Rafael Nadal swept five consecutive games midway through the match, propelling him to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kei Nishikori to reach the quarterfinals at the Sony Ericsson Open Tuesday. The No. 2-seeded Nadal, a three-time runner-up at Key Biscayne, is seeking his first title in the tournament and his first anywhere since last year's French Open. Nadal broke in the final game of the first set when Nishikori sailed an easy forehand long, then broke again and raced to a 3-love lead in the second set. The Spaniard has lost only 14 games in three rounds. No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic also advanced, beating 20-year-old Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (3), 6-2. On the women's side world No. 2 Maria Sharapova of Russia advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Chinese eighth seed Li Na. Second seed Sharapova will next face the winner of a later match between US 10th seed Serena Williams and Denmark's fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki. On Monday, top seeds and defending champions Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka advanced while third seed Roger Federer crashed out. Djokovic defeated No. 27 seed Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Serb third round matchup Monday. American Andy Roddick upset 16-time major winner Federer 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-4, snapping the Swiss star's win streak at 16 matches. Wildcard Venus Williams defeated former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals where she will face fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska who rolled over Garbine Muguruza Blanco of Spain 6-3, 6-2. Venus follows her sister into the quarters after Serena defeated Australian Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-3 in an earlier fourth round match. The world No. 1 Djokovic, who won Miami titles in 2007 and 2011, saved seven of eight break point opportunities as he beat Troicki for the 11th consecutive time. Djokovic finished with two aces, one double fault and won 73 percent of his first-serve points in the 85 minute match. Djokovic next plays 17th seed Richard Gasquet of France, who beat Spain's Albert Ramos 6-2 5-7 6-3. Azarenka survived a scare from 16th seeded Dominika Cibulkova, gutting out a 1-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 victory in the fourth round Monday. Cibulkova made Azarenka, of Belarus, work to protect her season long match win streak which now stands at 26. World No. 1 Azarenka struggled in the first set then needed a tiebreaker in the second to get back into the marathon two hour, 47 minute match. She finished with two aces and seven double faults, compared to Cibulkova's 10 double faults. Azarenka advances to face France's Marion Bartoli, who easily defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-2 earlier in the day. Roddick beat Federer for just the third time in 24 career meetings. “It was kind of a game of chess,” Roddick said. “I stayed back on the returns, which is something I have not done with him often early on. He might have been a little bit surprised by it.” Roddick hammered 12 aces and won 74 percent of his first-serve points to outlast Federer in the two hour, one minute third round match. Roddick will next play Spain's Juan Monaco, who beat France's Gael Monfils 4-6 6-3 6-4. Leading American Mardy Fish advanced to face Spain's 12th seed Nicolas Almagro, who beat compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4.
