By Mario Sarmento
A championship battle highlights Wednesday’s 2014 Sony Open Tennis tournament action, as the last two Key Biscayne champs face off in the match of the day. No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 6 seed Andy Murray have a combined 50-11 record at the Sony Open and have won five titles – including the last three – and will face each other on Stadium Court in a quarterfinal match that won’t begin before 3 p.m.
The last time these two heavyweights faced each other was at Wimbledon last year, where Murray beat Djokovic to become the first British man to win the title since Fred Perry in 1936.
Djokovic holds a slight 11-8 all-time mark against Murray in 19 meetings, including a 2-1 mark in Key Biscayne. Djokovic won the last meeting between the two at Crandon Park in the Sony Open final in 2012. “Whoever plays better will win,” Murray said. “Whether I beat him the last time or he beat me the last three or four times, I don’t think it matters too much.”
Not before 9 p.m. on Stadium Court, No. 5 Roger Federer plays No. 20 Kei Nishikori in another quarterfinal match. It’s the ninth time the 17-time Grand Slam champion has reached at least the quarterfinals in Key Biscayne. “He had obviously a very difficult match with (David) Ferrer, but a great one, which everybody watched in the locker room and the player restaurant period. It was one of those thrilling end to the matches, you know, into the tiebreaker with match point saved. It had the whole drama,” said Federer.
In women’s quarterfinal action, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska takes on No. 10 Dominika Cibulkova on Stadium Court not before 1 p.m. and not before 7 p.m., No. 2 Li Na faces No. 11 Caroline Wozniacki in another quarterfinal.
The first match on Stadium Court features Martina Hingis and Sabine Lisicki taking on Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslav Shvedova in a women’s doubles quarterfinal match at 11 a.m.
