Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Hampton through to the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open
World number 43 Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States ousted 74thranked Swedish player, Sofia Arvidsson in the opening round of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Wednesday night. The 26-year-old American
beat her opponent in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, taking just 74 minutes.
The American advanced to the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open after registering her ninth victory in the running Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) season. Mattek-Sands had no real trouble in overcoming her Swede competitor
and dominated the whole matchup to come out as the winner.
Although the 43rd ranked American had an ordinary first serve percentage of 50 in the match, her proficiency to bag crucial points was phenomenal. Mattek-Sands took 34 out of 54 total serve points in the game while her
opponent collected just 33 of 69, despite of delivering 67 per cent first serve on target. The American crafted 13 break chances in the contest but converted merely five of them to outplay Arvidsson.
Mattek-Sands had an aggressive start to the opener, breaking early to lead 2-0. Arvidsson belted a serve break shortly afterwards but a double-break from the American sealed the first set for Mattek-Sands convincingly at 6-1. Arvidsson
posed a little resistance in the second set, delivering 73 per cent first serve and cracking an early serve break. Mattek-Sands cashed in two of the nine break chances in the set and raced past her opponent to conclude victory at 6-4, passing on to the second
round of the tournament.
The victory against Arvidsson books Mattek-Sands a date with the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Wozniacki has received a bye to the second round of the tournament.
In another match being played on Wednesday night, the American qualifier Jamie Hampton stood victorious against her opening round opponent, Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia. Hampton defeated her opponent in an interesting three-set
contest, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, taking one hour and fifty five minutes of play.
Hampton extended her head-to-head record against the Croatian to 2-0 after defeating her at Miami. She made a magnificent comeback in the game after dropping the first set and blew away Tomljanovic in the third set to ensure her
eighth victory of the current year.
The American’s poor serve led her down in the opening set, as she delivered just 36 per cent first serve on target and committed four double faults. She hit two break points in the opener but four serve breaks from Tomljanovic
sealed the first set at 6-3.
The second set was stuffed with serve beaks, as Tomljanovic hit three and Hampton cracked four break points. The American strained past her opponent to win the second set at 7-5 and remain alive in the contest. Hampton was devastating
in the decider and broke Tomljanovic consecutively thrice to rocket away to victory at 6-0, booking a spot in the second round.
Hampton will be facing the 21st seed German Andrea Petkovic in the next round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Petkovic was awarded a bye to get a direct access to the second round of the tournament.
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