Tomas Berdych sealed an easy 6-3 6-4 victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller on Monday morning at the Miami Open.
The world number 14 looked very comfortable from the start breaking for a 2-0 lead. The Czech Republican never looked back as he served big and hit the lines to frustrate a concerned Gilles Muller. A love hold service game sealed the first set for Berdych 6-3 in 43 minutes.
Unfortunately for Muller second set was sealed in similar fashion, with Berdych breaking in the first game for a 1-0 lead. Despite a break point opportunity in the second game, Muller looked under the weather and was unable to serve as well as he is known for. Berdych secured the victory on second match point to advance to the fourth round in Miami.
Despite a low first serve percentage of 45%, Berdych was able to win 22 of his 25 first service points to dictate play and move the tall man from Luxembourg around the court at his mercy. Berdych will look to make good use of this draw as this will be the only chance of getting to the quarters of a masters event. His lack of variety makes him useless agains the best players in the world. The former Wimbledon finalist will play either Adrian Mannarino or Borna Coric next.
In the same section of the draw, Roberto Bautista Agut and Sam Querrey took to court in a critical third round contest. The first set saw a number of breaks, in fact six breaks occurred in a nervy set from both men. It was surprisingly the American who broke the Spanish serve four times to grab the first set.
However this inconsistency didn’t last long from the Spaniard as he would break twice in consecutive Querrey serves to lead 4-1. The world number 18 continued to move the American around to grab the second set 6-2 in 37 minutes. Despite late resilience from the American, Bautista Agut roared to victory 3-6 6-2 6-3 in just under two hours.
We are finally to seeing the consistency that dominated 2016 from the Spaniard as he reaches the fourth round, still not enough to reach the depths of big players but this is a step in the right direction.
The 14th seed will play either Roger Federer or Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round.
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