No honeymoon period

On the women’s side, Serena Williams continued her pursuit of her first title in the Cincinnati-area tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Flavia Pennetta. Simona Halep also reached the quarters, where she will meet Maria Sharapova. Agnieszka Radwanska, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic also progressed. Robredo’s victory was the second time in his career he had beaten the world’s top-ranked player. The first occasion was back in 2003 when he defeated Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 French Open.

Djokovic, who has never won the Cincinnati-area event, dropped the first set after fighting back from a 6-3 deficit in the tiebreaker. Robredo took the set with an ace that Djokovic challenged. The replay showed the ball caught the slimmest sliver of the line. Robredo was denied on two match points before completing the victory with a smash on Djokovic’s short lob.

Federer had trouble shaking off a persistent Monfils in his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory. Murray, who is coming off an injury-interrupted season, would have been expecting a long match against the towering Isner because the American is rarely broken on service and won before a standing-room-only crowd. Isner, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s final, had two chances to win the match with a 6-5 lead in the third set, but Murray salvaged both points before taking control with a mini-break for a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker.

Stan Wawrinka shook off losing the first set to roll through the next two and advance with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Marin Cilic. Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, will meet unseeded Julien Benneteau in the quarterfinals. Benneteau eliminated Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-1. Fabio Fognini also needed three sets to get past Yen-hsun Lu, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Milos Ranoic held off wild-card Steve Johnson 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (4).

David Ferrer completed the quarterfinal bracket with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Mikhail Youzhny. In women’s play, top-seeded Williams broke serve in the opening game and went on to comfortably beat Pennetta 6-2, 6-2. Halep also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Lucie Safarova, but 15th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro was upset by unseeded Elina Svitolina, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Halep and Sharapova will meet in the quarterfinals – a reprise of the French Open final won by Sharapova. The fifth seed advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (2) win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Jankovic also moved on with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Sloane Stephens, and Ivanovic advanced with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Agnieszka Radwanska routed Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-1. Caroline Wozniacki reached the quarterfinals for the second straight time and third overall with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Angelique Kerber.

Sania-Cara exit

Cincinnati: India’s campaign ended at the Cincinnati Masters after Sania Mirza and Cara Black went down to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslave Shvedova in their women’s doubles second round. The fourth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair lost 3-6 3-6 in round two of the USD 2,567,000 hard court event in the run up to the US Open. (PTI)

Results: Men’s singles (Round 3): Tommy Robredo (16), Spain, def. Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, 7-6 (6), 7-5; Roger Federer (2), Switzerland, def. Gael Monfils, France, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; David Ferrer (6), Spain, def. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia, 7-5, 6-0; Andy Murray (8), ritain, def. John Isner (11), United States, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2). Women’s singles (Round 3): Serena Williams (1), United States, def. Flavia Pennetta (13), Italy, 6-2, 6-2; Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Poland, def. Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 6-1, 6-1; Maria Sharapova (5), Russia, def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-4, 7-6 (2); Caroline Wozniacki (12), Denmark, def. Angelique Kerber (6), Germany, 7-5, 6-2.