Miami (Florida), March 29 (IANS) World No.1 women’s player Serena Williams and male Scot star Andy Murray were both eliminated from the Miami Open tennis tournament.
Three-time defending champion Williams fell to Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded 15th, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 2-6 in the fourth round here on Monday and Murray was stunned by Bulgarian 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (1), 4-6, 3-6 in the third round.
The 21-time Grand Slam winner Serena matched her earliest-ever exit from 2000 with a fourth-round departure.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Murray failed in his bid for a third Miami trophy and fourth final in five seasons.
Both players had error-prone matches, each making 55 unforced errors.
Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion who lost eight of 10 prior matches to Serena, next faces 30th-seeded compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, who pushed aside Ukraine’s 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-4.
Also ousted were World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, upset by 20th-ranked Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, as well as Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza, who was defeated 6-7 (6), 6-7 (4) by 13th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
In the quarter-finals, Bacsinszky will meet Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep, who eliminated 69th-ranked British wildcard Heather Watson 6-3, 6-4.
Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori cruised into the fourth round by routing Ukraine’s 27th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2 and faces Spanish 17th seed Roberto Bautista Agut for a quarter-final spot.