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Nishikori vs Anderson | Nadal vs Sela | Dimitrov vs Pella | Raonic vs Troicki
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DAY 3 PREVIEW: There are two first-round matches in the top half of the draw and 16 second-round matches in the bottom half of the draw on Friday’s schedule at the Miami Open presented by Itau. Leading the way are No. 2 seed and last year’s finalist Kei Nishikori, No. 3 seed Milos Raonic and No. 5 seed/four-time Miami Open finalist Rafael Nadal.
In the opening men’s match on Stadium, Nishikori takes on big-serving South African Kevin Anderson. Nishikori has won two of the previous three meetings but Anderson won the last encounter in two tie-breaks at 2015 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai. Anderson, who reached the quarter-finals here in 2011, notched his first career Top 10 win over No. 3 Novak Djokovic in Miami in 2008. Since 2014 Nishikori has won 12 of his past 14 Miami Open matches.
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In the next match on, Nadal plays Dudi Sela of Israel for the second time. Nadal won the previous meeting in straight sets in the 3R at the 2015 Australian Open. The 30-year-old Spaniard is making his 13th appearance in Miami and he’s trying to win his first title after four runner-up results in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014. Sela is 3-13 against Top 10 opponents and his last win came over No. 7 Andy Roddick at 2010 Queen’s Club in London.
In the evening session, No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov meets Guido Pella of Argentina for the second time. The Bulgarian won the previous meeting in straight sets in Washington in 2015. Dimitrov is off to a career-best 17-3 start and he’s one of four players (Federer, Sock, Tsonga) to capture two titles on the ATP World Tour this season.
On Grandstand, Raonic returns to the ATP World Tour for the first time in almost a month as he takes on Viktor Troicki of Serbia. Raonic has won three of the previous four meetings and he has been sidelined with a right leg injury, which forced him to concede a walkover in the Delray Beach final (vs. Sock) on Feb. 26, then withdraw from Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Also on Grandstand is Brazilian wild card Thomaz Bellucci (vs. Stephane Robert) in a 1R match postponed on Thursday night along with No. 23 seed Steve Johnson (vs. Nicolas Mahut) and No. 13 seed Jack Sock (vs. Yoshihito Nishioka). Sock is ranked a career-high No. 17 this week after reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Indian Wells last week (l. to Federer). He is off to a career-best 15-3 start. Last year he entered Miami with a 5-4 record.
On Court 1, No. 7 seed Marin Cilic brings a 2-1 head-to-head record against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. In the next match on, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Malek Jaziri resume their 1R match from Thursday night. Next on is No. 15 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, the newest additon to the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (at No. 19). He plays Argentine Federico Delbonis, who has won three of the previous four clay meetings. No. 11 seed Lucas Pouille and Donald Young meet for the third time (tied 1-1). Last week in Indian Wells, Young prevailed in three sets.
On Court 2, #NextGenATP Americans Taylor Fritz and qualifier Jared Donaldson meet German opponents. Fritz takes on No. 26 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber while Donaldson plays No. 28 seed Mischa Zverev.