Murray, Berdych reach fourth round in Key Biscayne

Key Biscayne, FL – Former champion and last year's runner- up Andy Murray posted a third-round victory Monday at the Sony Open.

The second-seeded U.S. Open champion took care of 29th-seeded rising Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 in 1 hour, 54 minutes on the hardcourts at Crandon Park. The British star popped nine aces on Day 6.

Murray, who titled here in 2009 and was last year's runner-up to Novak Djokovic, will face Italian Andreas Seppi in the fourth round.

Tomas Berdych, the No. 4 seed, rallied past Alejandro Falla 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, saving two match points to edge the Colombian. Berdych was the Miami runner-up in 2010.

Berdych will play 17th-seeded American Sam Querrey in the fourth round. Querrey advanced when Milos Raonic withdrew prior to their third-round meeting with an illness.

In addition, sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga handled Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.

Tsonga will next face ninth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic, who beat 20th-seeded American John Isner by a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) margin.

Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet grounded 28th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4 and 10th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro handled Belgian David Goffin by an identical 6-3, 6-4 score. Gasquet will battle Almagro in the round of 16.

Also on Monday, a 16th-seeded Seppi outlasted Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

The winner of this $4.169 million Masters 1000 event will pocket $719,160.