The remaining sixteen out of the 32 seeded players will be in action plus the postponed six matches from Day 3 will be on offer on Day 4 of the Miami ATP 1000 by Itau as the top half of the men’s draw will play for a place in the round of 32. Top seeded and four time champion Novak Djokovic, the two young guns of tennis Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic alongwith the Spaniard David Ferrer who like Djokovic has a 19-2 record in 2015 will be playing their first match of the tournament as all 32 seeds have been given a bye into the second round in the 96 player draw.

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

Novak Djokovic (1) v. Martin Klizan
Gilles Muller (30) v. Steve Darcis
Thomaz Belluci v. Pablo Cuevas (19)
Alexander Dolgopolov v. Tommy Robredo (16)
Gilles Simon (12) v. Mikhail Kukushkin
Ivo Karlovic (20) v. Alejandro Falla
Lucas Rosol (26) v. Alexander Zverev
David Ferrer (6) v. Frederico Delbonis
Kei Nishikori (4) v. Mikhail Youzhny
Victor Troicki (32) v. Simone Bolleli
David Goffin (18) v. Borna Coric
Roberto Bautista Agut (13) v. Jersy Janowicz
Grigor Dmitrov (9) v. Vasek Pospisil
John Isner (22) v. Alexander Rublev
Jeremy Chrady (31) v. Juergen Melzer
Milos Raonic (5) v. Teymuraz Gabashvili

Six matches from the bottom half still to be completed with my picks mentioned first :-

Adrien Mannarino (28) v. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Fabio Fognini (21) v. Jack Sock
Gael Monfils (17) v. Fillip Krajinovic
Jo Wilfred Tsonga (11) v. Tim Smyczek
Juan Monaco v. Ernests Gulbis (14)
Fernando Verdasco (29) v. James Duckworth

The defending champion Djokovic going for an unprecented sweep of both Indian Wells and Miami for the third time plays the left handed Martin Klizan while his potential semi-final opponent Kei Nishikori plays the veteran Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Canada’s Milos Raonic who was a semi-finalist in Indian Wells opens up against Georgia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili while the Spaniard David Ferrer plays the left hander Frederico Delbonis of Argentina.

The most exciting match would be between the 17 year old German Alexander Zverev who takes on Lucas Rosol of the Czech Republic. Another match up between possible stars of the future pits David Goffin of Belgium and Borna Coric of Croatia. Only three Americans remain in the draw following the exit of Austin Krajicek, Donald Young and Sam Querrey. John Isner the top ranked American should prevail over the Russian Alexander Rublev, while Jack Sock and Tim Smyczek will have to topple more fancied opponents, Italian Fabio Fognini and the Frenchman Jo Wilfred Tsonga respectively.

Only ten matches could be completed on Day 3 as rain washed out play in the evening. The top seeds in action Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray had identical 6-4, 6-2 wins over Nicolas Almagro and Donald Young respectively. However the closest match of the day ended in disappointment for the American Sam Querrey as he lost to the tall South African Kevin Anderson in three sets. There were also wins for Stanislas Wawrinka who had lost in the second round at Indian Wells and for Tomas Berdych who ended the hopes of the 18 year old Korean Hyeon Chung. Other winners included Argentine Davis Cup hero Leonardo Mayer and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, Bernard Tomic of Australia and the Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Lopez whose fellow countryman Feliciano Lopez the tenth seed was the highest seed to fall as he crashed out to the Austrian Dominic Thiem in three sets.

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