Murray and Gasquet Move into Miami Fourth Round

Andy Murray took advantage of a mental letdown by Grigor Dimitrov to secure his spot in the sweet sixteen in Miami.

By Erik Gudris

(March 25th, 2013) -- For a moment, it looked like that perhaps Grigor Dimitrov would at least push Andy Murray to at least three sets during their third round meeting at the Sony Open Tennis event in Miami. But once again, it was Dimitrov's nerve that got the better of him again.

A sluggish start from Murray helped the No. 29 seed Dimitrov leap out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set. But once again it was the Bulgarian's brain and not his stylish one-handed backhand that let him down. Serving for the set at 5-3, Dimitrov tossed in three double faults to let Murray back into the set.

Murray eventually forced a tiebreak and it was the Scot who pushed ahead 5-3 after winning a grueling 13 shot rally. Dimitrov soon sent a forehand long and that allowed Murray to wrap up the tiebreak seven points to three.

Dimitrov did hang around long enough in the second set to make things difficult for Murray. Serving for the match at 5-3, Murray himself tossed in a double fault on his second match point. That led to Dimitrov soon holding a break point to keep himself in the match, but Murray swatted that opportunity away with an ace. Finally on his third match point, Murray converted when Dimitrov netted a backhand to give Murray the 7-6(3), 6-3 win.

When asked later about weathering the storm from Dimitrov early on in the match, Murray said. "Yeah he did a similar thing when I played him in Brisbane, as well. I was hitting the ball quite short early, too, which helped him a bit with that. Also, it was obviously way cooler today and much slower conditions. The ball wasn't going as quick. I was leaving the ball a bit short. Once I started to improve my depth a bit I made it tough for him and he started to make mother mistakes after that."

Murray will next face Italy's Andreas Seppi who outlasted Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Gasquet Once Again into the Round of 16

France's Richard Gasquet continued his recent winning habit of finding himself in the round of 16 at a big event. Taking on Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Gasquet after winning the first set found himself almost forced to a third by the veteran Russian. But after a key hold of serve for 4-all, Gasquet broke serve right away and then closed out the 6-3, 6-4 win.

Gasquet improves to 19-4 on the year and will next meet Spain's Nicolas Almagro. Almagro took out Belgian David Goffin 6-3, 6-4.

(Photo Credit: AP)