Keys out but Kerber and Venus advance

miami — Top seed Angelique Kerber advanced to the fourth round at the Miami Open late on Sunday but eighth seed Madison Keys was sent packing.

On a day when Simona Halep, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams also won their third round matches, Kerber did not have it all her own way against 61st-ranked American Shelby Rogers.

The German, however, proved too strong, breaking five times for a 6-4 7-5 win on the main stadium hardcourt at Crandon Park.

“It’s always good to have close sets, especially when you win them at the end. They give you confidence that you can go out in your next match knowing you can win close matches because you’ve just done it a day ago,” Kerber told reporters.

Keys, in her second event since returning from wrist surgery, was the only seed to lose on Sunday, falling to 72ndranked Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 7-5 7-5.

Third seed Halep took less than an hour to polish off qualifier Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3 6-0 with an aggressive performance that left the Romanian very pleased.

“I think I played my best match of the year,” Halep told the WTA. “I was confident, and knew what I had to do ... everything went pretty well for me tonight.

“I felt good when I came to site and was sure that it was going to come together because I work every day. At one point, it has to come.

“I felt the best that I have this year. I can move without pain or anything and I’m confident, which is the most important thing.” —