Milos Raonic and Aleksandra Wozniak Reach Third Round in Miami

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Raonic sets up showdown with Andy Murray, Wozniak gets Petra Kvitova or Venus Williams

Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) and Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) advanced to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida on Friday, a combined ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier event. 

For the second match in a row, Wozniak mounted an impressive comeback against world no. 28 Monica Niculescu of Romania. The 24-year-old Canadian erased a 0-4, two break deficit in the third set and won the last six games to come away with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. This is Wozniak’s first win over a Top 30 opponent since the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto last summer when she beat then world no. 23 Shahar Peer. This also marks the first time that she has 
reached the third round of a WTA event outside of the Grand Slams since Charleston in 2009. On Sunday, Wozniak will play the winner of the marquee matchup between world no. 3 Petra Kvitova and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams. She goes into the encounter on a seven match winning streak having won the Nassau Challenger in the Bahamas. 

For his part, Raonic won a tight first set tiebreak en route to a 7-6(7), 6-2 triumph over France’s Arnaud Clément to set up a third round showdown with world no. 4 Andy Murray of Great Britain on Sunday. It will be the first meeting between the two players. After receiving a first round bye as the tournament’s no. 26 seed, Raonic hit 17 aces in his opening match and won 80 percent of his first serve points. 

On Saturday in Key Biscayne, Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ontario), who is on his own ten match winning streak after qualifying for the main draw and winning the Dallas Challenger last week, will play his second round match against world no. 8 Mardy Fish of the United States. The match is scheduled for fourth after 11 a.m. E.T. on Grandstand Court. In addition, Raonic will play his second round doubles match alongside South Africa’s Kevin Andrerson against third seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic. Daniel Nestor (Toronto, ON) and his partner, Max Mirnyi of Belarus will open their Miami campaign on Saturday against Eric Butorac and Bruno Soares.