Murray, Isner and Tsonga Eye Fourth Round of Sony Open
The third round continues on Monday at the Sony Open Tennis in Miami, as the bottom half of the draw looks to advance to the Round of 16, as 12 seeds are in action led by number two seed Andy Murray. The third match on Stadium is a rematch of this year’s Brisbane final between world number three Andy Murray and 29th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Murray won both previous meetings. Despite being broken twice by Dimitrov, Murray prevailed 7-6(0), 6-4 in the Brisbane final as he converted three of four break point chances. Murray began his bid for a second title here on Saturday afternoon storming past Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1, has he won 80 percent of his first serve points and broke Tomic twice in each set. He finished runner-up last year (losing to Novak Djokovic) and is aiming for his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title since 2011 Shanghai (defeating David Ferrer). The 21-year-old Dimitrov advanced to the third round here for the second year in a row after his opponent Simone Bolelli was forced to retire with a wrist injury. The number one-ranked Bulgarian reached the fourth round (a loss to number nione Janko Tipsarevic) here last year as he defeated his first and only Top 10 opponent of his career (1-17) world number seven Tomas Berdych in the third round.
In the next match, sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga brings a 3-2 career record against 31-year-old Jarkko Nieminen. Tsonga is playing here for sixth time (12-5). He reached the quarterfinals three times and the third round twice. He has a career ATP World Tour Masters record of 65-39 with one title at 2008 Paris. Nieminen is playing here for the 11th time in 12 years (did not play in 2010). He owns a 9-10 record and is looking to reach the fourth round for the second time. He has a career 10-66 record against top 10 opponents and has lost 16 straight since his last win in February 2011 at Rotterdam over sixth-ranked David Ferrer in the first round.
In the evening session, the 20th-seeded John Isner faces the nine seed Marin Cilic for the third time. Both Isner and Cilic come into match with a career tournament record of 6-5, Isner reached the fourth round here in 2011 and Cilic reached that round in 2010. Isner has a career record of 24-43 against top 20 players and Cilic has a 30-60 mark. The 27-year-old Isner is the number two American, behind number 20 Sam Querrey. Isner reached a career-high ranking of nine in April last year. The 24-year-old Cilic has won 18 in a row against Americans since his last loss to James Blake in the fourth round at the 2008 Australian Open.
In the last match on Grandstand, the number one American Sam Querrey faces the number one Canadian Milos Raonic for a fourth time (Querrey leads 2-1). Both players came into Miami at second and third respectively with most aces on tour this year. Querrey won his debut match as the top American on Saturday has he rallied past Lukasz Kubot 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, hitting 12 aces. He improved to 6-7 in Miami and is looking to reach the final 16 for the first time in eight appearances. Raonic won all 22 of his first serve points to advance to the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Guillaume Rufin. Like Querrey, Raonic is also looking to reach the final 16 for the first time.
