World number one Rafa Nadal held off a strong challenge from Portugal's Frederico Gil yesterday to win 7-5 6-3 and book a place in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

"You can't play well every day, and today was one of these days," he said after the match. "No opponent is easy, especially if you are not playing your best tennis. So everything was more difficult today."

The 'Raging Bull' will now face Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, who he has played 3 times in the past: At the Paris Masters Series in 2007, Sttutgart 2007, and the Australian Open in 2007 – All of them victories for the Spanish star.

Today’s match is scheduled last on Stadium Court, not before 9:00pm (local time) after the following matches:

11:00 am

[21] T Berdych (CZE) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB) – ATP

Not before 1:00 PM

[8] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs [13] C Wozniacki (DEN) – WTA

[5] A Roddick (USA) vs [9] G Monfils (FRA) – ATP

[Q] T Dent (USA) vs [2] R Federer (SUI) - ATP

Not before 7:00 PM

[11] V Azarenka (BLR) vs S Stosur (AUS) - WTA

Not before 9:00 PM

[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [16] S Wawrinka (SUI) – ATP

RAFA AND SHAKIRA IN MIAMI: Colombian signer Shakira didn’t want to miss one bit of the action at the Sony Ericsson Open yesterday where she payed a visit to her favourite player as he qualified for the fourth round of the Miami Masters Series. Once Rafa was done with the match - just as Rafa presented her with a signed T-shirt as a present - Shakira asked him if he wanted her to “teach him how to sing” and in exchange maybe he would teach her “how to play”.