Miami Open Masters 2017: Rafael Nadal, Venus Williams Advance to Semifinals

The 2017 Miami Open quarterfinals continued on both sides of the draw Wednesday with four star-studded matches.      

On the men's side, No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori sought to stave off an upset bid by Italian Fabio Fognini, while No. 5 seed Rafael Nadal attempted to carve out a spot in the semifinals against No. 13 Jack Sock—who has been in a groove through the first three months of 2017. 

Then there was the women's draw, which featured No. 1 Angelique Kerber in a prime-time battle against No. 11 seed Venus Williams. Finally, No. 3 seed Simona Halep attempted to book a semifinal bid against No. 10 seed Johanna Konta after she failed to advance past the third round at the BNP Paribas Open earlier this month.  

A recap of the day's action can be found below, while updated draws and schedules are available at the tournament's official website. 

TennisNow on Twitter also provided a glance at Thursday's order of play: 

Wednesday Recap

Men's Draw	Result
Women's Draw	Result
No. 2 Kei Nishikori vs. Fabio Fognini	Fognini 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 13 Jack Sock	Nadal 6-2, 6-3
No. 1 Angelique Kerber vs. No. 11 Venus Williams	Williams 7-5, 6-3
No. 3 Simona Halep vs. No. 10 Johanna Konta	Konta 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2

At this point, Nadal appears destined for the Miami Open finals. 

While it would have been easy for the No. 5 seed to slip up against the red-hot Sock, Nadal cruised into the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 straight-set triumph over the rising Red, White and Blue star. 

Tennis TV on Twitter offered a look at match point:

Now safely into the final four, Nadal is one win away from possibly setting up a championship meeting with Roger Federer. And considering Federer has already defeated Nadal twice this year—in the Australian Open finals and in fourth round at Indian Wells—Nadal would figure to be intensely focused on securing a win against his chief rival. 

As far as the semifinals are concerned, Nadal will meet Fognini after the Italian sent the second-seeded Nishikori home 6-4, 6-2 in a match filled with unpredictable stylings on serve.

Although Fognini appeared headed for an easy first-set win when he was up 5-3 serving for the frame, Nishikori broke back for 5-4. However, he couldn't hold steady on serve either, and Fognini broke right back to take a quick lead.

The second set was less dramatic, but it still featured its fair share of breaks as Fognini jumped out to a whopping 5-1 lead before he waltzed into the semifinals thanks to a breezy closing stanza. 

Tennis commentator Nick Lester provided a breakdown of what the victory meant for the Italian challenger: 

ATP Media Info provided some additional context regarding Fognini's achievement: 

"At the moment, I'm just happy," Fognini said, per ATPWorldTour.com. "Of course this is a big, big tournament for me. I’m feeling really good on court and other times, so this is the best thing that I can have this week. I’m happy about my performance. Of course, the result is positive. It’s like a dream maybe."

On the women's side, Konta put forth one of the most resilient performances the tournament has seen this year as she overcame several obstacles to stun Halep.

Not only did Konta drop the first set in swift fashion, but her title-bid aspirations appeared to be in serious peril when Halep was up 5-4 in the second set with a chance to serve out the match. 

However, Konta rebounded to force a tiebreak—which she at one point trailed 5-3—and battled past Halep to win the second set and force a third and final frame, as the WTA documented: 

With momentum firmly surging in her favor, Konta pounced on an opportunity to take control and did just that in the third set as she broke Halep twice to comfortably close out the match on serve, via the WTA on Twitter: 

According to The Times' Stuart Fraser, Konta became the first British woman to qualify for the semifinals at the Miami Open. 

Now 17-3 on the season, Konta will square off against Williams in the semifinals after she shocked Kerber on Wednesday evening in straight sets.

The New York Times' Ben Rothenberg provided some stunning stats regarding Williams' short- and long-term history against top-ranked players: 

The WTA relayed video of Williams' jubilant post-match comments:

As far as Williams' semifinal showdown is concerned, Konta owns a slight edge in their all-time series.

According to WTA.com, Konta is 2-1 against Williams dating back to their first showdown in 2015. In fact, Konta has won two straight against Venus—including a straight-set victory at the 2016 Australian Open.