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No. 9 James Blake avenged an early season loss to Fabrice Santoro (pictured) by defeating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 on Sunday to reach the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Blake, who lost to Santoro in the first round of Sydney in January, improved his career mark to 4-1 against the 35-year-old Frenchman in a match played in sweltering conditions.

Santoro broke Blake in the opening game of the match before the American broke back in the fourth game. Blake broke again to go up 5-3 and then served out the opening set. In the second set, Blake went up 2-1 with an early break but Santoro broke back in the next game. Both players held serve the rest of the set, forcing a tie-break.

After Santoro went up 3-1, Blake won the next two points. But Santoro won four of the last five points, winning the set when Blake double-faulted for the fifth time.

In the third set, Santoro broke in the first game but he lost serve right back. Both players held until Blake broke at love-40 in the eighth game but he was broken at love-40 in the next game. Blake then broke in the next game to close out the two hour and 18 minute match.

"There's nobody out there to really prepare to play Fabrice," said Blake, who improved to 16-5 on the season. "There is no one that plays that way. You can see how much he loves the game. He competes. It's fun to see. Not fun to play against, but it's fun to watch. I think fans appreciate that. I hope they do. And myself and him have some pretty good battles."

No. 10 Tomas Berdych needed only 65 minutes to defeat No. 22 Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-3, and reach the fourth round in Miami for the first time. The top player from the Czech Republic broke Ferrero five times while losing his serve once.

Watch ATP Masters Series TV: Berdych Interview

No. 27 Radek Stepanek reached the fourth round for the fourth straight year with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Xavier Malisse. The Czech Republic No. 2 improved to 14-6 on the season and he will take on Blake in the next round. Stepanek never lost serve, saving all three break points, while he converted one of six break points in the one hour and 40 minute match.

Unseeded Dmitry Tursunov advanced to the fourth round for the second time in three years as he came back to defeat No. 32 seed Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes. In the third set, the decisive break came in the fifth game as Tursunov went up 3-2 and he saved one break point in the final game of the match.

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