Wozniacki advances, Stosur exits

Fish upset by qualifier Matthew Ebden in third round

Nadia Petrova of Russia returns a shot to Samantha Stosur of Australia during a match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament Monday, March 12, 2012, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur made a premature exit at the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Monday, while Maria Sharapova and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki both advanced.

Sixth-seeded Stosur lost a seesaw third round encounter with Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, before Sharapova finally wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 win against Romania's Simona Halep on her fifth match point.

In the final match of the day, Denmark's Wozniacki recovered from a shaky opening set to battle past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 after a fluctuating tussle lasting two hours and 37 minutes.

Australian Stosur was broken by Petrova when serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set and the Russian capitalised by holding her serve and sealing a victory 7-5 in the tiebreak.

Novak Djokovic blunted the power serving of South African Kevin Anderson to reach the fourth round of the ATP event, while Mardy Fish was upset by Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden.

Fish, runner-up here in 2008, lost to South African-born Ebden in a match where the American was slapped with a hindrance call in the second set after he shouted “Come on” during a rally.

Ebden, who broke Fish once in the opening set and three times in the second, was delighted with his victory over the World No. 8.

“To beat the top (U.S.) player here is an incredible feeling,” said the Australian, who will next meet big-serving American John Isner.

The results (BNP Paribas Open ATP/WTA tournament) : Men: Third round : John Isner bt Juan Monaco 7-5, 7-5; Novak Djokovic bt Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-3; Gilles Simon bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4; Matthew Ebden bt Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro bt Santiago Giraldo 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2); Tomas Berdych bt Andy Roddick 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Ryan Harrison bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 7-5.

Women: Third round : Marion Bartoli bt Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 6-0; Lucie Safarova bt Francesca Schiavone 6-2, retd; Nadia Petrova bt Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-6(5); Roberta Vinci bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-4; Maria Sharapova bt Simona Halep 6-3, 6-4; Ana Ivanovic bt Ksenia Pervak 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2; Caroline Wozniacki bt Sofia Arvidsson 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.