World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, weekend winner of the Indian Wells WTA title, launched her bid for a second straight crown with a victory at the Miami WTA and ATP Masters tournament on Thursday.
Wozniacki reached the third round of the US$9 million event with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
“Especially in the first match you want to get going, you want to have the rallies but I really couldn’t get that today, so I just had to fight. I thought I did that pretty well,” said the Dane, who like all the top seeds enjoyed a first-round bye.
Photo: AFP
Wozniacki, who took the top ranking from Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters and backed up her move by winning the prestige trophy in the California desert on Sunday, remains the woman to beat this week.
The 20-year-old said she feels energized, despite her long run at Indian Wells.
“I’m actually feeling pretty good, I’m not really tired. Hopefully I’ll play long in this tournament. I’ll have a day in between matches, I’m just enjoying myself out there,” she said.
Roland Garros finalist Samantha Stosur of Australia, seeded fourth, beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-1.
Stosur has been getting off to fast starts, having won her opening match at her previous seven events.
“I thought I played quite well,” Stosur said. “I don’t think I hit the ball out of this world fantastic, but I guess I did what I had to do.”
The loss was the fifth for Zheng this season, with the Chinese player managing only two wins.
Serbian sixth seed Jelena Jankovic took an easy victory over Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-1 while 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova bounced back after a first-round defeat at Indian Wells to dispatch Simona Halep of Romania 6-0, 6-4.
Maria Sharapova, seeded 16th and making her first Miami appearance since 2007 after battling a string of injuries, launched her campaign with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Croatian Petra Martic.
Three seeds bit the dust, the highest-ranking being Australian Open finalist Li Na. Johanna Larsson of Sweden beat the No. 7 seed from China 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6 (5)
Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated Israeli 10th seed Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-2, while Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic downed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, the No. 13 seed, 6-3, 6-0.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki made the third round when her opponent, Nadia Petrova of Russia, retired with the score standing at 4-6, 6-3, 3-1.
Men’s seeds were resting and training before starting yesterday, with supporting acts taking center stage.
One was Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun, who beat Pere Riba of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in their first-round men’s singles match.
It was only the second ATP Tour victory of the year for the 27-year-old Taiwanese No. 1 following his win against Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in Indian Wells earlier this month.
Lu, currently ranked 43rd in the world, will come up against world No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the second round.
Lu last played Youzhny in January in a highly publicized exhibition series in Taiwan that also featured Andre Agassi and Marat Safin.
Meanwhile, Japan’s top ATP player, Kei Nishikori, offered some modest cheer to his stricken homeland with his first round defeat of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
Nishikori was among some 15 ATP stars who took part in a benefit soccer match on Wednesday night, raising money for the American Red Cross’ Japan relief efforts.
He said he was touched by the concern his colleagues had shown for his homeland.
“I want to thank all the players for helping Japan like that. I’m very proud — and I had fun yesterday,” he said.
Djokovic has yet to open his Miami campaign. Other men in action Thursday included Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) while Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Ramon Ramirez Hidalgo both reached the second round.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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