Friday 1 April 2016 13:16, UK
Novak Djokovic overcame a battling Dominic Thiem in straight sets to claim a place in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
The world No 1 beat the 14th seed from Austria 6-3 6-4, but the scoreline does not tell the complete story as Djokovic was harried for long spells by his big-serving opponent.
"It was a tough match," Djokovic said. "I kept my serves. But I made a lot of double faults and he had me under a lot of pressure.
"I had some luck in that last game where he missed a couple of easy forehands to get the break back and get into the match. I stayed tough when it was most needed. The important moments I tried to make him play, make him run."
Djokovic was nowhere near his brilliant best in the opening set, making a number of unforced errors, but he was often able to lift his game when it really mattered.
Thiem forced eight break points, but was able to win precisely none of them, and a single break early in the first set would prove enough for Djokovic to claim the lead.
Djokovic took the advantage early in the second set as well before Thiem finally claimed a break at the 11th attempt to level the set at 3-3.
But such is Djokovic's performance level - he is now 23-1 on the year - he broke the Austrian straight back to lead 5-3.
Djokovic served for the set at 5-4 but Thiem would not lie down, saving match points and wasting a handful more chances to break before finally succumbing after a game that lasted the best part of 15 minutes.
His reward is a quarter-final clash with Tomas Berdych, who came through a punishing three-setter against 10th seed Richard Gasquet 6-4 3-6 7-5.
Milos Raonic produced one of the best performances on Tuesday's schedule as he crushed Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur 6-0 6-2, and he will play Nick Kyrgios in the last eight after the Australian beat Andrey Kuznetsov 7-6 6-3.
Lucas Pouille proved no match for 18th seed Gilles Simon in a battle of two Frenchman, Simon progressing 6-0 6-1 to secure a clash with David Goffin, who beat lucky loser Horacio Zeballos 7-5 6-3.
