Francesca Schiavone and Agnieszka Radwanska clear the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open
World number four Francesca Schiavone of Italy continued her brilliant form to outplay Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain in the third round encounter of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Sunday evening. She took one hour
and forty one minutes to wind up the straight sets victory, 6-4, 7-6(2) to move into the fourth round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event.
The Italian registered her eighth victory of the running WTA season at Miami as she carried on her winning streak against Lino. Schiavone had defeated the Spaniard in their last two encounters and extended her head-to-head record
to 3-1 against Lino.
The contest was fairly poised throughout, with the 30-year-old Italian veteran coming out as the winner at the end. Schiavone crafted 12 break opportunities and converted half of them whereas Lino cashed in five out of 10 break
chances in the game. Plenty of unforced errors from the Spanish, including three double faults, wore her out in the contest as she dropped two straight sets after coming so close win them.
Both contestants delivered their first serve with identical percentage of 59 but Schiavone bettered her opponent by collecting 71 per cent first serve points in the opening set. She broke her opponent twice to take the first set
of the contest at 6-4 and got one up in the match.
The next set went on neck-to-neck as both players exchanged four serve breaks each to drag the set into a decisive tie breaker. Schiavone wiped off her opponent in the decider with the utmost ease, losing just two points and sealing
victory at 7-6(2). The fifth seed Italian will meet the world number 14, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the next round matchup on Tuesday evening.
The ninth seed Radwanska stood victorious against the 27th ranked Russian, Maria Kirilenko of Russia to reach the round of 16. She won her ninth victory of the running WTA season by beating the Russian in straight sets,
7-6(2), 6-3, in one hour and forty nine minutes of play.
Radwanska has now beaten Kirilenko for the fourth time in a row, extending her head-to-head record against the Russian to 5-2. In the enthralling contest that followed at Miami, the both contestants broke each other twice before
dragging the set in to a decisive tie breaker. Radwanska got her momentum to cruised past her opponent in the decider and bag the first set at 7-6(2). The 22-year-old Polish had fewer difficulties in winning the second set, as she cracked three serve breaks
to wrap up the second set at 6-3 and advance to the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.
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