The results went according to seeding on the men’s side Friday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, save for two American qualifiers who put an end to the event for two lower seeds.
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Qualifier Taylor Dent, continuing his return from back surgery, fought off a match point to defeat No. 19 Nicolas Almagro and advance into the third round with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) scoreline. Fellow American qualifier Robert Kendrick did likewise, ousting No. 23-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2 to advance.
Top 10 seeded players into the third round Friday in straight sets included Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Gilles Simon (defeating former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt), Gael Monfils (surviving American qualifier Mike Russell in three sets) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
No. 13 seed James Blake cruised past France’s Julien Benneteau in straights, but seeds struggling through in three sets included No. 21 Tomas Berdych (d. Mikhail Youzhny), No. 22 Marat Safin (d. Oscar Hernandez), No. 25 Dmitry Tursunov (d. (Q) Mikhail Kukushkin), No. 28 Nicolas Kiefer (d. Fabrice Santoro, saving a match point), No. 29 Rainer Schuettler (d. Jarkko Nieminen), and No. 31 Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Marcos Baghdatis).
Matches of note on Saturday include (11) David Ferrer vs. American qualifier John Isner, American qualifier Amer Delic vs. (17) Marin Cilic, Nicolas Massu vs. (27) Mardy Fish, and (32) Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez vs. Sam Querrey.
Live television coverage of Miami on Saturday begins at 1-5pm on Fox Sports Net, then 8-10pm on the Tennis Channel.
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