Andrea Petkovic and Anabel Medina Garrigues qualified for the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open
21st seed German, Andrea Petkovic won her third round encounter against Iveta Benesova at the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Saturday night. Petkovic wrapped up the straight sets victory assertively at 6-0,
6-3, taking just 72 minutes of play.
Petkovic continues her sublime form to register her 15th win of the current WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season. She extended her head-to-head record against the Czech to 4-0, while advancing to the fourth round
at Miami.
The German was impressive with her serve game, delivering 69 per cent on target and winning 33 out of total 55 serve points. She crafted 12 opportunities to break the opponent’s serve and cashed in six chances en route to victory.
The 23-year-old German completely blew away Benesova in the opener, breaking the Czech serve in every game to sting three break points. Petkovic wrapped up the opening set in the most assertive manner at 6-0, taking
just 30 minutes of play. Benesova posed some resistance in the next set, exchanging two serve breaks with her German opponent but her unforced errors wore her out in the game.
Petkovic cracked in three break points in the second set to race to victory at 6-3 to take on the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the next round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Wozniacki defeated the 29th
seed Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets 6-1, 7-6(6) to reach the fourth round at Miami.
In the other match of the evening, 28-year-old Spanish veteran, Anabel Medina Garrigues beat Elena Vesnina of Russia to qualify for the fourth round of the tournament. Garrigues defeated her in-form opponent in straight sets, 6-3,
6-4, in 89 minutes of play to record her sixth victory of the running WTA season.
The Spaniard improved her head-to-head record against Vesnina to 3-2, while advancing to the next round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Garrigues served with an overall 72 per cent first serve accuracy, without committing a double fault
in the match and belted four serve breaks to outplay her opponent.
She had a quick start to the opening set, cracking an early serve break to pressurise her Russian opponent. Vesnina retaliated with a break point but a second serve break from the Spaniard left her answerless in the opener. The
Russia’s 50 per cent serve was too bleak to contain the strong Spanish competitor and she eventually submitted the first set to Garrigues at 4-6.
Two serve breaks from Garrigues proved sufficient for her to bag the second set and conclude victory at 6-4. She will square off against the world number seven, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the next stage of the competition. Jankovic
won her third round encounter against 32nd seed Czech, Klara Zakopalova in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
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