Nadal to Square Off With Berdych for Shot at Miami Title
March 28, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal
Rafael Nadal will meet Tomas Berdych in the semifinals of the 2014 Sony Open Tennis event in Miami after the two advanced on Thursday. The world’s top-ranked singles male Nadal needed two hours and 35 minutes to move past young Canadian Milos Raonic, while Berdych notched his 450th Tour-level win, a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Nadal advances to the semifinals for a sixth time in Miami and for a 52nd time in a Masters 1000 event. He is a three-time runner up in Miami, in 2005, 2008 and 2011. Nadal has a commanding 16-match winning streak against Berdych, leading the two’s career head-to-head matchups 17-3.
Berdych is through to the semifinals in Miami for the third time and will look to advance to the finals for a second time, falling to Andy Roddick in the finals in 2011.
"It was a very tricky opponent," said Berdych of Dolgopolov. "Even the conditions were not the perfect way that I really like. It was quite windy, so it was … a little bit more difficult. But I handled it quite well."
The other men’s semifinals match pits Novak Djokovic against the number 20 seed, Kei Nishikori.
