Last year in Miami, David Ferrer fell just one point short of winning the biggest title of his career.  This year, the fifth-ranked Spaniard tasted a similar flavor of heartbreak in a fourth-round meeting with Kei Nishikori.  The 185-minute epic between these two counterpunchers recalled a five-set duel at the 2008 US Open, which Nishikori also won.

Despite the 12 service breaks for which the two men combined, the match hinged on two long tiebreaks in the first and third sets.  Nishikori prevailed 9-7 in the first-set tiebreak, ending a streak of seven straight sets lost to the Spaniard.  Ferrer would rally to dominate the second set, but the Japanese star reasserted himself by claiming an early lead in the decider.  Once the Spaniard broke back, each man held serve until the climactic tiebreak.

A disciple of the Nick Bolletieri Academy further north in Florida, Nishikori does not lack belief against elite opponents.  He already has defeated both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, so the task of toppling Ferrer would not have daunted him.  Still, Nishikori had allowed multiple leads to slip away in this match before the third-set tiebreak, and he would squander a 4-2 advantage there as well.  When Ferrer held a match point on his serve at 7-6 in the tiebreak, order seemed on the verge of being restored. 

Refusing to yield, Nishikori saved the match point, as he had a match point on his own serve at 5-6.  A third Ferrer match point disappeared with a Nishikori ace, and a fourth also vanished before the men changed sides at 9-9.  Nishikori then earned his first match point after three hours of grueling attrition, and he did not need a second chance.

This first notable upset of the men's draw at the Sony Open extended ongoing trends for both men.  Since losing last year's final in Miami, Ferrer has struggled at outdoor Masters 1000 tournaments (7-6 overall) and at most non-majors in general.  Solid efforts at majors and a Masters 1000 final at the Paris Indoors have kept his ranking high, but he will drop out of the top four next week.  The 31-year-old Spaniard will hope to revive his fortunes during the clay season when he thrives.

For his part, Nishikori had hinted at a resurgence in form when he severely tested world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the second week of the Australian Open.  Although he lost in straight sets, Nishikori could hvae won any or all of those sets had a few more points landed in his ledger.  He would build on that encouraging result by defending his title in Memphis last month.  This upset over Ferrer came on the heels of an impressive performance against Grigor Dimitrov, an Australian Open quarterfinalist considered a rising star. 

Playing in Florida, where he has trained since he was 13, might have inspired Nishikori to shine at this home away from home.  The same certainly has been true of Maria Sharapova, a five-time Miami finalist who also emerged from the Bolletieri Academy.  Today, Sharapova notched her first top-10 win since Roland Garros last June.  Troubled by shoulder and hip injuries for much of the intervening time, the former No. 1 arrived at Miami needing momentum after a mediocre start to 2014.  Her early matches did not impress, but a commanding performance against Petra Kvitova did.

The only real turning point of Sharapova's victory came at 5-5 in the first set.  She had trailed by a break midway through the set, and she faced another break point at this juncture that would have placed the set on Kvitova's racket.  But Sharapova escaped the break point and her only poor service game of the match.  She would not look back, breaking Kvitova at love in the next game to seal the set and dropping just one game thereafter.  Since losing the 2011 Wimbledon final to the Czech left-hander, Sharapova has dominated this matchup of power against power. 

In the semifinals, the Russian resident of Bradenton might face long-time nemesis Serena Williams in a rematch of last year's Miami final.  Serena has been the only woman to stop Sharapova short of the final in Miami over the last decade.

For now, though, a smile must have flickered across Nick Bolletieri's face as he contemplated a gritty upset by one of his hard-working pupils and a dominant top-10 victory by the most famous product of his academy.