Second seed Karolina Pliskova on Thursday cruised into the third round of the Miami Open by beating American qualifier Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3.
While her serve was not at its best, 25-year-old Pliskova never looked in danger, comfortably dominating while winning 78 percent of return points.
“There were a few tight games, but I think I was pretty solid. It went quite easy and I was really happy to spend only an hour out there, because its pretty hot and humid and so I am happy to save some power for the later matches,” Pliskova said.
Photo: EPA
“The serve wasn’t really great and hasn’t been for the last few weeks, but I think my game from the baseline was better, it’s improving, my backhand is better, I was feeling pretty good just want to improve the serve a bit now,” she added.
Slovakian fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova needed to dig deep to fight past Paraguayan qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg.
The 90-minute encounter was far tougher for Cibulkova than the 6-3, 6-2 scoreline suggests and she was relieved with the win.
“I just stayed aggressive,” she said. “It was my first match here, so it was pretty hot and it wasn’t easy conditions, but I made it through. I’d never played her before, so that’s always a new experience. I’m glad I got the job done.”
However, Cibulkova faces another tough test against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, who fought her way past Croatian 29th seed Ana Konjuh 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 6-2.
Agnieszka Radwanska beat China’s Wang Qiang 7-6, 6-1 and Caroline Wozniacki comfortably won 6-1, 6-2 against Varvara Lepchenko.
Sixth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza was trounced 6-0 in the first set by American opponent Christina McHale and was down 3-2 on McHale’s serve in the second when rain began.
Play was eventually canceled for the day and McHale was yesterday to aim to complete the upset.
In men’s singles, Bernard Tomic pulled out of the Miami Open due to a back injury, the latest setback in a disappointing year for the Australian.
Ranked 17th in the world as recently as November last year, Tomic has tumbled down the rankings to 44th. Since a third-round Australian Open exit, the 24-year-old has lost four first-round matches to low-ranked opponents.
The most recent setback came at Indian Wells, where he was beaten by 112th-ranked Bjorn Fratangelo of the US.
Tomic was due to face Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin at Crandon Park on Thursday, but pulled out shortly before the contest was due to begin.
Lucky loser Mikhail Youzhny of Russia took Tomic’s place in the first-round contest, but was ousted 6-4, 6-1.
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun needed a little more than an hour to cruise to a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Norwegian world No. 128 Casper Ruud.
US teen Frances Tiafoe downed Russia’s Konstantin Kravchuk 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to book a second-round match against 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. It will be the 19-year-old American’s first match against a top-10 foe.
World No. 41 Marcel Granollers of Spain fell 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3 to promising 62nd-ranked Croatian Borna Coric in a testing two hour, 51 minute contest.
Coric tired toward the end and offered some openings to Granollers while missing three match points, but was able to recover well to hold on and set up a meeting with sixth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Russian 19-year-old Andrey Rublev made short work of world No. 46 Florian Mayer of Germany, winning 6-1, 6-1 in just 44 minutes. Rublev was next to face a tough challenge against 2010 Miami finalist and 10th seed Tomas Berdych.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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