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By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, February 5, 2017

 
Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori battled by Federico Delbonis setting up a Miami Open quarterfinal clash of shotmakers vs. Fabio Fognini.

Photo credit: Miami Open

In an ATP landscape populated by taller trees, Kei Nishikori and Fabio Fognini showed there’s still plenty of room for sub six-foot shotmakers to bloom in Crandon Park.

Both creative forces will collide in the Miami Open quarterfinals.

Watch: Miami Open Live Blog

Down a break in the decisive set and looking a little hobbled at times, Nishikori regained control repelling Federico Delbonis, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to advance to the last eight for the fourth straight year.

It wasn’t always easy and Nishikori sometimes looked puzzled by his second serve and frustrated by some uncharacteristic misses, banging his Wilson racquet off the side of his head at one point. But the 2016 finalist kept calm, cleaned up his game and converted two of his four service breaks in the final set.




It is Nishikori’s fourth quarterfinal of the season following trips to the Brisbane and Buenos Aires finals.

Winless in two prior meetings with Donald Young, Fognini flipped the script outclassing the 50th-ranked American, 6-0, 6-4.

Young began the day as one of three American men still standing.

By early afternoon, there was just one as Jack Sock overpowered 20-year-old compatriot Jared Donaldson, 6-2, 6-1, in 62 minutes.




It was Sock's seventh victory in his last eight matches.

Roaring out to a career-best 18-3 start to the season, the 17th-ranked Sock could face Rafael Nadal in a battle of two of titanic topspin forehands in the quarterfinals. Four-time finalist Nadal must first get past Wimbledon doubles champion Nicolas Mahut in his fourth-round match today.

Empowered by his run to the Indian Wells semifinals last week, Sock is bidding for his fourth semifinal of the season. The 24-year-old from Kansas City has already captured two tournament titles—Auckland and Delray Beach—this season.

Invested from the opening ball, Fognini shredded Young's serve winning 14 of 19 points played on the left-hander's serve in breezing through a shutout set.

Fognini, who sometimes seems to operate along the fault line of inspired and unstable, came out playing calm crosscourt combinations.

Targeting Young’s sometime shallow two-handed backhand, Fognini coaxed a netted backhand to break in the opening game. That early break rattled Young’s rhythm into a jittery rash of errors as he gifted a love break and 3-0 lead to Fognini.

There’s a casual elegance to Fognini, who sometimes looks so smooth it appears he’s not fully engaged. Then you see him dab a flying high-backhand volley winner, as he did holding for 4-0, and it’s a reminder of Fognini’s exceptional feel and astute angles.

Fognini toyed with Young’s serve at the outset, zipping a backhand return down the line then zagging a sharper-angled backhand long.

Bamboozled by Fognini’s confounding returns, Young rarely controlled rallies as the Italian dispensed a bagel in 22 minutes.

After fighting off a break point in the second game, Fognini held firm. The 40th-ranked Italian broke for 3-2 and never looked back rolling into his second quarterfinal of the season.




Nishikori and Fognini are two of the most inventive and accurate returners in the sport. They will meet for the third time for a spot in the semifinals. The fourth-ranked Japanese has won both of their prior meetings, including a 6-2 3-6 7-5 victory at the Madrid Masters last year.

 

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