was restored to the Miami Open on Sunday, when scorching conditions relinquished at least a small part of their grip on Crandon Park Tennis center. Three retirements in the men’s singles draw had taken place amidst brutal heat on Saturday, which was not what the tournament needed 24 hours after Roger Federer withdrew due to illness. But no early stoppages plagued the field on Sunday as third-round action got underway.
Novak Djokovic’s only real trouble came in the form of a nasty fall during his first set against Joao Sousa. The world No. 1 also dropped serve twice in the opener, but he eventually picked up the pace and cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
“I slipped few times,” Djokovic reflected. “Conditions here are quite different from Indian Wells. It’s pretty humid. Players are sweating a lot, so you have some obviously spots, especially behind the baseline, where it’s a little bit too wet…. That first set went down to a few points; (a) couple (of) long games when I lost my serve and then I broke him back. After that it was quite a good performance.”
It was an absolutely dominant one in set two. Djokovic donated a mere three points in three service games while breaking Sousa on three occasions. Sousa won only 10 points in the entire set before bowing out after one hour and 17 minutes.
“(The) second set felt much more comfortable,” the top-seeded Serb commented. “(I was) serving very well the entire day. It’s not easy. Obviously everybody talks about conditions being different, but it’s something that you have to accept. It’s same for your opponent and you. I’m glad that I managed to finish the match the way (I did).”
Four of the eight men’s singles showdowns on Sunday took long, circuitous routes to finish. A quartet of contests went the distance and each of those four lasted more than two and half hours.
Tomas Berdych and Steve Johnson kicked the day on stadium court and the favorite needed two hours and 43 minutes to hold off Johnson 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3. On the Grandstand, lucky loser Horacio Zeballos fought off one match point before upsetting Fernando Verdasco 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in two hours and 34 minutes. Following a Richard Gasquet beatdown of Benoit Paire in between, Gilles Simon outlasted Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in two hours and 46 minutes. It was the sixth time in as many head-to-head encounters that Simon and Cilic went to a final set.
Arguably the best was saved for last, as the nightcap in the stadium saw David Ferrer and Lucas Pouille battle to just a few minutes shy of 12:00 a.m. After two hours and 45 minutes of a back-and-forth affair, Pouille pulled off a 6-7(1), 7-6(5), 7-5 upset. The Frenchman held serve at 6-5 in the third set after trailing 15-40 down to clinch the biggest win of his career.
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