Nadal Set For 1,000th Match In Miami Action Sunday

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups & vote for the players you think will win!
Nishikori vs Verdasco | Raonic vs Donaldson | Nadal vs Kohlschreiber

DAY 5 PREVIEW: Third round action on Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau features No. 2 seed and last year’s finalist Kei Nishikori, No. 3 Milos Raonic, No. 5 and four-time finalist Rafael Nadal and No. 13 Jack Sock. They are the highest seeds of the six remaining in the bottom half of the draw. On Friday, seeds struggled in opening round matches with a 6-10 record. On Saturday, seeds in the top half of the draw compiled a 12-4 record. There are 15 countries represented in the third round with the U.S. leading the way with five players (most since 2011) followed by Argentina and France with four each and Germany and Spain with three each.

In the opening men’s match on Stadium, Nishikori squares off with No. 25 seed Fernando Verdasco for the fifth time (tied 2-2). Nishikori won the last meeting in five sets in the 3R at Roland Garros last year. Verdasco is trying to post his first Top 10 win of the season (0-4) and first since last June at the Queen’s Club in London where he beat No. 5 Wawrinka in 1R. Since 2014, Nishikori has won 13 of his past 15 Miami Open matches.

In the last day session match, Nadal brings a 13-1 career record against No. 26 Philipp Kohlschreiber, who defeated the Spaniard the only time on grass in 2012 Halle. This is Nadal’s 1,000th career ATP World Tour level singles match (821-178). He is the 11th player in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach this milestone. Kohlschreiber is trying to break an eight-match losing streak vs. Top 10 opponents since his win over No. 7 Berdych (ret.) in Davis Cup 1R tie in March 2016.

In the evening session, Sock looks for his second win against Jiri Vesely, the No. 2 player from the Czech Republic. Sock won the previous ATP World Tour meeting 6-2, 6-1 in the 2R of 2014 Memphis. Sock is off to a career-best 16-3 start and he is one of four players (Dimitrov, Federer, Tsonga) to capture two titles on the ATP World Tour this season.

On Grandstand, Raonic takes on #NextGenATP American qualifier Jared Donaldson, who lost the previous meeting 6-2, 6-3 on the Canadian’s home soil at ATP Masters 1000 Toronto last July. Raonic is playing his first tournament in a month since being sidelined with a right leg injury, which forced him to concede a walkover in the Delray Beach final (vs. Sock) on Feb. 26, then withdrew from Acapulco and Indian Wells. Donaldson is looking for his first career Top 10 win (0-3). In the next match on, Benoit Paire and surging Donald Young meet for the second time. Paire won the previous meeting on clay at 2012 Casablanca. Young is off to a 12-5 start this season and this is his best showing in eight appearances in Miami.

On Court 1, all three matches are between unseeded players as Federico Delbonis of Argentina takes on Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany for the first time on the ATP World Tour, followed by Nicolas Mahut of France vs. Guido Pella of Argentina in a first-time encounter. In the final match on, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy looks for his first win (0-2) against Italian Fabio Fognini, who won both previous meetings on clay.

Read Full Media Notes