The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Federer holds off Monaco

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Federer holds off Monaco

MIAMI: Roger Federer fought through a tough first set and turned it on in the second to beat Juan Monaco 7-6(4), 6-4 as the Swiss clocked his 20th win of the season to advance at the Miami ATP Masters 1000 on Monday.

The third seed, who won the event at Crandon Park twice, improved his record on the season to 20-3 in a campaign dominated so far by the 20-match winning streak of second-seeded Serb rival Novak Djokovic.

Top seed Rafael Nadal followed suit as he beat fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez for the seventh time in nine meetings, winning a 6-3, 6-3 verdict.

Bopanna-Qureshi in quarterfinals

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Qureshi recorded a hard-fought win over Michael Mertinak of Slovakia and Dick Norman of Belgium to book a place in the doubles quarterfinals. The seventh-seed Indo-Pakistan pair defeated their unseeded rivals 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-8 in the second round of the hard court event.

They will lock horn with Oliver Marach of Austria and Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, who shocked top seeds and local favourites Bob and Mike Bryan 7-5, 6-4 in their pre-quarterfinal round.

Federer will next play Olivier Rochus, a winner over Russian Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The night session was plagued by rain showers, which resulted in two matches having to be carried over to next day.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and Alexandr Dolgopolov were in the third set with Dolgopolov ahead 6-7(2), 6-4, 3-2 when rain halted their match.

Wozniacki beaten

In women's play, Caroline Wozniacki's dream of a coast-to-coast title double hit the wall as the top seed was upset 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 by Germany's Andrea Petkovic.

Pole Agnieszka Radwanska crushed Roland Garros winner Francesca Schiavone, winning the first eight games in a 6-0, 6-2 hammering of the Italian.

Serb sixth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-3.

The results: Men: Third round: Rafael Nadal bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3; Tomas Berdych bt Carlos Berlocq 7-6(8), 7-5; Janko Tipsarevic bt Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-3; Florian Mayer bt Nicolas Almagro 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Roger Federer bt Juan Monaco 7-6(4), 6-4; Olivier Rochus bt Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Gilles Simon bt Pablo Cuevas 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Second round: M. Bhupathi & L. Paes bt M. Lopez & D. Marrero 7-6(5), 6-4; Rohan Bopanna & Aisam-ul-Qureshi bt Michael Mertinak & Dick Norman 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-8; Oliver Marach & Janko Tipsarevic bt Bob & Mike Bryan 7-5, 6-4.

Women: Fourth round: Andrea Petkovic bt Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 3-6, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-3; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Francesca Schiavone 6-0, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva bt Marion Bartoli 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Victoria Azarenka bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 .

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