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March 26, 2012

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Federer rolls, Clijsters tumbles

ROGER Federer held off local wildcard Ryan Harrison to set up a third-round clash with twice former Sony Ericsson Open champion Andy Roddick and Serena Williams served her way into the fourth round in Key Biscayne, Florida, on Saturday.

While men's No. 1 Novak Djokovic and women's second-ranked Maria Sharapova progressed easily, former No. 1 and twice winner Kim Clijsters was eliminated.

Clijsters fought hard and survived six match points before falling to fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 4-6, 6-7 (5) in their third round clash.

"It was a special win for me today because she was one of my idols growing up," the 22-year-old Wickmayer said.

Australia's US Open champion Samantha Stosur avoided an early exit by storming back after falling a set and 2-4 down to beat South African Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Federer, who has won 40 of 42 matches and six tournament titles since the 2011 US Open semifinals, led his 19-year-old opponent 5-2 in the second set before Harrison extended him to a tiebreaker before winning 6-2, 7-6 (3).

"I felt like I had to win the match like three times at the end, so I was relieved to come through," Federer told reporters after his second round tie.

"Beating an American in America is always a big deal, because this is where they usually play their very best."

Federer must next hurdle another homegrown foe in Roddick although the Swiss world No. 3 has mastered the former world No. 1 in 21 out of 23 matches.

Roddick lost only nine points on serve and thundered down 10 aces to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-2.

Djokovic prevailed over Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-4, subduing the Cypriot without the loss of a set for the first time in their last six meetings.

American Williams, the 10th women's seed, belted eight aces in an overpowering 6-2, 6-1 rout of 21st seed Roberta Vinci of Italy.

"I played okay" said Williams. "I can definitely do better but I haven't played a lot."

Russia's Sharapova advanced to the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over American qualifier Sloane Stephens, while fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 7-5.

Also coming through on Saturday was eighth-seeded Li Na of China, who won the last four games of each set to beat another Czech, Iveta Benesova, 7-5 6-2.



 

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