Cilic Posts 20th Match Win; Gonzalez Sets Soderling Clash

© Getty ImagesFernando Gonzalez battles through in three sets Monday.

Seventh seed Marin Cilic claimed his 20th match win of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.

Both players dropped just four points on their first serve and little separated them from the ground, but the Croatian did not offer up a break point and converted the two opportunities he had on Baghdatis’ serve.

Baghdatis was looking to upset a Top 10 player for a second consecutive tournament after defeating World No. 1 Roger Federer two weeks ago in Indian Wells.

Cilic next faces 10th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who rallied past Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. Melzer failed to capitalize on his five break point opportunities in the second set, allowing Verdasco to come back and claim the victory in just over two hours.

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After strong starts to the 2010 season, Cilic and Verdasco both came to Miami looking to rebound from early exits in Indian Wells, where Cilic bowed out in his opener (l. to Garcia-Lopez) and Verdasco in the third round (l. to Berdych). They have split their previous four meetings, with the 21-year-old Croatian winning their two most recent encounters.

After accounting for defending champion Andy Murray in the second round, American Mardy Fish continued his progress at the Sony Ericsson Open by posting a 7-5, 6-3 win over 29th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Fish saved both break points he faced and has dropped serve just twice in three matches.

He will need to knock off his third seeded opponent, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, in order to reach the quarter-finals. The No. 13 seed recovered from a slow start to oust Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5.

Fernando Gonzalez earned a chance to play Sweden’s Robin Soderling for the first time since their five-set tussle in the Roland Garros semi-finals. The ninth-seeded Chilean defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes, improving to a perfect 6-0 record against last week’s Indian Wells quarter-finalist.

Meanwhile, Roland Garros finalist Soderling needed just 65 minutes to dismiss German Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-2 in his third-round match. The World No. 7 reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final last week in Indian Wells before falling to Andy Roddick.