Elena Vesnina and Klara Zakopalova cleared the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open
56th ranked Russian Elena Vesnina battled out the 22nd seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Thursday evening. Vesnina won the hard-fought contest
at 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, with the match extending to two hours and thirty eight minutes.
An enthralling contest was witnessed at Miami as the both players threw their best at each other to come out as the winner. Vesnina avenged the defeat she suffered at the hands of Wickmayer earlier this year at Paris, leading the
head-to-head record against the Belgian to 2-1. She moves to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open after registering her fifth victory of the running WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season.
Although Vesnina collected 67 per cent of the first serve points in the game, she slopped 10 double faults in the match. The Russian had a brilliant start to the contest, cracking two serve breaks in the opening set to have a commanding
5-2 lead. A third break point sealed the first set for Vesnina at 6-2 but Wickmayer made a terrific comeback in the following set, stinging four serve breaks and bagging the second set 7-5.
The decider fell to the Russian’s name as she won 88 per cent of her first serve points and kept her error count to a minimum. Vesnina concluded the contest at 6-4, moving on to face Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain in the third
round at Miami. Garrigues upset the world number 11, Shahar Peer of Israel in the straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round of the tournament.
In another match of the evening, the 33rd seed Czech, Klara Zakopalova stood victorious against Elena Baltacha of the Great Britain. Zakopalova closed out the straight sets victory, 7-6(4), 6-3, in 89 minutes to record
her 11th WTA event victory in the current year. She extended her head-to-head lead against Baltacha to 2-0, defeating the Briton for the second time in the year.
An action-packed opening set was witnessed at Miami with the two contestants cracking early serve breaks in the game. Zakopalova conceded four costly double faults in the opener, letting her opponent drag the set into a tie breaker
round at 6-6. The Czech convincingly won the decider to bag the first set at 7-6(4) and get 1-0 lead in the contest.
Zakopalova was a miser in gifting unforced errors to the Briton in the next set and won 82 per cent of the first serve points to pressurize Baltacha. She suffered a serve break from the Briton but stung two break points to seal
off the contest at 6-3, advancing to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Zakopalova will square off against the world number seven, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the third round at Miami. Jankovic ousted Monica Niculescu of Romania in straight sets,
6-3, 6-1, in the second round of the tournament.
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