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Wildcard Venus Williams and fellow former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic advanced to a Monday blockbuster meeting, one of many, on Sunday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Williams, playing her first event of the year, shaved off some rust in surviving a meeting with Canadian Aleksander Wozniak 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) where both players exhibited nerves (and numerous double faults) in the end. The No. 15-seeded Ivanovic battled past No. 20 seed Daniela Hnatuchova 6-2, 7-6(2).
“I tried not to let anything discourage me today,” Williams said. “I kept thinking about how I really need this match and I need these points. I keep thinking about the Olympics and I need my points.”
Ivanovic said the match was not as easy as it looked.
“It was a very tough match for me,” Ivanovic said. “I knew from the beginning that it will be, you know, very tough third round I think for both of us. We played a lot of times in the past. We always have tough matches. Even in practice, it’s always, you know, tight. So I really tried to stay calm and work and concentrate on what I was doing out there.”
On the men’s side Sunday Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov was the highlight, upsetting No. 7 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
“I didn’t expect to play that well,” Dimitrov said. “I didn’t make enough first serves, though. Got a bit lucky at 4-4 in the third, and I was happy to close the match.”
Andy Murray advanced when Canadian Milos Raonic defaulted their match.
“Yesterday, at the end of practice, we finished doing an hour-long practice, and I was just moving back and I rolled over my ankle and ended up spraining it,” Raonic said.
Spanish wildcard Garbine Muguruza Blanco continued her unheralded destruction through the Miami draw, upsetting No. 24 Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(6).
Other women’s winners Sunday in the third round were No. 5 Aggie Radwanska, No. 7 Marion Bartoli, No. 16 Dominika Cibulkova, and No. 22 Maria Kirilenko.
The remaining men’s matches went according to seeding with winners No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, No. 13 Gilles Simon, No. 22 Jurgen Melzer, and No. 16 Kei Nishikori.
In the late match world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka defeated Brit Heather Watson in straight sets.
Highlights of play on Monday are an embarrassment of riches in (2) Maria Sharapova vs. Ekaterina Makarova in an all-Russian match-up, (10) Serena Williams vs. (6) Samantha Stosur, an all-Serb match-up in (1) Novak Djokovic vs. (27) Viktor Troicki, (11) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (23) Marin Cilic, in the 7:30 p.m. slot (3) Roger Federer vs. (31) Andy Roddick, in the 9 p.m. slot (WC) Venus Williams vs. Ana Ivanovic, (8) Mardy Fish vs. (28) Kevin Anderson, an all-Spanish in (12) Nicolas Almagro vs. (20) Fernando Verdasco, (8) Na Li vs. (12) Sabine Lisicki, (1) Victoria Azarenka vs. (16) Dominika Cibulkova, (4) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (23) Yanina Wickmayer, and (7) Marion Bartoli vs. (22) Maria Kirilenko.
STADIUM start 11:00 am
E Makarova (RUS) vs [2] M Sharapova (RUS) – WTA
Not Before 1:00 PM
[6] S Stosur (AUS) vs [10] S Williams (USA) – WTA
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [27] V Troicki (SRB) – ATP
[11] J Del Potro (ARG) vs [23] M Cilic (CRO) – ATP
Starting at 7:30 PM
[3] R Federer (SUI) vs [31] A Roddick (USA) – ATP
Not Before 9:00 PM
[WC] V Williams (USA) vs [15] A Ivanovic (SRB) – WTA
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[28] K Anderson (RSA) vs [8] M Fish (USA) – ATP
[12] N Almagro (ESP) vs [20] F Verdasco (ESP) – ATP
[8] N Li (CHN) vs [12] S Lisicki (GER) – WTA
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