Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal stayed on pace for a possible final showdown while Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki booked a last-four match-up at the Miami ATP and WTA event Tuesday. Top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic, winner of the past three Grand Slam singles crowns, reached the quarter-finals of the $9.6 million hardcourt tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over French 17th seed Richard Gasquet.
The Serbian top seed will next face Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer, who defeated Argentina's 11th-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 6-3. "It's going to be very difficult. But I'm ready," Djokovic said. "I'm fresh physically, fit. Mentally I'm always there. I have a day off tomorrow, which gives me enough time to prepare for the next challenge."
World No 2 Nadal, a three-time Miami runner-up who has never lifted the trophy, ousted Japanese 16th seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4. Up next is French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ousted German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2. The Spaniard fired eight aces and won 65 percent of first-serve points while saving six of the eight break points he faced to advance in two hours and 11 minutes, improving to 16-3 on the season.
"The beginning was very tough," Nadal said. "I started playing more aggressively. At the end of the first set, I felt that I started to win my serves easier than him. I believe that I had more the control of the game. On the women's side, second seed Sharapova advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Chinese eighth seed Li Na, the Russian snapping a four-match losing streak to the Asian star.
Danish fourth seed Wozniacki ended the comeback run of US 10th seed Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4. Wozniacki had lost all three prior meetings with the 13-time Grand Slam champion. "It was important for me, definitely," Wozniacki said. "Serena has won so many Grand Slams and so many tournaments, something I would love to achieve one day. So to beat someone like her that I know that never gives up is definitely something that means a lot to me."
Williams had been sidelined from WTA events since the Australian Open due to an ankle injury. The frustration had Williams wanting to smash a racquet but she thought better of it, saying, "I thought about it, but I'm trying to be better now."
Sharapova, like Nadal a three-time Miami runner-up who has never won the crown, has a 3-2 record against Wozniacki. Sharapova's match began with five consecutive service breaks, but she found her form at 4-3, winning the last eight games of the match and 12 points in a row in one stretch to move on after 68 minutes.
British fourth seed Andy Murray ousted French 13th seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4. The Scotsman booked a last-eight date against Serbian ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic, who defeated Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/3), 6-2. US eighth seed Mardy Fish outlasted Spanish 12th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3. Next for Fish will be Argentina's Juan Monaco, who eliminated Andy Roddick - surprise conqueror of long-time foe, Roger Federer - 7-5, 6-0.