Miami Open Masters 2016 Results: Wednesday Scores, Bracket and Schedule

The 2016 Miami Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, is beginning to wind down, with the semifinals in the women's singles draw now complete and the men's draw shifting over to the semis Wednesday.

Novak Djokovic defeated Tomas Berdych for a semifinal berth, while Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka each took one step closer to the final as well.

Updated brackets for the men's singles and women's singles tournaments are available on the Miami Open's official website.  

Men's Recap

Result	Score
David Goffin [15] def. Gilles Simon [18]	3-6, 6-2, 6-1
Novak Djokovic [1] def. Tomas Berdych [7]	6-3, 6-3

Djokovic played up to his No. 1 ranking with the easy victory over the seventh-ranked Berdych. The stats clearly favored Djokovic, with unforced errors playing a major role in the match, per TennisTV:

The victory came for Djokovic even though he had to play through a back injury that forced him to take a medical timeout, per TennisTV:

Berdych lost his 10th-straight match to the top-ranked player, but that wasn't the only streak Djokovic kept alive, according to Carl Bialik of ESPN's FiveThirtyEight:

Djokovic will take on David Goffin in the semifinals with a shot at the championship match on the line. The No. 1 ranked player is 3-0 against Goffin, ranked 15th, in their head-to-head matches, and has won seven of eight sets played between the two.

Goffin advanced to his second straight semifinal following a three-set victory over Gilles Simon. The Belgian recovered well after dropping his first set of the tournament. After the match, Goffin discussed how he knew remaining patient was the best strategy to get back into the match, per the ATP World Tour's official website:

"

The first set was tough because it was a good set with a good level. Gilles was really solid on his baseline, but I didn't serve really well in the first set. I didn't get any free points with my serve, so it was tough. I had so many opportunities to come back in the set. I didn't take my opportunities to come back. I knew that the level was there and I had to keep going like this, just to stay more focused on some shots to finish the points. Maybe just be more precise, because I knew that I was feeling really good.

"

The point below from the third game of the second set, courtesy of TennisTV, illustrates how Goffin waited for his opportunities on the baseline rather than tried to win the point with every shot:

Six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker also praised the 25-year-old for making a tweak to his game:

Serving as well as he did also helped Goffin in a big way. He won 68 percent of his service points, including a healthy 64 percent of his second serves.

The French Open isn't too far down the road. If Goffin can carry this momentum through April and May, he could be in a position to make his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Women's Recap

Result	Score
Victoria Azarenka [13] def. Johanna Konta [24]	6-4, 6-2
Angelique Kerber [2] def. Madison Keys [22]	6-3, 6-2

Keys enjoyed a strong run in Key Biscayne before Wednesday, but she was thoroughly outclassed by Kerber, who needed a little over an hour to put away the 21-year-old American.

Keys' offensive, power-based style played right into the hands of Kerber, whose best work comes on the counterattack. She was more than capable of taking Keys' best shots and coming through unscathed. The second-seeded German also completely neutralized the American's serve.

In her wins over Roberta Vinci and Irina-Camelia Begu, Keys won a combined 80 percent of her first-service points and 55 percent of her second-service points. Those figures fell to 64 percent and 28 percent, respectively, in the quarterfinals. She also suffered more service breaks (four) than break-point opportunities allowed (three) against Vinci and Begu.

With Serena Williams struggling in a big way, a strong argument could be made that Kerber is the best women's player in the world at the moment.

She has some competition from Azarenka, who dispatched Johanna Konta in straight sets. The 26-year-old Belarusian ran her 2016 record to 20-1 with the win. Both opponents were complimentary of one another after the match:

Konta was a more than worthy challenger in the first set. She knew she'd need something special to topple Azarenka, and she had it on occasion, such as this forehand winner in the seventh game, via the WTA:

Azarenka's reaction after winning the first set summed up how much winning the opening frame meant:

The second set was a little less dramatic as Azarenka earned two service breaks and cruised to the win.

"[Konta is] such a great player, and it's interesting to see what sort of player she was last year and playing well here, so I see a lot of potential," she said in her post-match interview with ESPN's Mary Joe Fernandez (via WTATennis.com). "I couldn't actually get a read on her serve in the beginning—it was tough for me to adjust—but then I got a bit lower and tried to get more returns in, be a bit more aggressive."

Thursday Schedule

Time (ET) Note	Matchup	Draw
Stadium
1 p.m.	Svetlana Kuznetsova [15] vs. Timea Bacsinszky [19]	Women's Singles
Not Before 3 p.m.	Kei Nishikori [6] vs. Gael Monfils [16]	Men's Singles
7 p.m.	Milos Raonic [12] vs. Nick Kyrgios [24]	Men's Singles
Not Before 9 p.m.	Victoria Azarenka [13] vs. Angelique Kerber [2]	Women's Singles

Thursday is shaping up to be a fun day of tennis in Key Biscayne.

Nick Kyrgios is one of the more absorbing stars on the ATP World Tour—for reasons both good and bad. When he's at his best, he can compete with anybody in men's tennis. Unfortunately, he can let his emotions get the better of him, as was the case during his rant against a chair umpire Tuesday.

"Anyone else, like [Rafael Nadal] did that, you would keep it cool," he said after the umpire gave him a code violation for hitting a ball into the stands, per Agence France-Presse (via ABC.net.au—warning: link contains NSFW language). "This game is biased as anything. You all know it as well. It's biased as s--t, this game. What else has it got to hide? It's ruined. Absolutely ruined."

He and Milos Raonic, who's playing the best tennis of career, should produce one of the tournament's more entertaining matches.

Kerber's clash with Azarenka, meanwhile, is more worthy of being a final rather than semifinal. Courtney Nguyen of WTATennis.com is already counting down to the first set:

Kerber has firmly moved past her hiccup at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, and Azarenka is potentially looking at her second title in as many tournaments.

Azarenka owns a 6-1 advantage in their seven head-to-head meetings, but Kerber most recently defeated the two-time Grand Slam champion en route to her Australian Open title. Having ended her losing streak, she'll have the confidence necessary to advance to the final.

Note: The full schedule for Thursday is available on the tournament's official website.