Easy wins for Federer and Hingis

Roger Federer was dominating the match against Albert Portas from Spain Keystone

Swiss tennis stars Roger Federer and Martina Hingis have both won their respective matches in the WTA tournament in Miami.

Roger Federer defeated the Spaniard Albert Portas 6-4, 6-1 and Martina Hingis dispatched Alexandra Stevenson from the United States 6-2, 6-0 in Monday’s matches.

With his easy victory over the Spaniard, who became the second Spanish qualifier to win the German Open last year, Federer has reached the fourth round of the Florida tournament.

Even though Federer dominated most of the match, he only managed to break the Spaniard’s serve in the sixth game of the first set.

After having gained confidence, it took Federer only two games in the second set to break Portas’ serve.

Hard to break

After the second break the 28-year-old Spaniard tried to keep on his feet but when he failed to capitalize against Federer’s serve, the game was practically over for him.

“I had to play constantly during this phase and I managed it,” Federer said after the match.

However, Federer suffered a shock at the beginning of the fifth game when he fell and cut his thumb so badly he had to receive treatment from a physiotherapist.

“I didn’t want to mess up the court with my blood,” he said jokingly. “No, it really hurt and I did not want to risk anything. But it wasn’t so bad after all.”

The 22-year-old from Basel now faces a tough challenge in the fourth round against Britain’s Tim Henman. In four meetings with the Brit, Federer has yet to manage a win.

All four of their previous meetings have been high-profile affairs with Henman beating Federer twice at the Swiss player’s home tournament in Basel as well as in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year and during a semi-final in Vienna two seasons ago.

Hingis rockets past Stevenson

In the women’s singles Martina Hingis is through to the quarterfinals ater beating America’s Alexandra Stevenson 6-2, 6-0 in only 56 minutes.

Hingis made Stevenson run throughout the match in a successful bid to stop the American’s power game.

“Stevenson does not really like the way I’m playing, she hardly wins any points. My mother watched her in the previous match and gave me a few tips,” the world number three said after the match.

Like Federer, Hingis is now likely to face a much tougher task in her next match when she takes on American star Serena Williams. The younger of the two Williams sisters comfortably overcame compatriot Marissa Irvin in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) to set up the quarter-final meeting with Hingis.

swissinfo with agencies