Nadal Marches On In Miami

Fifth seed Rafael Nadal received a rousing welcome on Friday at the Miami Open presented by Itau and lived up to his seeding on Stadium Court, moving past Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round.

The Spaniard saved both break points he faced and required just a single break of serve in each set to advance in one hour and 21 minutes. Nadal continues his dominance against Sela, boosting his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Israeli player to 2-0 and dropping just 13 games in the five sets they’ve played.

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Nadal is eager to clinch his first title in Miami after finishing runner-up here on four occasions (2005, 2008, 2011, 2014). He’ll now play 26^th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, a winner earlier in the day over #NextGenATP player Taylor Fritz. Although Nadal leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Kohlschreiber 13-1, the German has taken a set in six of their seven hard-court meetings.

Federico Delbonis caused one of the biggest upsets of the day in rallying to defeat 15^th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. The Argentine was down a set and 1-3 before beginning his astonishing comeback to claim victory in one hour and 44 minutes.

Benoit Paire got on a hot streak with his forehand to defeat 21^st seed Pablo Cuevas. The Frenchman missed a chance to serve out the opening set at 5-4, but regrouped by winning the next eight games to take the match. Paire improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Cuevas to 3-0 and has yet to drop a set to him.