Federer survives Serra challenge; Cilic gets 20th win of the year in Miami

Normally one of the most ruthless ‘closers’ in the game, top seed Roger Federer won on points instead of delivering a knockout blow to Frenchman Florent Serra in the Sony Ericsson Open third round Monday.

Federer suffered lapses when seemingly in control of both sets. He was broken when serving for the first set at 5-3 and ultimately needed a tie-break to close out the set. Then, leading 4-1 with a double break in the second, Federer was broken when he was cruising to victory.

He fell behind 0-30 in his next service game but steadied, only to lose his following service game when trying to close out the match at 5-4. Again he was taken to a tie-break, which he won routinely to clinch a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) win.

“Sure, I still have to tidy up my game a bit, having had one break up in the first and two breaks up in the second; it's normally something that doesn't get away from me. But I thought he came up with some good stuff, and that made it difficult for me to close it out… I don't think I gave it to him. I think he went to get it, which is a big difference.

“The most important [thing] is to come through the rounds. So I don't have a preference how it's done. I always like to come out with confidence, that's for sure. So it's nice to having won two breakers, because that doesn't happen every match you play.”

Seventh seed Marin Cilic claimed his 20th match win of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.

Both players dropped just four points on their first serve and little separated them from the ground, but the Croatian did not offer up a break point and converted the two opportunities he had on Baghdatis’ serve.

Baghdatis was looking to upset a Top 10 player for a second consecutive tournament after defeating World No. 1 Roger Federer two weeks ago in Indian Wells.

Cilic next faces 10th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who rallied past Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. Melzer failed to capitalize on his five break point opportunities in the second set, allowing Verdasco to come back and claim the victory in just over two hours.


Monday, 29 March 2010

Singles - Third Round
[1] R Federer (SUI) d F Serra (FRA) 76(2) 76(3)
[5] R Soderling (SWE) d P Petzschner (GER) 61 62
[7] M Cilic (CRO) d [25] M Baghdatis (CYP) 63 64
[9] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [22] J Monaco (ARG) 67(4) 64 62
[10] F Verdasco (ESP) d [23] J Melzer (AUT) 36 76(4) 61
[13] M Youzhny (RUS) d [19] S Wawrinka (SUI) 16 76(5) 75
[16] T Berdych (CZE) d H Zeballos (ARG) 64 75
M Fish (USA) d [29] F Lopez (ESP) 75 63