Roger Federer had to dig deep to win a pair of tiebreaks but Svetlana Kuznetsova was not so lucky as the women's top seed was sent crashing out of the ATP and WTA Sony Ericsson Open on Monday. Reigning Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon champ Federer swept past France's Florent Serra 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3) in a third round match.
Serra made top seed Federer work for the win as the Swiss star had his service broken three times and he made two costly double-faults. Federer also committed 35 unforced errors to 32 for Serra. But Federer closed out the win with a service winner as he played well in both tiebreakers on the hardcourts at Crandon Park.
Federer won the Key Biscayne title in 2005 and 2006. His 36 career victories in the event is third behind Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. In the women's side of the draw, top seed Kuznetsova crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 6-3, 6-0 fourth round loss to former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France.
Kuznetsova, who won here four years ago, received on-court treatment for a nagging shoulder injury three times in Monday's match. In the evening match, Justine Henin of Belgium breezed past Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4. Bartoli claimed her first win in three meetings with the Russian and advanced to the Miami quarter-finals for the second time in her career. She has now won seven of her past 11 matches against top five players.
American Mardy Fish advanced to the fourth round with his second straight win over a seeded opponent, beating No 29 Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3. Fish upset defending champion Andy Murray in the second round. Federer advances to face No 16 Tomas Berdych, who beat Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 7-5. Federer's 7-6, 7-6 win was his first since 2008.
He played just four tiebreakers in his 14 previous matches this year, winning two. Third seeded Venus Williams won the final seven points as the American rallied to beat Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. Like Kuznetsova, defending champion Victoria Azarenka also lost on Monday as former world number one Kim Clijsters easily beat Azarenka 6-4, 6-0.
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