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Pliskova Makes Miami Open Semis; Nishikori Reaches Quarters

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KEY BISCAYNE (CBSMiami/AP) — Another day of thrilling tennis matches in Key Biscayne has come and gone.

Karolina Pliskova has never found Miami exactly to her liking, until now.

The second-seeded Pliskova reached the Miami Open semifinals on Tuesday, beating 26th-seeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-4. It's the first time Pliskova has made the semifinals at Key Biscayne.

Pliskova improved to 23-3 this year, the best record on the women's tour.

"I'm really confident and enjoying every match," said Pliskova, who took advantage of 10 double faults by Lucic-Baroni. "It's my best tennis that I've played this year, here in the Miami Open."

Next up for Pliskova — who avenged a loss to Lucic-Baroni in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open — is Caroline Wozniacki or Lucie Safarova, who were scheduled to play Tuesday night.

On the men's side, Kei Nishikori rallied in the final set to beat Argentina's Federico Delbonis and reach the quarterfinals.

Nishikori, the No. 2 seed and Key Biscayne finalist last year, won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. The Japanese star was down a break early in the third, then took five of the final six games.

Unseeded Fabio Fognini of Italy awaits Nishikori in the quarterfinals. Fognini topped Donald Young 6-0, 6-4.

Young's loss meant only one American man would reach the round of eight. That would be No. 13 Jack Sock, who beat Jared Donaldson 6-2, 6-1.

Also scheduled to play Tuesday were Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — on a day of significance for each. The top-seeded Wawrinka celebrated his 32nd birthday, and the day marked the 13th anniversary of the first Nadal-Federer match.

Nadal, then 17, stunned Federer that day at Key Biscayne 6-3, 6-3, the first of the 36-and-counting matches between them.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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