Serena Williams moved into the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open by beating Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-2, 6-1 Saturday. Serena started early and finished fast. Walking onto the stadium court at 11 A.M., she dominated with her serve, played consistently from the baseline and was done shortly after noon. In men's second-round play, Andy Roddick lost only five points on his first serve, never faced a break point and beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3, 6-2. Roddick hopes to improve a ranking that has dropped to 34th, the lowest he has been since 2001. No. 12-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany edged No. 17 Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 7-5. On the men's side, No. 5 David Ferrer beat Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 6-4. On Friday, former world No. 1 Venus Williams upset Czech third seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to reach the third round. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams took advantage on 9-of-11 break-point chances and fought off a rally to advance after two hours and 18 minutes. Williams booked a third-round matchup with Canadian wildcard Aleksandra Wozniak, who defeated Romania's Monica Niculescu 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek 6-3, 7-5. Azarenka broke as Krajicek served for the second set, then held and then broke again at love to close out the match after one hour and 42 minutes. Azarenka stretched her season-long win streak to 24 matches. She has the best start to a WTA season since Martina Hingis won 37 in a row in 1997. Top seed Azarenka will next face British wildcard Heather Watson, who defeated Czech 27th seed Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1. Azarenka comes off her fourth title of the season at Indian Wells, where she beat World No. 2 Maria Sharapova of Russia in the final just as she did last year in Miami. World No. 4 Andy Murray eased into the third round by dispatching Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-2, 6-3. Murray, 24, will next face Canadian 26th seed Milos Raonic, who advanced over France's Arnaud Clement 7-6 (9-7), 6-2. The second-seeded Spaniard Rafa Nadal breezed into the third round. Hemade short work of Santiago Giraldo, hammering the Colombian 6-2, 6-0 in just over an hour. American John Isner maintained his great run of form, which has included a win over world number one Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells, by defeating Russian Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, highlighted by 10 aces. Czech Radek Stepanek ousted Germany's Tommy Haas 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Other seeded men to reach the third round included No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, No. 18 Alexandr Dolgopolov and No. 22 Jurgen Melzer. Russia's Alisa Kleybanova, a former top-20 player who missed the past 10 months battling Hodgkin's lymphoma, was ousted in her second-round match by compatriot Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (7/1), 6-3. The 15th-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat American Vania King 6-4, 7-5. Federer named greatest player Roger Federer has been named the greatest player of all time by America's Tennis Channel. The television network's “100 Greatest of All Time,” a five-night series, aired this week and culminated Friday. Federer edged Rod Laver for the top spot. Rounding out the top 10 were Steffi Graf in third, followed by Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King.
