Tennis: Roger Federer Loses to Guillermo Canas in Sony Ericcsson Open

Guillermo Canas proved that his win over Roger Federer two weeks ago was no fluke as he shocked the world No1 again to reach the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Last time the two met, Federer looked to be struggling with an injury to his right foot. This time round, he had no excuses as Canas - who is still crawling his way back up the world rankings following a 15-month anti-doping suspension - held on to win 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Federer had looked in control after fighting back to claim the second set and going 3-1 up in the third, but some strong returning and solid serving from Canas saw him fight back to force a tie-break and claim the win in a tense finale.

Afterwards Federer paid tribute to his opponent. "He's a great competitor. He scrambles back so many balls and doesn't miss much, and then he moves the ball around very well," said Federer. "He really improved his backhand, his serve. They weren't that good a couple years ago, so that just tightened up his game a lot.

"I was in total control for almost all the match, and once I broke back in the first set I was really happy with my level of play," he added. "I thought it was a great match, so it was disappointing to lose. I guess he played well against me both times, and I couldn't put him away unfortunately."

Earlier, Ivan Ljubicic defeated Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, while Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela continued his fine form as he eased to a 6-3, 6-2 win over American qualifier Amer Delic.