Federer, Murray advance to Miami quarter-finals

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 9:25 PM Posted by Beijing News


Swiss second seed Roger Federer and British fourth seed Andy Murray cruised into the quarter-finals of the ATP and WTA hardcourt tournament here with straight-set triumphs.

Federer rolled over American qualifier Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 while Murray routed Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0.

Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic also took a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Czech Tomas Berdych.

Federer needed just 85 minutes to earn a berth in the final eight by ousting 27-year-old Dent who squandered eight break-point chances.

"I had to come up with some good passing shots to be able to make a difference," Federer said. "He might have got a bit tired towards the end."

Scotsman Murray will next face eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who bounced Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2.

"I didn't make a lot of mistakes, high percentage of first serves, used my slice well - just kept thinking all the way through the match," Murray said.

"Right from the start, to get a break early, set the tone for the rest of the match. He didn't really recover from that."

Federer advances to the next round where he will face fifth seeded American Andy Roddick who advanced with a 7-6 7/2, 6-4 win over France's Gael Monfils.

"We've had some big matches over the years," Federer said of Roddick. "I played him at the Australian Open and played well against him. He seems like he changed a couple of things in his game so it should be a good match."

Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuzentsova became the first semi-finalist in the women's draw by beating Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7 5/7, 6-1.

Next for Kuznetsova will be either Russian 11th seed Victoria Azarenka or Australian Samantha Stosur, who earlier ousted second-ranked Russian Dinara Safina.

Djokovic, who won the Miami crown in 2007, pounced upon Berdych's every mistake to advance.

"I was trying to stick with him all the time, because I knew he's very aggressive, but not really consistent from the baseline," Djokovic said.

"He makes a lot of unforced errors, especially from the forehand side, so I changed the pace and I played a really good tennis."

Djokovic will next face French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who eliminated seventh-seeded countryman Gilles Simon 6-7 4/7, 6-3, 6-2 in another fourth-round match.

Tsonga, who felt slightly ill before the match, is the first Frenchman in a decade to reach the quarter-finals at Miami. And Djokovic knows he is in for a fight.

"I lost to Tsonga four times in a row, so he has a little advantage probably there," Djokovic said. "But I think all the matches we played were very close so it's going to be a challenge for me to win."



giant advertisement in Tokyo. AP/Katsumi Kasahara

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