China's Li Na continues her improved play while Roger Federer and Serena Williams have revenge on their minds following victories at the ATP/WTA Miami Masters Series event.
MIAMI (Florida): China's Li Na continues her improved play while Roger Federer and Serena Williams have revenge on their minds following victories at the ATP/WTA Miami Masters Series event.
Li, the 15th seed, stunned the fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the fourth round of the 6.9 million dollar event.
Clijsters is perennially among the top players in the world. The Belgian has 34 career titles, including one at Sydney earlier this season, where she beat Li in three sets in the semi-finals.
That was Li's third loss in as many career meetings with Clijsters. But she reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open and was a surprising semi-finalist at Indian Wells earlier this month, her best career showing at both events.
Playing in her first event in over a month, Clijsters apparently did not shake off all of the rust in her first two matches. She was let down by her serve, committing seven double-faults to help fuel seven service breaks by Li.
Clijsters became the second highly seeded woman in as many days to make an early exit. Fifth seed Martina Hingis was bounced on Sunday.
In a night match, Serena Williams posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 23rd seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in a third-round match that was scheduled for Sunday night but was pushed back after rain and wind disrupted Sunday's slate.
Seeded 13th in this Tier I hardcourt event, Williams will get a chance to avenge her sister's loss as she set up a meeting with top seed Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova needed three sets and 2 1/2 hours to take out Venus Williams on Sunday.
Sharapova will have revenge on her mind as well, as Serena Williams thumped her in straight sets en route to the Australian Open title.
Monday's other fourth-round matches saw second seed Justine Henin and sixth seed Nadia Petrova advance but third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was not as fortunate.
A native of Belgium and the top-ranked player in the world, Henin made quick work of 18th seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia, 6-3, 6-2.
It was a nice turnaround for Henin, who was two points from defeat Sunday before rallying for a three-set win over Virginie Razzano of France.
Kuznetsova, the defending champion from Russia, was bounced by 14th seed Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Peer has been playing well this season with quarterfinal runs at both the Australian Open and Indian Wells and a loss to Venus Williams in the Memphis final.
Petrova rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 10th-seeded Dinara Safina.
Number eight Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Vera Dushevina of Russia.
Earlier, number nine Anna Chakvetadze of Russia eliminated number 32 Mara Santangelo of Italy, 6-1, 7-5, and number 24 Tathiana Garbin of Italy dispatched Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-4, 6-2.
The men's draw saw the early exit of fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who was eliminated by Amer Delic of the United States, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, in a third-round match.
"This was great. Especially playing in front of my family here," Delic said. "I used to train here with the USTA."
Top seed Federer, whose 41-match winning streak was snapped by Guillermo Canas two weeks ago at the Pacific Life Open, will get his chance for revenge in the fourth round on Tuesday.
Federer, who is chasing a third consecutive Miami title, defeated Nicolas Almagro, 7-5, 6-3, dropping just five points on his first serve.
"I had to be very concentrated today, because I knew from the start he's a really big hitter," Federer said.
"It was windy out there, and I'm still kind of looking to come back into the rhythm after not having many matches in the last couple of weeks."
Canas, who is one of three qualifiers to reach the fourth round, defeated 15th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
The Argentine saved five of six break points he faced to set up a rematch with the world's top-ranked player.
Canas has a winning match record (2-1) against Federer, having also beaten the Swiss superstar at ATP Masters Series Toronto in 2002 en route to winning the title.
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