Familiar foes set to do battle

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:24

The pair will meet in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami after Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-2 and Tsonga defeated Gilles Simon 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 6-2.

The Serbian and the Frenchman have faced each other five times in the last 15 months, with Tsonga winning the last four, his only loss coming in the Australian Open final last January.

Djokovic could lose his number three ranking this week to Andy Murray, who is only 570 points behind his rival after reaching the final in Indian Wells.

The third seed had few problems reaching the last eight on Tuesday, though, against an erratic Berdych, who was briefly a break up in the second set but never threatened to upset Djokovic.

It was a different story for Tsonga against countryman Simon, the seventh seed, but his extra power helped him prevail in the end, the 23-year-old hitting 40 winners.

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