Rafael Nadal will continue his Miami campaign during quarterfinal action on Thursday against Milos Raonic. The winner will face either Tomas Berdych or Alexandr Dolgopolov in the last four.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (12) Milos Raonic
Nadal has already made it two rounds further in Miami than in Indian Wells as he heads into the quarterfinals of the Sony Open Tennis tournament on Thursday evening. The top-ranked Spaniard, who succumbed to Alexandr Dolgopolov in a third-round match two weeks ago, has dropped a mere nine games in three matches so far at this event. He hammered Lleyton Hewitt, Denis Istomn, and Fabio Fognini to book his spot alongside Raonic.
This marks the fifth career encounter between the two players. Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 4-0 and he is 8-0 in total sets with none having progressed to a tiebreaker. They most recently faced each other in the final of last summer’s Montreal Masters, with Nadal rolling 6-2, 6-2. Raonic struggled with an injury at the start of this season, but he is rounding into form with a quarterfinal showing in Indian Wells and now three more victories in Miami. The 12th-ranked Canadian has not dropped a single set so far at this event and he has been extended to just one tiebreaker. Unfortunately for Raonic, opponents like Jack Sock, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Benjamin Becker are not walking through that door.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
(22) Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (7) Tomas Berdych
Dolgopolov and Berdych will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday afternoon. Berdych has won all three of their previous meetings, all on hard courts. Interestingly, all three of those came at the Rogers Cup–one in Toronto and two in Montreal. They most recently collided during second-round action last summer, when Berdych cruised 6-3, 6-4.
Dolgopolov’s career has been marked by inconsistency, but he has not looked back since downing Nadal in the desert. The 23rd-ranked Ukrainian ended up reaching the semifinals and so far in Miami he has taken out Jarkko Nieminen, Dusan Lajovic, and Stanislas Wawrinka. Berdych advanced with wins over Stephane Robert, Joao Sousa, and John Isner. The Czech has been rolling, whereas Dolgopolov needed a third-set tiebreaker to hold off Lajovic.
Pick: Berdych in 3
