Kerber outlasts Pliskova; joins Mattek-Sands in second round – e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open 2011
Angelique Kerber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands scored contrasting wins to advance to the second round of the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday.
World number 76, Angelique Kerber of Germany did not let an inspired Czech opponent get in a way of her quest for her first round victory, bringing out her entire arsenal to get past Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday night.
Pliskova made a strong start to the first set, winning the first two games and holding the score at 2-0, but she could not close the deal as her opponent’s fiery forehands proved too much for the world number 225, whose big groundstrokes
let her dominate the scoreboard for sometime but later she ended up on the losing end, as her winning points were outweighed by a huge number of unforced errors.
After losing the first set, Pliskova did not do much to reform and the second set followed the very same pattern. She had poor numbers on serve, a 68 percent first serve percentage, winning a meagre 53 percent of those points.
In contrast, Kerber had picked up her level when it mattered most, winning 11 of 13 points of her first serve and reeling off five games in a row to nab a 6-2 lifetime advantage.
Up next for Kerber is the world number one and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Kerber and Wozniacki have already met each other at the 2008 Stockholm, where the lanky Dane defeated the German to stand at a 1-0
head-to-head edge.
Kerber was later joined by Bethanie Mattek-Sands of America in the second round after the latter defeated Malou Ejdesgaard of Denmark in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.
Impressive Mattek-Sands, the 26-year-old from Phoenix, converted two of four breakpoints in the opening set before racing through the second set. The American veteran certainly put on an assured display of tennis against Ejdesgaard.
The first set of the match was comparatively a bit tough for the American, although both were easy wins for her. She wrapped up her clean effort with four aces and a single double-fault. Furthermore, she obtained 72 percent of
points on her service, 52 percent of points on return and 61 percent of points in total.
Having never met before, Mattek-Sands is the dominating lady now, who leads their head-to-head sequence to 1-0. She now marches on into the second round of the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open, where Johanna Larsson of Sweden awaits her.
Both women have never faced each other at any occasion of the WTA tour tournament and this will be their first meeting ever.
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