Top seeds Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki lived up to expectations as both advanced with ease at the $9 million Miami WTA and ATP Masters tournament on Saturday. Nadal, on the quest for his first trophy since October in Tokyo, overpowered Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4 while Wozniacki beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 7-6 (9/7).
World number one Nadal has yet to win a Miami title, finishing runner-up in 2005 to Roger Federer and three years later to Nikolay Davydenko. His win over Nishikori followed one at Wimbledon last year.
World number three Federer notched another match win and another career milestone through a straight-sets win over Radek Stepanek. The third-seeded Swiss defeated the Czech 6-3, 6-3 to reach the third round. Seventh seed Tomas Berdych fought past Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-0. But there was no joy for Andy Roddick, who became the second Miami title holder in as many years to exit in an opening match.
The American eighth seed, who has been troubled by a low-grade illness for a month, was ambushed by Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Cuevas, ranked 67th in the world, had never played Roddick before and made the most of his first chance. In the third round he will face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat German Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-3.
Federer, whose 16 grand slam titles are the most in history, joined Pete Sampras on seventh in the all-time win list with 762 career victories. Jimmy Connors sets the pace in that statistic with 1,242. French 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the third round as he beat Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, while former top-10 player Mikhail Youzhny crushed Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 6-1, 6-0.
In women's action, fourth seed Samantha Stosur put out Lucie Safarova 6-0, 7-6 (7-1) while sixth seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Klara Zakopalova 7-5, 6-1. There was also an opening victory for 16th seed Maria Sharapova, a winner over German Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 6-0. China's Peng Shuai upset 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, hammering the Russian 6-3, 6-1.
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