Murray beats Ferrer to win Miami Masters

MIAMI – British second seed Andy Murray won the ATP Miami Masters title on Sunday, saving a match point in the penultimate game in defeating Spanish third seed David Ferrer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1).

Murray captured his 26th career tour title, and second of the year having taken the Brisbane crown, after a grueling two hours and 45 minutes.

Serena Williams win Sony Open final beats Sharapova

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at the Sony Open. She earned a record of sixth Key Biscayne women's title Saturday.

Sharapova set a new standard for futility in finals. She completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open last year, and won Indian Wells two weeks ago, but she's now 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals.

Sharapova playing nearly flawless tennis for an hour, before her serve and groundstrokes began to lose steam.

At 31, the No. 1-ranked Williams became the oldest female champion at Key Biscayne. She won the tournament for the first time since 2008 and surpassed Steffi Graf, a five-time champion.

Sharapova didn't sound thrilled by the prospect, with good reason. She has lost 11 consecutive matches against Williams and hasn't beaten her since 2004.

Serena vs Sharapova in Sony Open Finals

Miami - Five-time champion Serena Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-3 to advanced to Sony Open finals.

She will now face Russia`s Maria Sharapova who earlier beat Serbia`s Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-1 to book her place in the finals of the Sony Open.

Sharapova extended her winning streak to 11 matches in a one-sided match that lasted just over an hour against Jankovic.

Sharapova has never won the Sony Open despite playing four previous finals and will be looking for a change of fortune in the finals to be played on Saturday.

Sharapova, Ferrer reach semi-finals in Miami

(Reuters) - Maria Sharapova beat seventh seed Sara Errani 7-5 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the Sony Open in Miami on Wednesday.

Serving at 4-5 in the second set of a see-saw struggle, the third seed Sharapova saved three set points before winning the final three games to end the two hour, 29-minute battle.

"She had her chances to win that second set. Who knows what would have happened," said Sharapova, a four-time Miami finalist who has yet to win the tournament.

"I'm lucky to get to the next one and have a chance to be in the semis again ... the great thing is that I pulled through. I worked hard. I was steady, and I gave myself a chance to get here."

Errani had four service breaks against Sharapova, who committed 14 double faults. But the 25-year-old Italian was even more vulnerable to the big-hitting Sharapova, who broke serve six times.

Sharapova, bidding for a rare double following her win at Indian Wells earlier this month, will play either 2008 runner-up Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or 15th seed Roberta Vinci of Italy in the semi-finals.

On the men's side, world number five David Ferrer overcame a sloppy start to defeat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 4-6 6-3 6-0 in their quarter-final.

Third-seeded Ferrer, who has already won twice this year after notching seven tournament wins in 2012, raced through the final set losing just four points on serve and committing only four unforced errors to finish with a flourish.

The loss ended a nine-match winning streak for 42nd-ranked Melzer, who won earlier this month in Dallas.

The Spaniard will meet the winner of Wednesday's later match between Germany's 15th-seeded Tommy Haas, who knocked out world number one Novak Djokovic, and French 11th seed Gilles Simon.

Sharapova cruises through as Azarenka withdraws and Robson loses

Maria Sharapova overwhelmed Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and didn't waste any time in a 6-2, 6-0 second-round victory in the Miami ATP Masters and WTA tournament.

Sharapova, seeded third even though her triumph at Indian Wells last weekend saw her jump from third to second in the world rankings, needed less than an hour to subdue the 19-year-old wild card.

Even a brief power outage that halted the match as the floodlights went out barely slowed her.

"It was a bigger surprise that it was all around the outer courts as well, not just the stadium," she said of the outage that plunged the court into darkness.

In the end however, it was just a small hurdle on a day when a three-hour rain delay had matches backing up.

"I was just trying to find a quiet corner where I could just rest and just wait it out," Sharapova said of her approach to the rain delay.

"I have been on the tour for many years and I have been part of a few delays ... you have to get out and just be ready, do a quick warmup, and be ready for the match."

Sharapova next faces 29th seed Russian Elena Vesnina, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Croatian Donna Vekic.

Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion who is seeded second, although she's dropped to No. 3 in the world rankings this week, withdrew before her scheduled second-round match against US wild card Madison Keys with a right ankle injury.

Azarenka's withdrawal proved an unexpected bonus for American teenager Lauren Davis, who failed to qualify for the tournament.

She was given a 'lucky loser' pass into the event when Azarenka pulled out then saved three match points in defeating Madison Keys 6-1 5-7 7-6.

Britain's Laura Robson ranked a career-high of 43 in the world despite a 2013 win-loss record of 4-6 prior to her match against Cornet, dropped to a 5-7 7-5 6-1 defeat.

Robson, who won her first match since reaching the Australian Open third round in January in overcoming Camila Giorgi in the opening round in Florida, fell apart in the decider as the Frenchwoman breezed to victory.

Sixth seed Angelique Kerber reached the third round with a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 win over Francesca Schiavone.

Having edged a tight first-set tiebreak, the veteran Italian then struggled on serve - with the German left-hander having little trouble in coasting through.

She will next play 28th seed Sorana Cirstea after the Romanian beat Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain 2-6 7-5 6-2.

Italian 15th seed Roberta Vinci lost an opening tie-breaker to American Christina McHale 7-2 but won the last two sets to win through 6-7(2) 6-1 6-3 in over two-and-a-half hours.

The 30-year-old three-times Grand Slam doubles champion will face Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round after the 20th seed beat Jamie Hampton of the USA in another three-setter.

Suarez Navarro was broken late in the first set but did likewise in the second before taking a final-set tie-break 7-3, triumphing 5-7 7-5 7-6(3) in two hours and 43 minutes.

Svetlana Kuznetsova won an all-Russian clash by ousting 18th seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-4 6-4 to set up a third-round match with Ana Ivanovic, who beat Urszula Radwanska 6-2 6-1.

Fourteenth seed Maria Kirilenko continued her good recent form with a 6-1 6-4 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands while Jelena Jankovic, the 22nd seed, progressed 6-3 7-5 past Victoria Duval.

WTA Miami second-round results:

8-Sara Errani (Italy) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-3 6-1

22-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Victoria Duval (U.S.) 6-3 7-5

12-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 6-2 6-1

32-Alize Cornet (France) beat Laura Robson (Britain) 5-7 7-5 6-1

3-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-2 6-0

14-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (U.S.) 6-1 6-4

Simona Halep (Romania) beat 26-Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-1 6-7(4) 7-5

11-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Zheng Jie (China) 6-3 6-1

28-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 2-6 7-5 6-2

6-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2

21-Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) beat Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 6-3 7-6(3)

20-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Jamie Hampton (U.S.) 5-7 7-5 7-6(3)

Lauren Davis (U.S.) beat Madison Keys (U.S.) 6-1 5-7 7-6(7)

15-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Christina Mchale (U.S.) 6-7(2) 6-1 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 18-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-4 6-4

29-Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Donna Vekic (Croatia) 6-4 6-2

Wozniacki will meet Sharapova in Indian Wells final

INDIAN WELLS - Former champion Caroline Wozniacki battled through a marathon encounter to upset fourth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 2-6 6-4 7-5 on Friday and reach her third BNP Paribas Open final in four years.

The eighth-seeded Dane, winner at Indian Wells in 2011 after being a losing finalist the previous year, held off a late fightback by Kerber to scrape through in a wildly fluctuating contest lasting two-and-a-half hours.

In a match littered with 14 service breaks, Wozniacki led 4-1 and then 5-3 in the third set but the German clawed her way back to 5-6 before being broken for a seventh and final time when she netted a forehand.

Wozniacki will next face 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who overcome fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-4 6-3 in the second semifinal at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Patrick Chan captures 3rd straight world figure skating title

LONDON, Ontario (AP) - While Patrick Chan won his third title at the World Figure Skating Championships, there was no doubt Denis Ten won the night.

The little-known skater from Kazakhstan stole Chan's spotlight - no easy thing to do in Canada - with a beautifully breezy and technically impressive performance to ''The Artist'' that surely would have won Uggie's approval. Ten won the free skate, but he couldn't overcome the lead Chan had after the short program.

Chan finished with 267.78 points, 1.3 better than Ten. Still, when Ten saw his marks, his mouth dropped open and he pumped his fists. He'd never been better than seventh at world championships or Olympics before.

Javier Fernandez of Spain was third. U.S. champion Max Aaron was seventh, ensuring the Americans will have two spots in Sochi.

Earlier Friday, Tatiana Volosozhar and Makim Trankov won the pairs title, Russia's first since 2005.

Novak Djokovic had a tough time beating Fabio Fognini

The world No. 1 Djokovic defeated Fabio Fognini 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, the struggles he encountered against the 36th-ranked Italian echoing world No. 3 Andy Murray's battle to a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over unheralded Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

Djokovic improved to 14-0 in 2013, but he was kicking himself for letting control of the match slip away in the second set, when he went up an early break only for Fognini to get back on serve with a break of his own in the seventh game.

Fognini saved a match point with a service winner in the the 10th game of the second set and broke Djokovic in the 11th.

He duly served out the set, and had Djokovic under pressure in the opening game of the third, when the Serbian fended off one break point then battled through four game points and an irksome time violation before finally holding serve.

From there Fognini began to fade. Djokovic broke him to lead 3-1 and broke him again to secure the win.

Djokovic said his difficulties hadn't dented the confidence gained from capturing his fourth Australian Open crown in January, and a fourth ATP Dubai title last week.

Ernests Gulbis captures second Delray Beach title

Latvian Ernests Gulbis won his second Delray Beach International title after beating French journeyman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 6-3 on Sunday.

Gulbis found himself in his first final since 2011 after the top seeds all crashed out and after weathering a stiff challenge in the first set, was too strong for the 105th-ranked Frenchman.

"I'm really happy. I worked hard," the 24-year-old told reporters. "I'm exhausted now. [This is] my favorite tournament. It's the only tournament in the world I am winning."

The 67th-ranked Gulbis was understating his record, but only slightly, having sandwiched his Delray Beach wins with the Los Angeles trophy in 2011 for a career total of three ATP titles.

The 29-year-old Roger-Vasselin was playing in his first final, however, and the gap in experience showed as Gulbis saved a set point before forcing a tiebreak which he won comfortably 7-3.

Gulbis rode the momentum through the second set to quickly wrap up the match, but Roger-Vasselin was not too disconsolate with the loss, having previously held a 0-5 record in quarterfinals.

"When you lose in a final, it's tough, but it was a great week for me," he said. "It will give me confidence for the next tournament."