Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, world No. 1, won her second-round match at the LPGA’s Match Play Championship on Friday to advance to the next round.
Tseng, who is ranked No. 4 at the tournament, defeated Jenny Suh of the US 3-and-2 in 16 holes at the Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey.
The 22-year-old Tseng will face 62nd seed Julieta Granada of Paraguay in the next round.
Photo: Reuters
“I had lots of good chances to make birdie, but I shot even today. I held on and won in 16 holes … I feel like I had confidence today. Tomorrow, I’ll do the same thing and stay aggressive,” Tseng was quoted as saying on the LPGA’s Web site after the match.
Tseng’s compatriot, 45th-seed Amy Hung, failed to advance after falling 5-and-3 to Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, the fifth-ranked player in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and three other Americans advanced to the final 16 in a strong showing by the home players.
Angela Stanford, Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lang were the others Americans to advance and they will face a difficult task in a field where favorites are leading the way.
The prominent American performance came after a practice round early this week for the top 16 US players in preparation for the Solheim Cup.
“It’s awesome,” said Wie, who came from two holes down with five to play to beat Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist in 20 holes. “We had our ‘sweet 16’ practice session and we all played matches against each other, so it’s pretty interesting.”
Top-seeded Choi Na-yeon of South Korea and No. 6 seed Ai Miyazato of Japan also won as seven of the top 10 seeds earned spots in the round of 16.
Creamer will play Lang in the only all-American match. Kerr will face Kyeong Bae of South Korea, Wie will play Sophie Gustafson of Sweden, Lewis is paired with Pettersen, while Stanford will play Meena Lee, who knocked off No. 2 Shin Ji-yai in the first round.
Kerr was the most impressive player on Friday in a round that was played mostly in heavy rain and ended in brilliant sunshine.
The No. 3 seed won the third through eighth holes against Belen Mozo of Spain en route to a 7-and-6 rout, her second straight dominant performance.
While there were other one-sided matches, the afternoon had some great drama, particularly Creamer’s match with Hall of Famer Karrie Webb and Wie’s 20-hole win over Nordqvist, a past US Women’s Open champion.
Creamer posted a 1-up victory, making a downhill, five-foot birdie putt on the par-five 18th to put away the Australian she calls “Webbie.”
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