Roger Federer in Sony Ericsson Open

Roger Federer ran into some unexpected resistance at the hands of Frenchman Florent Serra but the top seed managed to hold on for a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) third round victory at the Sony Ericsson Miami Open on Monday. After trimming Serra in the first set tiebreaker, Federer came out forcefully in the second set. At 4-1, 30/love, it looked as if the Swiss would complete another early round demolition job.

But, the Frenchman rallied, breaking back to 2-4 and then forcing the set to another tiebreaker. Serra capitalized on Federer’s rare inability to land first serves (just 59%) and his inordinate number of unforced errors (29). Roger Federer will meet Czech Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. Berdych finished off Argentine Horacio Zaballos 6-4, 7-5 in impressive style.

In what was expected to be a battle to the wire, seventh seed Marin Cilic stopped hot Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-4 to record his 20th win of the new year. Remarkably, each player only lost four pints on serve, but Cilic offered Baghdatis no break opportunities. The Croatian converted both of Marcos’s break opportunities.

American surprise, Mardy Fish, continued to ride his hot serve in overpowering Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3. Fish faced just two break points and has lost serve just twice in three matches. Fish, conqueror of Andy Murray, will next meet Mikkhail Youhzny, who faced a challenge from Swiss star Stanislaus Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6 (5) 7-5. The Youhzny-Fish match shapes up to be between two players very much on their games.

Cilic wins the right to face Fernando Verdasco, the tenth seed. Verdasco struggled against Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1. The Spaniard does not seem to have his timing down and was more inconsistent than usual with his necessary serve.

Also moving into the fourth round is Robin Soderling, who met little resistance from German Phillipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-2. Soderling will meet Fernando Gonzalez in the next round. Gonzalez ended Juan Monaco’s run in a tense 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 match.

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