An intriguing fourth round encounter between Canada’s Milos Raonic and John Isner is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon in Miami. It will mark just the third time that the two big serving talents will cross paths on the tour, with the Isner v Raonic Head to Head standing at 2-0. However, given that this is their first meeting in almost two years, this will likely be a more competitive encounter.

Canadian No.1 Milos Raonic edged France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(3) to secure his spot in the fourth round in Miami. He struck 20 aces and hit 39 winners to close out the match in two hours and 10 minutes.

“[Chardy] started playing more freely and I sort of went the other way,” said Raonic. “He played good the second set. I thought he played better than I did in the third set.”

Raonic will come up against John Isner, who upset ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-2 to secure his spot in the following round of the event.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning,” said Isner. “I hadn’t played at night here; hadn’t played on center court yet. Everything is different; the conditions are different. I wasn’t really going for my shots too much. “After winning the first set, it’s a huge advantage for me. I relaxed a little bit… His errors combined with me gaining some confidence out there is what ultimately allowed me to win that second set.”

This is just the third time that Raonic and Isner will meet on the ATP World Tour. Both of those previous meetings took place at Masters events, the first in Toronto, while the second was in Cincinnati the following year. However, much has changed since then and Raonic continues to close the gap between himself and the upper echelon of the tour, which means he could very well earn his first win against the American on Tuesday.

Prediction: Milos Raonic in Three Sets