Finally, at 9:30 p.m., tournament officials announced that no matches would be played. Guests with individual Session 8 tickets from Friday night may exchange them at the front gate box office for: Session 9 March 28 Day Session Grounds Passes, Session 12 March 29 Evening Session tickets or March 30 Evening Session tickets.
Nadal, the No. 2 seed, was relieved to get through his first match, but it wasn’t as easy as the score might look because of the weather conditions, he said.
Nadal is particularly motivated to win here because he has played here 11 times, reached four finals but never won the title. It is the tournament in which he has played the most times and never won.
He tweaked his ankle at practice Monday but said it did not affect his performance Friday.
Joining Nadal in the third round will be third seed Andy Murray, who also battled heat and wind to defeat Donald Young 6-4, 6-2. It was the fifth time in six meetings that Murray beat Young. The Scot owns a condo in the Brickell Avenue area, trains here in the winter and typically does well in Key Biscayne. He won the titles in 2009 and 2013.
In other men’s matches, seventh seed Stan Wawrinka rallied past Carlos Berlocq 6-7 (9-11), 7-5, 6-2. Czech eighth seed Tomas Berdych beat Chung Hyeon of Korea 6-3, 6-4.
American Sam Querrey lost to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in a battle of big men. Querrey is 6-6 and Anderson is 6-8. Austria’s Dominic Thiem upset 10th seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3.
On the women’s side, 15-year-old phenom Catherine (Cici) Bellis beat rising Kazakhstan star Zarina Diyas 6-2, 6-1 and could face Williams in the next round. The win was especially gratifying for Bellis because she lost to Diyas at the U.S. Open. Last fall Bellis became the youngest player to win a match at the U.S. Open since 1996 when she upset No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova.
Bellis, who is still an amateur but plays in limited pro events, said she would relish the chance to play Williams, a 19-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time winner in this tournament.
In other women’s matches, Indian Wells (California) winner Simona Halep beat Nicole Vaidisova 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic eliminated Irina Falconi 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3. Two-time Miami winner Victoria Azarenka needed seven match points, but beat Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-1.
Sloane Stephens won an all-American match on Stadium Court, converting five of six break-point chances to beat No. 17 Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2.
Tomas Berdych (8), Czech Republic, d. Chung Hyeon, South Korea, 6-3, 6-4; Kevin Anderson (15), South Africa, d. Sam Querrey, U.S., 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Bernard Tomic (25), Australia, d. Austin Krajicek, United States, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5; Andy Murray (3), Britain, d. Donald Young, United States, 6-4, 6-2; Santiago Giraldo (27), Colombia, d. Robin Haase, Netherlands, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0; Leonardo Mayer (24), Argentina, d. Jarkko Nieminen, Finland, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (23), Spain, d. Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, 6-4, 6-4; Dominic Thiem, Austria, d. Feliciano Lopez (10), Spain, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3; Stan Wawrinka (7), Switzerland, d. Carlos Berlocq, Argentina, 6-7 (9-11), 7-5, 6-2; Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, d. Nicolas Almagro (96), Spain, 6-4, 6-2; Fernando Verdasco (29), Spain, leads James Duckworth, Australia, 1-0, Suspended; Adrian Mannarino (28), France, vs. A. Ramos-Vinolas, Spain, 6-4, 3-6, 1-1, Suspended.
Simona Halep (3), Romania, d. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; Svetlana Kuznetsova (24), Russia, d. Alison Riske, United States, 6-2, 6-2; Johanna Larsson, Sweden, d. Lucie Safarova (10), Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; CiCi Bellis, United States, d. Zarina Diyas (29), Kazakhstan, 6-2, 6-1; Camila Giorgi (30), Italy, d. Alison Van Uytvanck, Belgium, 6-3, 6-2; Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, d. Jelena Jankovic (20), Serbia, 6-1, 6-1; Garbine Muguruza (21), Spain, d. Sesil Karatantcheva, Bulgaria, 6-1, 6-3; Sloane Stephens, United States, d. Madison Keys (17), United States, 6-4, 6-2; Ana Ivanovic (5), Serbia, d. Irina Falconi, United States, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3; Sabine Lisicki (27), Germany, d. Julia Goerges, Germany, 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4; Flavia Pennetta (15), Italy, d. Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-3; Sara Errani (11), Italy, leads Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-1, 4-1, Suspended; Angelique Kerber (13), Germany, leads Heather Watson, Britain, 7-5, 0-0, Suspended; Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, d. Casey Dellacqua (32), Australia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Eugenie Bouchard (6), Canada, is tied with Tatjana Maria, Germany, 0-0, Suspended.