Nadal, Kerber reach fourth round in Miami

MIAMI, AFP: Rafael Nadal came back from an awful first set to defeat Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 and advance to the fourth round of the Miami Open on Sunday.

The Spaniard, playing his 1,000th ATP match, suffered just the 14th 0-6 set of his career, claiming just 33 percent of first serve points won and making a string of unforced errors.

After looking badly out of sorts, Nadal was able to rediscover his form in the second set and in the end ran out a comfortable winner.

Nadal said that there was little he could do against Kohlschreiber's outstanding play in the opening set.

"He was doing everything good. So that's sport, as I said hundred of times and when somebody is playing the way that he was playing the first set … he was playing too good. That's it,” said Nadal.

"The positive thing is I handled the pressure very well after a very tough first set. I resisted well the first few games of the second, and then I think I played a great second and third set,” he said.

Nadal said the key to his comeback had been his ability to change the tempo and rhythm of the match.

"It was obvious that the points had been too quick. He was able to return so quick and to hit every ball as hard as he could. So I needed to play a little bit longer points.

"It's not about being more or less aggressive, it's about changing a little bit the position on the court. I went back on the return. I tried to play a little bit higher balls against his backhand.

"That happened …and I think my serve worked so good in the second and third set," added Nadal, who next faces France's Nicolas Mahut. Mahut beat Argentine Guido Pella 6-4 6-3.

Japan's Kei Nishikori came through a tough test against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/2), 6-7(5/7) 6-1.

Last year's beaten finalist, Nishikori will face Argentine Federico Del Bonis, who beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Verdasco has yet to post a win against a top ten opponent this year but showed plenty of spirit in a two hours 44 minute contest on center court at Crandon Park fighting back to win a second set tie-break.

But Nishikori stepped up in the third, running away with the set to ensure his progress.

"I knew it was going to be a tough one," Nishikori said. "Fernando is a very solid player. He has a great serve and great groundstrokes. I knew it was going to be long rallies.

"But it was a shame when I was up a break in both first and second sets and both went to 7-6. I made some mistakes when I was up a break. But in the third set I was very focused," he added.

Injury-plagued world number five Milos Raonic pulled out of the tournament shortly before his match against American Jared Donaldson, citing a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

Canada's Raonic originally suffered the injury in the semi-final at Delray Beach and was forced to forfeit the final against American Jack Sock. He then missed this month's Masters event at Indian Wells.

In the women's section, world number one Angelique Kerber came back from a break down in both sets to beat American Shelby Rogers 6-4, 7-5 and move into the fourth round.

With no sign of the rain that interrupted the past two days on Key Biscayne, Kerber was joined in the round of 16 by Britain's Johanna Konta, American Venus Williams and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova all who had comfortable wins.

Although ranked 61st in the world, Rogers has beaten Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep and Daria Kasatkina in the last year and had her eye on beating the top seed.

An upset looked possible when the American won the first three games of the opening set but Kerber recovered to win six of the next seven.

It was a similar story in the second set where Rogers, having saved a break point, hit some good winners to go 4-2 up only for the German to power back and secure a fourth round meeting with Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki who beat German Julia Georges 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

"If you win the match, you're always happy about your performance. In the second set, she was 4-2 up and we'd played a long game. That was important because she was playing well, but I was staying positive and believing in my chances. I think that was the key to the match," Kerber said.

Williams had no such difficulties in beating Romania's Patricia Maria Tig, 6-3, 6-0 to set up a tough challenge against Russia's Kuznetsova.

"We've had a lot of great matches. I played her in the very beginning of her career and now we both have had great careers that are continuing to be amazing," Williams said.

"I know her game. I don't think there will be any surprises. She knows mine. I just want to continue to control the court. That's what I'll try to do."

Kuznetsova, beaten finalist in Indian Wells last week, was broken early by confident American Taylor Townsend.

Townsend had beaten experienced Italian Roberta Vinci in the previous round, but Kuznetsova wasn’t about to be another victim and took four straight games to take the set and then never looked in danger.

Tenth seed Konta beat 57th ranked Pauline Parmentier of France, 6-4, 6-0 looking in better form than she had in laboring to a three-set win over Belarussian Aliaksandra Sasnovichher in two-hours and 40 minutes.

The contest turned in Konta’s direction when she converted her third break point to take a 4-3 lead in the first set and the Australian-born Briton lost just five points in the second set.

Conditions were much improved over the gusty winds of her opening match, but Konta said she was pleased with both victories.

"My first round was very good because I could get through a difficult situation. Today was a cleaner match, so in that sense, it was also a good performance," she said.