Djokovic to face Ferrer in Sony Ericsson Open quarters

Miami (Florida), March 28 (IANS) World No.1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the Sony Ericsson Open, Miami 2012, tennis quarterfinals defeating 17th seed Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 40 minutes.

Djokovic will face Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. Ferrer dismissed Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-3 Tuesday night.

Djokovic started slow, falling behind 1-3 before settling into the fourth-round clash. The Serbian converted three of his 10 break point opportunities to notch his sixth victory in seven meetings with the Frenchman.

"He came up with some great shots today. I thought that he had really good chances to win the first set. I managed to stay composed, play well when I needed to, and then, it was much different when (I had the) set advantage," Djokovic told the tournament website.

Ferrer won 77 per cent of his first serve points, and broke the Argentine three times to wrap up the win in one hour and 36 minutes.

"I played very well tonight. I played very consistent, very solid," said Ferrer. "A good performance and maybe my best match this year... My best results are on hard courts. I like this surface. I like the fans here in Miami. I like this tournament."

Del Potro dropped his second straight meeting to Ferrer, after falling in five sets to the World No.5 in a Davis Cup Final rubber last December.

Ferrer is 5-7 against Djokovic, having bowed out to the 24-year-old in the Australian Open quarter-finals. Djokovic went on the claim his fifth Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park. Ferrer's last victory over the top seed came in the round-robin stage of the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Eighth seed Mardy Fish moved into the quarter-finals for the second straight year, topping No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3.

Fish, who became the top-ranked American after his semi-final run at Crandon Park in 2011, won 51 of his 53 first serve points to prevail over the Spaniard for the third consecutive time.

In the final eight, Fish will face 21st seed Juan Monaco, who eased past No. 30 seed Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-0 in one hour and 40 minutes. In the second set, Monaco capitalized on three of his five break point opportunities, taking eight of his nine second serve return points to secure his first win against the two-time Miami champion.