Miami, Mar 29 (EFE).– Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and American Serena Williams, the defending men’s and women’s champions, respectively, advanced at the Miami Open.

Djokovic defeated Slovakia’s Martin Klizan 6-0, 5-7, 6-1, while Williams rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Romania’s Monica Nicolescu on Saturday.

The Serbian world No. 1, who will face Belgium’s Steve Darcis on Monday, saw his path to the final open up with the defeats on Saturday of Spain’s Tommy Robredo, the No. 16 seed, and Luxembourg’s Giles Muller, the 30th seed, on his side of the draw.

Williams, for her part, advanced to the 3rd round by beating Nicolescu, who gave her problems at Indian Wells earlier this month.

The big question going into the match was how Williams would hold up physically after she was forced to drop out of the Indian Wells semis due to a knee injury.

The seven-time Miami Open champion won nine of the last 10 games in the match and appeared to not experience any problems with her knee.

Williams’s next opponent will be American teenage phenom Catherine “CiCi” Bellis, who got a wildcard into the tournament.

In men’s action on Saturday, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-2, while Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov upset Spain’s Tommy Rrobredo 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 7-5.

On the women’s side, German qualifier Tatjana Maria upset Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the No. 6 seed, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), while Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. EFE