Miami Masters: Oudin, Morita Move On
Oudin passes Gorges to meet Hantuchova in the second term
Crowd favorite Melanie Oudin has moved on at the Floridan Masters after ousting Julia Gorges in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 to meet Daniela Hantuchova in the second term.
The American youngster managed to go three games ahead in the first set, leading 5-2 at one point only to be forced to end it to five. Oudin then returned to the early form to claim the second set to at three and set a second round meeting with this year’s Pattaya City champion Hantuchova, the Slovakian being already qualified directly into the next phase.
Said the American: “Julia was missing a lot of balls at the beginning and I was just getting balls back; she started playing better and I got a little tight. It was up and down a lot. She’d make errors then hit winners. I was pretty steady most of the match – I think we both could have played better.”
This will be Oudin’s third meeting with the 30th-ranked Slovakian who leads the head to head confrontations 2-0, having beaten the American at the same Miami event in 2009 as well as at the Los Angeles Open the same year.
Japanese Ayumi Morita has also progressed into the second round thanks to a two-set win over Heather Watson whom she just defeated 7-5, 6-2. Morita will next play last week’s Indian Wells runner-up Marion Bartoli. The French has won all the three clashes against the Japanese whom she first defeated in Birmingham back in 2006. They last met the the 2009 Stanford event where Bartoli grabbed a straight set victory in the last 32 round.
Concerning the first half of the table, Bethaine Mattek-Sands has set Caroline Wozniacki seconr round after beating Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. The American met the Dane on the Rome clay two years ago where she lost the only meeting with the current world champion in two sets.
Jamie Hampton will next fight Andrea Petkovic for a place into the third round after the American beat Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Roberta Vinci missed her progress into the second round, losing the opener to Iveta Benesova who ousted the Italian in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4 to meet another Italian in the next term, namely Flavia Pennetta.
This year’s Indian Wells semi finalist Yanina Wickmayer found out her second round opponent. Elena Vesina will meet the Belgian after the Russian eliminated the 2011 Acapulco champion Gisela Dulko in two sets, 6-1, 6-3. Elena Baltacha of Scotland has also moved on at the Florida Masters following a struggling victory over Sybille Bammer whom she finally edged 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. The Scott will next meet Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic.
Romania’s Monica Niculescu has made a pretty smooth progress after beating Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-1, 7-6 in the opener, but will have some very hard times against her next Serbian opponent, Jelena Jankovic. Jie Zheng has also progressed into the next term on Tuesday, the Chinese beating Romanian Sorana Cirstea in three sets, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. She will next face Samantha Stosur.
Patty Schnyder avoided an early elimination, managing to pass American Madison Keys 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 to set a meeting with Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic. On the same first half of the table, Nadina Petrova is to meet Sabine Lisicki in the second round after the German upset Melinda Czink in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Maria Sharapova, who has declared earlier this week that she is keen to claim the French Open, plays Petra Martic of Croatia who follows a straight-set victory over Kristina Barrois whom she ousted 7-5, 6-2. Romania’s Simona Halep is to meet Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. The Romanian eased past Urszula Radwanska whom she defeated 6-3, 6-2.
One of the biggest surprises was brought by Shuai Peng. The Chinese ousted this season’s Auckland champion Greta Arn in two sets, 6-1, 6-2, in the first day of the Masters. She will next play Aravane Rezai of France.Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa edged Slovenian Polona Hercog in three sets, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to play Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in the second round.
This year’s Australian Open runner-up and Sydney champion Li Na is to meet Swede Johanna Larsson who just defeated Anastasia Rodionova 6-4, 7-6. As for the second half of the table, Ekaterina Makarova and Alisa Kleybanova are expected to fight for a place into the third round.
Makarova ousted compatriot Vera Dushevina in the first day to set a fourth meeting with her next compatriot. Makarova leads the head to head meetings 2-1, having beaten Kleybanova in Moscow in 2007 and at the FES event two years ago. Kleybanova last defeated her opponent at the 2010 Seoul tournament.
Jarmila Groth and Yaroslava Shvedova will also play for a spot into the third term. The Kazakhstan’s player grabbed a struggling win over Sara Errani in the first day whom she edged 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. Finally, Varvara Lepchenko has ousted American Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets to meet Petra Kvitova in the second round. Winner of the 2011 Brisbane and Paris events, the Czech is chasing her third success of the year which could also be her biggest one.
Kimiko Date-Krumm beat Zuzana Ondraskova 6-4, 6-3 to play the former world champion Ana Ivanovic in the second term who is still looking for her first tile of the season.
Miami Masters 1st round fixtures:
Ksenia Pervak – Anabel Medina
Edina Gallovits-Hall – Angelique Kerber
Arantxa Parra – Sania Mirza
Sloane Stephens – Barbora Zahlavova Strycova
Jelena Dokic – Dinara Safina
Lucie Hradecka – Yung-Jan Chan
Shuai Zhang – Agnes Szavay
Alize Cornet – Virginie Razzano
Anna Tatishvili – Olga Govortsova
Anastasiya Yakimova – Alla Kudryavtseva11
