Sixteen out of the 32 seeded players will be in action on Day 3 of the Miami ATP 1000 by Itau as the bottom half of the draw will play for a place in the round of 32. Second seeded and four time runner up Rafael Nadal, two time champion in 2009 and 2013 Andy Murray, 2014 Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych will be playing their first match of the tournament as all 32 seeded players have bern given a bye into the second round in the 96 player draw.

The line up in the bottom half is as under with my picks mentioned first :-

Stanislas Wawrinka (7) v. Carlos Berlocq
Adrien Mannarino (28) v. Albert-Ramos Vinolas
Fabio Fognini (21) v. Jack Sock
Feliciano Lopez (10) v. Dominic Thiem
Kevin Anderson (15) v. Sam Querrey
Leonardo Mayer (24) v. Jarkko Nieminen
Santiago Giraldo (27) v. Robin Haase
Andy Murray (3) v. Donald Young
Tomas Berdych (8) v. Hyeon Chung
Bernard Tomic (25) v. Austin Krajicek
Gael Monfils (17) v. Fillip Krajinovic
Jo Wilfred Tsonga (11) v. Tim Smyczek
Juan Monaco v. Ernests Gulbis (14)
Guillermo Garcia Lopez (23) v. Jan-Lennard Struff
Fernando Verdasco (29) v. James Duckworth
Rafael Nadal (2) v. Nicolas Almagro

Nadal should progress against fellow countryman Nicolas Almagro who was once ranked ninth in the world but is on a comeback trail after injuries, his potential semi-final opponent Andy Murray who won in 2009 and 2013 will square off against American left hander Donald Young whom he defeated in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup first round. Four more Americans are in the fray as the Frenchman Jo Wilfred Tsonga, playing his first match of the year takes on Tim Smyczek. The remaining three Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Austin Krajicek would also have their task cut out as they play more fancied opponents Fabio Fognini, Kevin Anderson and Bernard Tomic respectively for a place in the round of 32. Stanislas Wawrinka, the top ranked Swiss player in the absence of two time champion Roger Federer will try to put behind his second round loss to Robin Haase at Indian Wells as he takes on the Argentine Carlos Berlocq while Tomas Berdych takes on the 18 year Korean teenager Hyeon Chung who won his first tour level match when he defeated the Spaniard Marcel Granollers on opening day.

The most anticipated match on day two was the return of 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. It ended in a 4-6,6-7 (7) loss to Canada’s Davis Cup hero Vasek Pospisil who won both the doubles and the deciding fifth rubber against Japan in Vancouver. Once ranked fourh in the world, Del Potro was only playing his second tournament of the year after Sydney where he won two matches before loosing to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan who was also a winner on day two on Thursday.

However in the most intriguing match of the day former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was beaten by the Brazilian left hander in three sets in the final match of the day under lights. There were also wins for the Italian Simone Bolleli, Croatia’s Borna Coric, Russians Mikhail Youzhny and Andrey Rublev, Georgia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili, Austria’s Juergen Melzer, Alexander Dolgopolov of Ukraine, Jersy Janowicz of Poland, Argentine Frederico Delbonis, Alejandro Falla of Colombia, Steve Darcis of Belgium, the Slovak Martin Klizan and the 17 year old German Alexander Zverev.

– Rasesh Mehta [Rasesh Mehta is an analyst with the Tennis Galaxy.You can reach him at the email: sportzcosmos@gmail.com]