Former French Open tennis champion Carlos Moya of Spain has defeated American James Blake to reach the third round of the NASDAQ-100 tournament in Miami, Florida.
Moya, the fifth seed, overcame a first set loss to beat Blake in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6. The Spaniard saved three match points to beat the American and next faces Sweden's Thomas Johansson, a straight-set winner over Britain's Greg Rusedski (6-3, 6-4).
In other early action Friday, 12th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in straight sets (6-4, 6-0). Robredo plays Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic in the next round. Novak beat American Kevin Kim (6-1, 6-2).
In women's play, ninth-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia lost in three sets to Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain (3-6, 6-3, 6-1). Another Russian, 15th-seed Elena Likhovtseva, reached the third round with a straight-set win over Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic (7-6, 6-2).
Two Argentine players had opposite results in the second round with 17th-seeded Paola Suarez losing to Catalina Castano of Colombia (7-5, 6-3) while Gisela Dulko of Argentina beat Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi (4-6, 6-0, 6-3). Israel's Shahar Peer knocked Marion Bartoli of France out of the tournament in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 7-5).
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
