Serena Slips By; Djokovic v Haas Tues. at Sony Miami
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Eight men moved into the round of 16 on Monday at the Sony Open in Miami, led by No. 2 seed Andy Murray who needed to recover from a break down in the first set to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(3), 6-3.
ADHEREL
“It was obviously way cooler today, much slower conditions,” said Murray after improving to 3-0 career vs. Dimitrov. “The ball wasn’t going as quick. I was leaving the ball a bit short. Once I started to improve my depth a bit, I made it tough for him and he started to make more mistakes after that.”
Other Top 10-seeded winners on the day were No. 4 Tomas Berdych struggling past Colombian Alejandro Falla 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, saving two match points; and in straight sets No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga topping Jarkko Nieminen, No. 8 Richard Gasquet defeating Mikael Youzhny, No. 9 Marin Cilic besting No. 20 John Isner, and No. 10 Nicolas Almagro defeating David Goffin.
Other seeds advancing were No. 17 Sam Querrey receiving a walkover against No. 14 Milos Raonic (strep throat), and No. 16 Andreas Seppi outlasting Thomaz Bellucci in three to set up a meeting against Murray.
“I had a fever before my first round going into the match and it just got really bad over the last two nights,” Raonic said. “I just feel completely drained. I was able to get rid of most of the fever, but I’m still low.”
In fourth-round play on the women’s side, top-seeded Serena Williams recovered from a first set loss to defeat No. 13 seed Dominika Cibulkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“Mentally I was just struggling,” said Williams, who trailed 6-2, 4-1.
“I was playing a really good opponent and I was making so many unforced errors out there — I couldn’t pull myself together. But the crowd was great. They started saying, ‘Come on Serena,’ and someone over there kept telling me to relax and I listened, and I also saw my dad on the sideline and he was sitting there looking so calm and relaxed. I took all of that energy from the crowd and my dad and I knew I could do better.”
Other Top 10-seeded winners were No. 3 Maria Sharapova blasting No. 21 Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-2 in the final night match; No. 4 Aggie Radwanska coming back to beat American No. 16 Sloane Stephens 4-6, 6-2, 6-0; No. 5 Na Li defeating unseeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 7-6(6), 6-2; and No. 8 Sara Errani outlasting No. 12 Ana Ivanovic 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“I started pretty good until 5-1, but then maybe I was thinking of too many things other than the match, like how windy it was and the heat,” said Li, who will next meet Serena. “Suddenly it was 5-6. I knew I had to think point by point again so I started doing that and when it was 6-1 for me in the tiebreaker, I just thought to myself, ‘Don’t do the same thing again.'”
Stephens lost nine games in a row to end the three-set loss to Radwanska.
“I played well at the beginning, but she raised her level and played some pretty good tennis,” Stephens said. “I definitely felt I should have held serve at 3-2 in the second set, but it didn’t happen and it is what it is. You can always take something from it and just move forward and try to get better.”
Other seeded winners Monday were No. 15 Roberta Vinci coming from a set down to beat No. 32 Alize Cornet 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; No. 22 Jelena Jankovic rolling No. 28 Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-4; and No. 30 Kirsten Flipkens outlasting Croat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3.
TADIUM start 11:00 am
[3] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [13] K Nishikori (JPN) – ATP
Not Before 1:00 PM
[1] S Williams (USA) vs [5] N Li (CHN) – WTA
[16] A Seppi (ITA) vs [2] A Murray (GBR) – ATP
[6] J Tsonga (FRA) vs [9] M Cilic (CRO) – ATP
Starting at 7:30 PM
[4] A Radwanska (POL) vs [30] K Flipkens (BEL) – WTA
Not Before 9:00 PM
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [15] T Haas (GER) – ATP
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
A Ramos (ESP) vs J Melzer (AUT) – ATP
[8] R Gasquet (FRA) vs [10] N Almagro (ESP) – ATP
[17] S Querrey (USA) vs [4] T Berdych (CZE) – ATP
Not Before 5:00 PM
[11] G Simon (FRA) vs [7] J Tipsarevic (SRB) – ATP
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