Peerless Federer rolls on with win over del Potro

Roger Federer produced another dazzling performance on Monday, easing

past Juan Martin del Potro in the third round at the Miami Open.



Federer wowed a boisterous, capacity crowd at Crandon Park, winning

6-3 6-4 in just over 80minutes of nearly flawless tennis.



Former U.S. Open champion del Potro, buoyed by a large Argentine

contingent who did their best to lift him with regular chants of 'ole,

ole, ole', did not submit easily but one break in each set was enough

for Federer to move on to the fourth round.



"Shortly before I walked to the court, you could sense the

atmosphere," Federer told the Miami Herald. "I think if the match

would have gone three sets or tiebreakers or something even closer, it

would have been really epic."



Federer improved his career record against del Potro to 16-5, the

Swiss closing out the match in style with a forehand winner before

acknowledging the roaring crowd.



The 35-year-old, who missed the second half of 2016 with a knee

injury, has lost only once this year, to Russian Evgeny Donskoy in

early February.



An 18th grand slam crown in a five-set thriller

over long-time rival Rafa Nadal at the Australian Open in January has

been the highlight of the still young season, but the past two weeks

in the United States have been second to none.



He ripped through the field at Indian Wells without dropping a set en

route to the title, and has not lost a set in his first two matches in

Miami either.



Federer is giving his opponents less time than ever to react, running

them ragged by regularly standing inside the baseline and taking the

ball early.



Next up for Federer is Spanish 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who

overcame a slow start to outlast American 22nd seed Sam Querrey 3-6

6-2 6-3.



Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych beat 24th seed Gilles Muller of

Luxembourg 6-3 6-4, while Adrian Mannarino of France edged Croatian

Borna Coric 6-4 2-6 7-6(3). In late matches, top seed Stan Wawrinka

beat Malek Jaziri 6-3 6-4 as he tries to capture his first tournament

of the year.



Wawrinka will face German Alexander Zverev after the 19-year-old beat

American John Isner 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 7-6(5) in a thriller. Isner served

28 aces but still came up short.



Nick Kyrgios came out on top after a battle with Ivo Karlovic, the

Australian winning 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(2) to set up a meeting with 8th seed

David Goffin, who beat Diego Schwartzman 4-6 6-3 7-5.



(Reported by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Steve

Keating/Peter Rutherford)