By Chris Oddo | Tuesday March 27, 2018
Juan Martin del Potro continued his torrid tennis in Miami by notching his 14th consecutive win and booking his spot in the Miami Open quarterfinals. The 29-year-old broke open a close first set and reeled off nine straight games at one point to crush Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic, 6-4, 6-2, in just over 83 minutes.
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Del Potro improves to 20-3 on the season and 18-9 lifetime at Miami and he will look to match his best Miami performance since 2009 (semifinal) when he faces Milos Raonic in the last eight.
Del Potro beat Raonic in the semifinals at Indian Wells before saving three match points to knock off Roger Federer in a dramatic final for his 22nd career title and first at the Masters 1000 level.
Del Potro broke four times on seven opportunities and won 15 of 24 second-serve return points to dominate Krajinovic in their first career meeting.
He cracked seven aces and saved three of four break points to move closer to his third consecutive title.
Tiafoe Advances
American Frances Tiafoe played a dominant third-set breaker to take down Tomas Berdych and reach the round of 16 at a Masters 1000 for the second time on Tuesday. The 21-year-old was finishing a match that was suspended late in the third set after 2 AM on Monday night due to rain.
Tiafoe will face South Africa's Kevin Anderson later today in a round of 16 clash.
The American will crack the Top 60 for the first time as a result of his victory over Berdych.
Also advancing in early round of 16 action on Tuesday were Raonic, who edged Jeremy Chardy, 6-3, 6-4, John Isner, who took out No.2-seeded Marin Cilic for his first Top 10 win of the season, 7-6(0), 6-3, and Hyeon Chung, who battled past Joao Sousa, 6-4, 6-3.
Raonic, Del Potro and Chung have all reached the quarterfinals at both Indian Wells and Miami. Kevin Anderson and Borna Coric have shot to achieve the same feat today in Miami.
Coric is currently facing Denis Shapovalov in round of 16 action while Anderson faces Tiafoe this evening.