Lindsay Davenport revived memories of when she was the game's top-ranked player as she crushed world number two Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-2 in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Ivanovic, who arrived in Miami after her Pacific Life Open title win in Indian Wells, appeared to have no answer against the aggressive game world number 33 Davenport brought to the court.

Ivanovic is the second top 10 player Davenport has beaten since returning to the tour last September after giving birth to her first child last June.

Davenport won 13 of 14 points at the net and cancelled out her 20 unforced errors with 20 winners.

Davenport led 6-4 3-0 when it appeared Ivanovic might fight back when she broke serve in the fourth game, but Davenport recouped the service break in the very next game and went ahead 5-1.

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova saved a match point before beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6 7-5 6-0 in the third round.

Serving for the match at 6-1 5-3, the world number 27 Azarenka missed her opportunity to create an upset when she sailed a backhand long.

Azarenka ended up double faulting away her serve in that ninth game, which provided the third-seeded Kuznetsova a new lease of life in the match.

"When she serves match point I was like, 'Oh my god,' said Kutznetsova, the 2006 champion.

"I saw that one was out, so I was pretty happy with that one."

Top seed Justine Henin had a quick day when she dispatched Sara Errani of Italy 6-2 6-1 in 64 minutes.

Henin held on to all of her service games and successfully broke the world number 72 Errani's serve on five of seven break point offerings.

Despite having an easy time in the match, Henin said she found the humid weather conditions tough going.

"It very hot out there," said Henin, whose best showing at the Miami tournament was reaching last year's final.

"It was quite difficult to breathe."

Sixth seed Venus Williams spent only 67 minutes on court taking care of wildcard recipient Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2 6-1.

Williams, leading 2-0, dropped her serve in the third game of the first set when at 30-40 she double faulted.

That was the only time Williams allowed world number 101 Erakovic to make a statement against her serve.

"I think I played consistent and not too many errors, which is great for me," Williams said.

"She brought a lot of balls back, and that was a challenge, but I was just winning all of the important points."

In other third-round matches, 13th-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia defeated 18th-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6 6-1 6-0.

Shahar Peer of Israel, the 16th seed, defeated 15-year-old Portuguese wildcard Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-0 6-2.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark upset 22nd-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia 2-6 6-3 6-1.

Reuters