Miami Open Tennis 2015 Results: Full Scores, Bracket and Schedule After Thursday
The 2015 Miami Open went even deeper on Thursday. Top-seeded reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were both in action in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, as both continued great title defenses.
Hard-serving American John Isner was in action in the other men's quarterfinal match, while Djokovic had a tough test against the extremely fit David Ferrer. Williams needed to get past Indian Wells champion Simona Halep for a spot in the final.
Read on to see how all these matches played out. Complete brackets for both the men's and women's draws are available through the Masters tournament's official website, as is a schedule of play.
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| Women's Singles | Carla Suarez Navarro | Andrea Petkovic | 6-3, 6-3 |
| Women's Singles | Serena Williams | Simona Halep | 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 |
| Men's Singles | John Isner | Kei Nishikori | 6-4, 6-3 |
| Men's Singles | Novak Djokovic | David Ferrer | 7-5, 7-5 |
Thursday Recap
It makes sense to touch on every match, because all of them were of considerable significance. To start with the WTA side of things, 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro continued an improbable run through the competition by defeating No. 9 Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-3.
Suarez Navarro defeated the likes of Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams in her two prior matches, and she's in search of just her second WTA singles title. Relying more on precision than power, the 26-year-old hit 69 percent of first serves in and used a diverse array of shots to advance.
The first Miami finalist admitted afterward she'd rather face Halep, even though the young star won the title last week, via The New York Times' Christopher Clarey:
Such a wish wouldn't be granted, though a second straight trip to the final didn't come easy for Serena Williams.
After cruising through the first set 6-2, Williams appeared well on her way to getting past Halep. ESPN's Howard Bryant alluded to a fact that could have saved a lot of time for a less mentally tough player than Halep:
Halep wouldn't be denied easily, though. She dropped just one point in breaking Williams to go up 5-4, and she served out from there to force a third set.
But Williams began to dominate again, surging out to a 4-1 lead and looking to be in firm command. Her opponent proved to have serious resolve, rallying to even the score at 5-5. When it mattered most, Williams got the break to close the match in a hard-fought 7-5 finale.
Former world No. 1 Chris Evert noticed Halep was exasperated at times when Williams was at her best:
The same frustration boiled over for Williams when she couldn't put Halep away, at least in part prompting this reaction from ESPN's Pam Shriver:
To jump over to the men's draw, a most impressive showcase from Isner kicked off the men's slate for Thursday, as he dismantled Nishikori with little resistance.
As much as Nishikori's fitness has helped him rise among the best in the game, Isner's sensational serving ensured that his opponent was no match en route to clinching a semifinals berth. Isner overpowered Nishikori, winning 28 of 36 first-serve points and losing just three of 16 on his second serve.
IMG Academy founder Nick Bollettieri tweeted his thoughts:
The man to beat is still Djokovic, of course. When The Serbinator is clicking, he looks unstoppable even against the most formidable foes. This wasn't the case on Thursday against Ferrer.
Djokovic has had his fair share of struggles amid a strong stretch of bottom-line performances. This is another deep run in a marquee event, with Djokovic backing up his title at Indian Wells last week with another stellar showing at Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
TennisTV captured a key point in the match toward the beginning of the second set after Djokovic had to grind to fend off Ferrer in the first:
Although Djokovic was broken serving for the match up 5-4, he broke back the very next game and didn't miss out on his next opportunity.
Hitting 34 winners to 37 unforced errors, per TennisTV, showed that Djokovic wasn't quite at the top of his game. It says something that he was still able to eliminate the sixth-seeded Ferrer in straight sets.
Considering how shaky Djokovic's form has been at times, it will be interesting to see how he fares against Isner in the semifinals. Isner is playing perhaps the best tennis of his career at the moment, and he'll need to stay in attack mode if he's meant to take down Djokovic, whom he lost to in the fourth round at Indian Wells.
The other men's semifinal on Friday features two all-court players in Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych, both of whom are fully capable of winning the title. This sets up a fascinating final four that will coincide with the NCAA college basketball tournament.
As nice of a story as Suarez Navarro is in reaching the end of the women's draw, she doesn't have the groundstroke firepower to hang with Williams on a consistent basis.
It would be a surprise to see the Spaniard grab a set off the American legend, though it's never worth missing Williams at the peak of her powers—a place she figures to be again on Saturday with another trophy in tow.
Note: Stats and results courtesy of MiamiOpen.com.
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