Nadal hits back in Miami

Pa
Monday 29 March 2010 10:42 BST
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Fourth seed Rafael Nadal was given a scare by Argentinian David Nalbandian before edging into the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Nadal dropped the first set on a tie-break against the former Wimbledon finalist, who has missed much of the last year due to injury.

But Nadal turned up his level of play, as he needed to, and eventually won 6-7 (10/8) 6-2 6-2 against the wild-card entrant to set up a clash against his fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Nadal told http://www.atpworldtour.com: "When you go on court against a player with his talent, you are always a little bit scared.

"I think having a long first set was better for me than for him. I felt he was a little bit more tired than me. He started to have more mistakes, and was a little bit easier for me to play.

"I am very happy how I am doing in this American hard court season. Every match right now I want to be really important for me, and every victory gives me confidence."

Ferrer beat Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 to earn the right to face his countryman.

The most eye-catching performance of the day came from sixth seed and home favourite Andy Roddick, who steamrollered Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-2 6-1.

Roddick needed just 55 minutes to progress, converting every break point he earned and defending every one he faced.

"I felt good," he said. "It's rare that you kind of walk off thinking everything kind of went the way that you wanted it to."

Awaiting Roddick is Germany's Benjamin Becker, a 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7/4) winner over 18th seed Tommy Robredo.

Eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France won the day's late game, beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 7-5.

He will face resurgent former world number one and 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat giant American John Isner 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Spain's Nicolas Almagro was another winner today, beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2 6-7 (11/9) 6-3 to set up a clash with Brazilian 27th seed Thomaz Bellucci, who defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3 6-4.

The tournament has already lost several of its big names early on, with Rochus having claimed the scalp of Novak Djokovic, while Andy Murray tumbled out to American Mardy Fish.

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