World No 1 Naomi Osaka had a tough start to her campaign at the Miami Open on Friday as Serena Williams survived a scare while her elder sister Venus sailed through the third round.
The Japanese top seed had to keep her emotions in check outlasting Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1. Serena overcame a second-set lull to beat Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, and Venus also advanced with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 win over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
There will also be a repeat of last week’s final in Indian Wells between Bianca Andreescu and Angelique Kerber.
Canadian 18-year-old Andreescu, who brilliantly won her maiden WTA title in California, beat American Sofia Kenin 6-3,6-3 to book a third-round meeting with three-time Grand Slam winner Kerber, who saw off Russia’s Karolina Muchova 3-6 6-3 6-3.
Since winning her second consecutive Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open, Osaka has failed to go deep in Dubai or Indian Wells.
But she appeared in solid form against 141st-ranked Wickmayer, despite losing her way in the middle of an entertaining match at Hard Rock Stadium.
The 21 year-old was forced to dig deep after the Belgian, who reached the Miami Open last eight in 2010, forced a third set as Osaka’s game badly dipped.
“In the second set, I got really emotional, so in the third, I just tried to shut off my feelings,” Osaka said. “I started thinking about winning and not the things I could do in order to win. I had a dip and she started playing really well.
“I just had to breathe and regroup,” she said. “I find myself doing it often when I am in emotional situations, it’s like an energy saver.”
Next up in the third round is Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei, who defeated American Alison Riske 6-2, 7-5. The pair had a rollercoaster clash in the Australian Open at the start of 2019 with Hsieh a set and 4-1 up in Melbourne only to lose a dramatic third-round encounter.
Serena Williams survived an “irresponsible” second set lapse on Friday to see off Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in her second-round opener of the WTA and ATP Miami Open.
“I wasn’t really happy with my performance,” admitted the 23-time Grand Slam champion, who is playing in just her third tournament of 2019 having lost in the Australian Open quarter-finals before retiring in the second set of her third-round match against Garbine Muguruza with a viral illness at Indian Wells last week.
“Had to take a lot of time off the last week,” she said. “It’s definitely not easy at all. But I’m through it. That’s that. I’ve just got to get my game back to where I know it can be. I told myself at the end of the second set that I could not lose this match.
“I knew that I could play a lot, lot, lot better. I just had to be better. At this point it was irresponsible to be playing the way I was playing in the second set.”
Williams, an eight time winner in Miami, was just relieved to make it through to the third round where she will meet China’s Wang Qiang who thrashed Britain’s Jo Konta, the 2017 Miami Open champion, 6-4 6-0.
Results
2nd rd
Naomi Osaka (JPN x1) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE x27) bt Alison Riske (USA) 6-2, 7-5
Monica Niculescu (ROM) bt Garbine Muguruza (ESP x20) 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x13) bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 6-4, 6-4
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) bt Aryna Sabalenka (BLR x9) 6-3, 6-4
Anett Kontaveit (EST x21) bt Amanda Anisimova (USA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
Bianca Andreescu (CAN) bt Sofia Kenin (USA x32) 6-3, 6-3
Angelique Kerber (GER x8) bt Karolina Muchova (CZE) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x31) 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5
Karolína Pliskova (CZE x5) bt Petra Martic (CRO) 6-3, 6-4
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) bt Belinda Bencic (SUI x23) 6-3, 7-5
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT x11) bt Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-2, 0-6, 6-4
Elise Mertens (BEL x16) bt Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 6-2, 7-5
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) bt Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x22) 7-5, 6-1
Tatjana Maria (GER) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA x29) 6-3, 6-4
Sloane Stephens (USA x4) bt Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-2, 6-3
Wang Yafan (CHN) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR x6) 6-2, 6-4
Wang Qiang (CHN x18) bt Johanna Konta (GBR) 6-4, 6-0
Serena Williams (USA x10) bt Rebecca Peterson (SWE) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
Daria Kasatkina (RUS x14) bt Cori Gauff (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Venus Williams (USA) bt Carla Suarez (ESP x24) 7-6 (7/4), 6-1
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Misaki Doi (JPN) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4
Simona Halep (ROM x2) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 6-1, 6-3
With inputs from AFP
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