Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych moved into the quarter-final path of world number one Novak Djokovic at the ATP and WTA Miami Open yesterday, while Simona Halep joined the exodus of top women’s talent.

Berdych fired 12 aces in defeating 10th seed Richard Gasquet 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to square his career record against the Frenchman at 7-7.

Two-time defending champion Djokovic, a five-time Miami winner overall, must beat Austrian 14th seed Dominic Thiem in a later match to book a last-eight date against Berdych.

Romanian fifth seed Halep was ousted 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 by 19th-ranked Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, who advanced to a semi-final against the winner of a later match between Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ekaterina Makarova.
Bacsinszky’s “lucky charm” and friend, Swiss women’s overall Alpine ski champion Lara Gut, was in the crowd.

Only one of the 12 top women’s seeds remains, German number two Angelique Kerber, who beat Serena Williams in the Australian Open final for her first Grand Slam title. She plays American Madison Keys on Wednesday for a semi-final spot.

Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up, also crashed out in the Australian Open first round.

Djokovic, also a champion at Indian Wells and Doha this year, has won his past 12 Miami matches and 26 of his past 27.

The 28-year-old Serbian won his 11th Grand Slam title two months ago at the Australian Open.

Berdych has won only two of 24 meetings with Djokovic, having lost the past nine matches since a 2013 Rome quarter-final victory.

Thiem, who captured titles last month at Acapulco and Buenos Aires, and Djokovic have each won an ATP-best 24 matches this year.

Only four of the top 10 men’s seeds reached Miami’s last 16, matching an event record low, with three of them in the same quarter of the draw.
Source: AFP