By Chris Oddo | Monday, March 30, 2015

Neither severely tested, both Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori rumbled into the round of 16 at the Miami Open in decisive fashion on Monday.

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Nishikori, who left Miami without losing last year after he defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and had to pull out due to injury, appears to have picked up where he left off. He picked apart Viktor Troicki of Serbia beneath the midday sun, dropping only three first-serve points and breaking on five of six opportunities en route to a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

“Almost perfect tennis I did on the court this morning,” Nishikori summarized. “So really exciting that I'm playing good here. Maybe he was, you know, hurting a little bit, but still I was giving him a lot of pressure with my return. He has great serve. So I think it was a great game today.”

The world No. 4 will face David Goffin in the round of 16.

Djokovic pressured Steve Darcis early and often in the first set, racking up a bagel by breaking the Belgian’s serve three times on eight opportunities, but the Serb fell behind 5-4 in the second set when he netted a volley on the only break point he faced all afternoon.

If there was a problem for Djokovic on Monday it was that he had difficulty converting break points. He constantly pressured the Darcis service games, but let the Belgian off the hook on many occasions in the second set, coming up empty on his first four break opportunities of the stanza.

But when it needed to be, the world No. 1’s return game was fantastic. He broke back to love in the next game with Darcis serving for the set, absolutely tattooing a backhand return winner down the line to draw even.

"The first set was very similar to the first set of the first match," Djokovic said. "It went completely my way. Then the drop of the intensity and the fact that I haven't used the opportunities early in the second set resulted in a close second set. I managed to come back in the right moment. I kind of elevated the intensity and started playing a little bit more with depth on the ball."

Djokovic would take the final two games to book his spot alongside Alexandr Dolgopolov in the round of 16, but it wasn’t easy. Darcis had five game points while serving to force a tiebreaker, but a determined Djokovic refused to let him off the hook.

Djokovic improved to 21-2 with the victory and is bidding to become the first player in history to complete the Indian Wells-Miami double for a third time. The Serb has not lost in Miami since dropping a round of 16 decision to Tommy Haas in 2013.

In other action in Monday in Miami, David Goffin eased past Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets to set up his clash with Nishikori in the round of 16. David Ferrer was also a winner, 6-4, 7-5 over Lukas Rosol.