Miami Open Day 5 Recap, Frances Tiafoe vs David Ferrer Preview
The seventh day in this year's Miami Open began with Roberto Bautista Agut defeating Fabio Fognini in a close, gripping encounter - finishing 6-4, 6-4. Agut is set to face Novak Djokovic for a quarter-final place.
Their most recent meeting, back in Doha, went in the Spaniard's favour and he'll be looking to carry some of that confidence into a tricky encounter against the world number one on Monday.
Contrastingly, defending Open champion John Isner was victorious over Agut's compatriot Ramos Vinolas, winning 7-5, 7-6. Ramos displayed good fight before crashing out of the tournament against the unpredictable American.
Milos Raonic, the tournament's 12th seed here, lost in straight-sets against exciting British player Kyle Edmund. Despite neither being at their best with a succession of unforced errors throughout, it was the Brit who crucially showed more persistence and confidence - set to face the aforementioned John Isner in the fourth round next.
Ferrer vs Tiafoe: Match Preview
The star of the tournament thus far has been Spanish veteran David Ferrer, who has been the perfect embodiment of grit and perseverance until now.
Having lost the first set against Alexander Zverev, he came back stronger and harder to overturn the deficit and win in three sets during their second-round thriller. He's now set to face exciting young American Frances Tiafoe for a place in the last-16 - which will be the first meeting between the pair.
Tiafoe, 20, battled hard to beat another talented youngster in Serbian opponent Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6, 7-6. It took two long tiebreaks for him to overcome the challenge, in one of the tournament's most entertaining matches to date.
What does Tiafoe need to win?
Coming back to the match against Ferrer, there's no doubt he has to display the same grit and determination to win ugly like he did against Kecmanovic. Ferrer fights for every point, which could potentially test the youngster's temperament if he starts slowly with unforced errors aplenty.
The only way for him to defeat Ferrer is through patience: waiting for the opportune moment to strike back. Zverev failed to do that, as his emphasis was more on hitting winners and closing out the match - particularly after racing ahead with a first set advantage.
If Tiafoe replicates the German's mistakes, he will be picked apart by Ferrer. However, if he can wait and play as many rallies as possible, there's a great opportunity for him to upset the excellent Spaniard in the final Miami Open of his career.