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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Djoker-Thiem!
I hope Thiem can pull off a stunner here.
I know rafa’s record is guaranteed to get broken but at least let’s wait till MC where he can try to stop Djokovic :/ haha
Thiemingly impothible.
haha..agreed
Didn’t watch all of the last match as I figured Ferrer would win. That was a mistake! Wow, didn’t realize he lost.
Some good stuff today. I’m thinking Nole in three over Thiem.
OMG….the last 6 games of Ferrer-Poille were just incredible to watch on tv….both men battling with all they had….fantastic drama and great tennis….have no idea how the Frenchman was able to keep his focus!
Nole in 2. NID.
Wow,when did Pouille start playing like this,he was pretty tame before.Now he’s playing like Thiem.
Yeah…Pouille has been on my radar for a couple of years. He goes in streaks it seems. That was a show!
Nole in a close 2 sets. But hope Thiem gets a set. Or, wins…
Ridiculous time violation call on MP…
https://twitter.com/tennistv/status/714176587621466112
Thanks Roger.
I saw that yesterday! The tennis channel commies were highly critical of that call. This rule is the absolute worst! No common sense allowed for when the crowd won’t shut up or after an insanely long point!
Also, very poor sportsmanship from Verdasco once the replay showed that his shot was out and Zeballos won the match. He did not go to the net to congratulate him. Zeballos went over to Verdasco after he shook hands with the umpire. The crowd booed Verdasco as he left the court. Well deserved after his boorish behavior.
Didn’t see that match, Nny. There was a harsh time violation penalty given after an agonizingly long point on Saturday, in those miserable conditions, that I did see, though (forget which match); very surprised the ump called it. I think there should be more leeway in certain circumstances. Also think time is abused/exploited in other instances.
I think it was rarely abused and the rule was both changed and enforced to stop one player. It was genius and it worked very well. He’s never been the same since.
I remember right after Rafa won the French Open in 2014 (his 3rd slam win out of the last five played) that Kafelnikov tweeted that Borg and Becker bet Mansour Bahrami that Rafa would never win another slam. I thought at the time that it was an outrageous statement, but I guess they knew something after all. He hasn’t even made a slam semi since!
афельников ЕвгенийVerified account
@KYevgeni
Latest gossip. Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg betted Mansour Bahrami,that Rafa Nadal will win NO more grand slam! Wager unknown.
https://twitter.com/KYevgeni/status/477375189265965056
Twitter regurgitation AT 6:36 PM.
No it’s not actually. I’m quoting a source from a retired tennis player and expanding on it with opinion.
You only have opinions on other posters (never on tennis itself) and links to tweets and instagram posts with absolutely nothing to add for which I’d have no issue if you weren’t so quick to criticize others.
You are nothing but an aggregate bot poster of others thoughts and posts – pure regurgitation.
Regurgitating excuses AT 6:56 PM, nothing new.
You ought to know about regurgitation in all its forms!
AT 9:23 PM,
I have seen a lot of hawk’s regurgitations, but I don’t know whether I have seen it in all its forms.
I don’t remember whether it started with posting photoshopped pictures of Fed on Rafa’s page or it started earlier. LOL
I should clarify that Rafa frequently exceeded the 25 seconds in ATP and 20 seconds in slams, but I wouldn’t classify that as abuse.
I also have seen many players (most?) exceed these times without warning.
Only going by observation over the years. Rafa not the only one getting away with extra time. But I don’t have a nagging issue about it. I imagine, hawkeye, that you’ve put more study into it and know more about it than I do.
As a Rafan, probably. 🙂
Rafa does it because of his OCD-like rituals. For me, a small price to watch his incredible tennis of which he is no longer able to produce at any level of consistency.
For me, the ATP has cut off their collective nose to spite their face and now one guy wins everything with little challenge. Nole is a truly great player but without challenge, it becomes a bit boring other than to see if he can complete the Nole Slam or Calendar Slam.
I felt the same way when Fed won virtually everything prior to 2008.
Not sure how to make it fair, Hawkeye. It raises other questions if one player is given a special allowance for more time. Can of worms? Attention Deficit and other needs would also apply. How about simply increasing the time across the board.
About one player domination – agree! No matter how much I like them – it gets old.
That!
Yes that wasn’t very cool of Verdasco but zeballos was getting lots of injury timeouts throughout the match but was moving just fine and only seeming affected after points. Pretty sure Verdasco was annoyed with him for that. Plus he should’ve won too. He had quite a few more winners than UE and zeballos had more UE than winners. Couldn’t believe Nando lost that one. Such a great opportunity for him but I am happy for zeballos. This is a breakthrough result for him to reach a round of 16 at this level. And Goffin isn’t the worst draw he could’ve gotten. Not the greatest either of course.
I think it was already fair before they added the new rule. I don’t think tennis was hindered and ironically feel it is hindered now.
Tennis wasn’t broke so there was no need to change.
Just to clarify that my post above is the response ti Hawkeye 7:34 PM post.. I couldn’t agree more…
Tennis is becoming boring like hell…I can only watch Nick K and the wunderkind Zverev and I put my hopes in them..the top 10 players including Murray, Wawa, and others are just pathetic and pose no threat to Nole…
Rafa is right. In an attempt to protect Roger’s slam record and appease him after he complained in 2012, the game has lost it’s nuance and complexity and is reverting back to the wham bam thank you man quick point game of the 90’s when men’s tennis began to lose popularity.
History repeats.
Nick Kyrgios wins and will meet Andrey Kuznetsov. Nice. I think Nick can get to the QF ?? Go Nick!
Well with all the other top players out, there is a path for someone to get through here.
What a weird tournament!
Oh yes for sure. Kuznetsov has been sneaky good this season with a 13-5 record so far after winning his first three matches here. He’s really played fantastic tennis and only just turned 25 last month so he’s got some time and more room to improve. Very solid game. Huge run for him in Melbourne and here. A solid player like him has a shot at Nick but I wouldn’t bet on the upset there. If Nick keeps up the solid tennis he’s been showcasing here, he could reach semis or even final. With the draw wide open due to all these upsets a lot could happen. What I would love to see is a Monfils/Kyrgios semifinal. That would be so great.
Btw I’m agreeing with u on Nick making quarterfinals. I’m just saying Kuznetsov could possibly get the win but I wouldn’t bet on it. I would go with Kyrgios in the QF like u said. He’s definitely a heavy favorite there. But there’s something about Kuznetsov. He seems like he could pull this one out considering he’s so good mentally while Kyrgios could always implode. He and dzumhur both impressed me by backing up their big wins over Stan and Rafa. Really nice to see runs from these guys here in Miami. Also great to see runs for Pouille and zeballos.
I just want to know what is going on with the other top players. They look like crap! Murray and Stan both knocked out early in I/W and Miami? Who saw that coming!
Fed had the stomach virus and is just coming back after the knee injury. Rafa had a good tournament in I/W and couldn’t take the hot, humid conditions.
No one is showing up and Novak Is primed to take full advantage.
Nativenewyorker MARCH 29, 2016 AT 12:04 AM
—Rafa had a good tournament in I/W and couldn’t take the hot, humid conditions.—
===
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Surprise, surprise! You admit that Rafa was affected by high humidity!
Oh please! But not all the time like you said. Ricky pointed out that Rafa has not retired in six years!
As Hawkeye said so well, this Rafa cannot handle humidity, but he has been able to do so throughout his career.
You do remember Rafa winning the North American summer slam in 2013! Right? There is no worse humidity than Cincy in the summer! New York too!
So Rafa has done it many times in the past. Unlike you, I have confidence in Rafa and don’t need to try to rewrite the reality of his stellar career by pretending that he has a history of not handling humid conditions.
I really wish that you would stop running Rafa down in that manner.
Nativenewyorker MARCH 29, 2016 AT 2:00 AM
1) —Ricky pointed out that Rafa has not retired in six years!—
2) —As Hawkeye said so well, this Rafa cannot handle humidity—
3)—Unlike you, I have confidence in Rafa and don’t need to try to rewrite the reality of his stellar career by pretending that he has a history of not handling humid conditions.—
===
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1) Ricky is correct.
2) I wonder what’s well in that hawk’s sentence?? What’s well in belittling Rafa?!
YOU have attacked me fiercely for my sentence: ¤¤ augusta08 MARCH 26, 2016 AT 10:35 PM: He has had problems due to humid conditions.¤¤
3) I wrote: “He has had problems due to humid conditions” and posted my old comment about AO2015.
YOU made up story (and keep repeating it!) that I am rewriting his CAREER. What?! 🙄
.
I really wish that YOU would stop constructing & spreading imaginary stories about ME! YOUR imaginations (about me) have no relation whatsoever to reality!
.
As for Rafa, I’m his fan! The only reason I’m here is to support Rafa. Because of that I can survive all the fierce attacks from the self-named “true/real tennis fans”.
Vamos Rafa – no matter what!!! ?
Only four top 10 in the round of 16.
That says it all.
terrible
Interestingly, six of the top 10 in the race to London are in the round of 16.
Milosh is no. 2 in the race and can add to his lead over muzza with each additional round won in Miami.
Not bad for a guy struggling with injuries.
Vamosh!!!
Another game for Milosh!
And Rafa’s friend Carlosh too!
Vamosh!!!
Nny you’re in Florida aren’t you? Why aren’t you at Crandon Park with Ricky?
Yes, I am about an hour north of Miami. But unfortunately, I am having asthma problems and am not well enough to even consider going. Sorry to go off topic, but you did ask.
I guess that I won’t be able to meet Ricky this time!
Sorry to hear that nny. Have you been to the Miami tournament before?
Hawkeye,
No, I have never been to Miami. I moved to Florida in June 2014. I would really like to get down there next year. I still have dreams of seeing Rafa in person.
hope you get better soon, NNY…