Kuznetsova advances, Federer in action at Indian Wells

　　INDIAN WELLS, California, March 16, 2008 - Second-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova struggled into the fourth round of the WTA and ATP Masters Series tournament here Sunday with a three-set win over Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

　　Kuznetsova, ranked number three in the world, beat Cibulkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to a meeting with Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Japan's Aiko Nakamura.

　　World number one Roger Federer headlined the action Sunday at the 5.7 million-dollar tournament, which combines a men's Masters Series event with a prestigious WTA tier one tournament.

　　Federer, healthy again and trying to get his 2008 season on track, was due to open his campaign with a second-round clash against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

　　Federer, who fell in the Australian Open semi-finals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, is coming off a first-round upset by Scotland's Andy Murray in Dubai last week.

　　The Swiss, who was slowed earlier this year by the mononucleosis virus, won the Indian Wells title three years in a row from 2004-2006, but was stunned in his opening match last year by Argentina's Guillermo Canas.

　　In early men's play, 11th-seeded Murray overcame a slow start to defeat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a second-round clash.

　　Murray has already won two titles already this year, in Doha and Marseille, next faces Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who downed South African Rik De Voest 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).

　　Other men's seeds in action included number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick and seventh-seeded Argentinian David Nalbandian.

　　Roddick, who captured his second title of the season in Dubai, was to take on Germany's Tommy Haas.

　　In other women's matches, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova, the Australian Open champion who has yet to lose a match this season, was to take on Greece's Eleni Daniilidou for a place in the fourth round.

　　Defending champion and fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia was to take on China's Zheng Jie.

　　Other women's seeds in action include number eight Dinara Safina of Russia and ninth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel.