Williams sisters, Henin reach Miami quarters

By Sandra Harwitt

MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) - Defending champion Serena Williams beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3 6-3 on Monday to set up a repeat of last year's Sony Ericsson Open final against world number one Justine Henin in the last eight.

Henin, seeking her first title of 2008, wasted little energy in a 6-2 6-2 fourth-round win over world number 53 Elena Vesnina of Russia.

Williams's sister Venus lined up a quarter-final against world number four Svetlana Kuznetsova after beating Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3.

Third-seeded Kuznetsova sealed a 7-6 6-3 victory over 16th-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, avenging her defeat by the same player in Miami last year.

Men's world number one Roger Federer had a short day at the office when his opponent Robin Soderling of Sweden retired from their third-round match trailing 6-4 3-0 because of illness.

Federer served well but did allow world number 39 Soderling to break him in the fifth game of the first set.

"It's a big difference between not playing at all or playing one and a half sets," Federer told reporters. "My opponent was a dangerous player. I think it was good for me to go out there and play today."

The newly engaged Andy Roddick, with his fiance Brooklyn Decker sitting beside musician Boyd Tinsley of The Dave Matthews Band in the stands, was tested by qualifier Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic before winning 7-6 6-4.

Roddick won the first set on his second set point in the tiebreak when world number 86 Minar's backhand hit the top of the net and landed wide.

SERVICE BREAK

Roddick was up a service break in the second set, but allowed Minar to level in the eighth game.

"Whenever you play someone who's won I think five matches in seven or eight days, including quallies, he's got to be hitting the ball well," Roddick said.

"He plays pretty high risk, and a lot of times there's not a lot you can do besides let him take his swings and hope eventually he might punch himself out."

Serena Williams looked in much better form against world number 61 Kanepi after she made 60 unforced errors against Flavia Penetta in the third round.

"I definitely had a lot less unforced errors, so I think that was pretty key," Williams said. "It was kind of up and down, though. She didn't give me any kind of rhythm."