Associated Press

Indian Wells, March 14:

Roger Federer, the world’s top-ranked player, opened the defence of his Pacific Life Open title with a methodical 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mardy Fish on Sunday. In an upset on the women’s side, Russian teenager Evgenia Linetskaya defeated Amelie Mauresmo 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a third-round match. Federer, running his match record for the year to 21-1, broke Fish’s serve twice on the way to a 4-0 lead in the first set, then was in clear control the rest of the way. Federer has won three tournaments already this year, with his only loss coming against Marat Safin in the Australian Open semi-finals. The 23-year-old Swiss star needed just 1 hour, 7 minutes to beat Fish. He next faces Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Lleyton Hewitt also advanced, downing Robby Ginepri 6-2, 7-6. Safin advanced with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Jarkko Nieminen, and Carlos Moya defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4. Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tomas Zib. Also in the women’s third round, Kim Clijsters kept her comeback from a wrist injury on track with a 6-1, 7-6 victory over Anna Chakvetadze. Elena Dementieva defeated Severine Beltrame 5-7, 6-3, 7-6. She was joined in the fourth round by Svetlana Kuznetsova, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela. Conchita Martinez’s 2005 revival continued when she advanced beating American qualifier Jamea Jackson 6-0, 7-5.

Japanese qualifier Rika Fujiwara beat a second consecutive seeded player, No 24 Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, rallying from 5-3 down in the second set to win 7-6, 7-6.

Fujiwara ousted ninth-seeded Francesca Schiavone in the second round, and next plays Kuznetsova. Kirilenko followed her upset of fellow Russian and eighth-seeded Elena Bovina by defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 6-4.