(March 25, 2016) Nine women’s seeds on Friday at the Miami Open including 10th seed Venus Williams. Williams fell to qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2.
“It’s always an honor to play against Venus.,” said Vesnina, a former No. 21 ranked player, in an on-court post-match interview. “We played many times against each other and it’s always been a pleasure to play her and it’s always been a tough match-up.
“I’m really happy that I won today.”
“It was definitely a physical match,” Williams said. “She played amazing tennis. All credit to her today.
“I couldn’t afford any errors because she was on,” (in the third set) Williams noted. “She didn’t make many errors. She came out with nothing to lose and just everything worked for her today.
“Bad luck for me; great luck for her. As the match continued I think I started to find more and more rhythm. She is coming off qualifying and playing doubles matches every week. It’s a little bit challenging to play your best tennis without — you know, against an opponent who is just so inspired.
“You don’t have a moment to try and figure out how to get into the match.”
The other losses by women’s seeds included: No. 6 seed Carla Suárez Navarro knocked out by American CoCo Vandeweghe, No. 7 Belinda Bencic who retired from her match, No. 14 Sara Errani, No. 17 seed Karolina Pliskova, No. 18 Jelena Jankovic by retirement, No. 25 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 29 seed Sabine Lisicki, who lost a 5-0 third set lead to Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(2), and No. 27 seed Kristina Mladenovic.
No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-3. Djokovic also made a catch that would make former tennis player Mansour Barahmi proud. The Serb caught a ball in his pocket, much to the delight of the fans. Djokovic who advanced to the third round, is seeking a four Indian Wells – Miami double.
Roger Federer was forced to with draw from the tournament with a stomach virus. The No. 3 ranked Swiss was making a comeback from knee surgery in early February. His replacement in the draw, lucky loser Horacio Zeballos was a winner over fellow Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-4.
Del Potro is back from another wrist surgery, seemed to have some issues with his wrist during the loss. “I was suffering a little bit,” he said. “It was worse than my first match, but I hope nothing dangerous. I mean, I will see what’s going on after today and see if I can practice tomorrow, if I can hit again like a little backhand.
“They said before this is a long road to get better. Not to play well or to win matches, just to get better and to play tennis again. I’m looking forward for that. For me it’s like surprise when I win a match in this moment because I’m not 100% yet.
“But I’m here. Of course I’m suffering in moments, but I’m playing tennis. Bad or really bad, but I’m playing. That’s good for me.”
The men’s side of the draw saw two seeded Spanish casualties: No. 21 Feliciano Lopez who lost to qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez seeded 32.
In the match of the day of the day for the men Viktor Trocki saved four match points to win his contest against Inigo Cervantes 6-7(6), 7-6(9), 7-6(3).
MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAU – MIAMI, UNITED STATES
21 MARCH – 3 APRIL, 2016
RESULTS – MARCH 25, 2016
Women’s Singles – Second Round
[2] A. Kerber (GER) d B. Strycova (CZE) 61 61
[4] G. Muguruza (ESP) d D. Cibulkova (SVK) 67(3) 63 75
C. Vandeweghe (USA) d [6] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) 64 62
[Q] Kr. Pliskova (CZE) d [7] B. Bencic (SUI) 41 Retired
[9] R. Vinci (ITA) d L. Hradecka (CZE) 16 64 76(5)
[Q] E. Vesnina (RUS) d [10] V. Williams (USA) 60 67(5) 62
[13] V. Azarenka (BLR) d M. Puig (PUR) 62 64
[WC] N. Osaka (JPN) d [14] S. Errani (ITA) 61 63
T. Babos (HUN) d [17] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) 57 62 76(0)
[Q] M. Linette (POL) d [18] J. Jankovic (SRB) 10 Retired
[22] M. Keys (USA) d K. Flipkens (BEL) 64 62
[24] J. Konta (GBR) d D. Kovinic (MNE) 64 62
[Q] K. Bertens (NED) d [25] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 46 61
[WC] N. Gibbs (USA) d [27] K. Mladenovic (FRA) 62 64
I. Begu (ROU) d [29] S. Lisicki (GER) 64 16 76(2)
[32] M. Niculescu (ROU) d S. Peng (CHN) 61 36 60
Women’s Doubles – First Round
[PR] A. Rodionova (AUS) / G. Voskoboeva (KAZ) d [7] A. Klepac (SLO) / K. Srebotnik (SLO) 63 67(4) 10-2
[8] Y. Xu (CHN) / S. Zheng (CHN) d [WC] S. Kuznetsova (RUS) / A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 26 63 12-10
V. King (USA) / A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) d J. Goerges (GER) / K. Pliskova (CZE) 46 63 10-8
C. Dellacqua (AUS) / S. Stosur (AUS) d K. Bertens (NED) / J. Larsson (SWE) 36 76(5) 10-7
A. Rosolska (POL) / L. Siegemund (GER) d G. Dabrowski (CAN) / L. Kichenok (UKR) 62 75
Men’s Singles – Second Round
[1] N. Djokovic (SRB) d K. Edmund (GBR) 63 63
[7] T. Berdych (CZE) d R. Ram (USA) w/o (illness)
[8] D. Ferrer (ESP) d [Q] T. Fritz (USA) 76(6) 61
[10] R. Gasquet (FRA) d A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 64 64
[11] M. Cilic (CRO) d D. Lajovic (SRB) 64 61
[14] D. Thiem (AUT) d S. Groth (AUS) 75 62
[15] D. Goffin (BEL) d [Q] M. Granollers (ESP) 64 64
[18] G. Simon (FRA) d J. Monaco (ARG) 75 61
[19] V. Troicki (SRB) d I. Cervantes (ESP) 67(6) 76(9) 76(3) – saved 4 m.p.
[20] B. Paire (FRA) d M. Youzhny (RUS) 63 64
[Q] Y. Nishioka (JPN) d [21] F. Lopez (ESP) 64 64
F. Verdasco (ESP) d [28] J. Chardy (FRA) 64 64
[31] S. Johnson (USA) d A. Zverev (GER) 76(9) 76(3)
L. Pouille (FRA) d [32] G. Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 62 64
[33] J. Sousa (POR) d V. Pospisil (CAN) 67(1) 76(5) 62
[LL] H. Zeballos (ARG) d [PR] J. Del Potro (ARG) 64 64
Doubles – First Round
[2] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA) d L. Kubot (POL) / M. Matkowski (POL) 63 67(1) 10-6
[5] P. Herbert (FRA) / N. Mahut (FRA) d O. Marach (AUT) / D. Thiem (AUT) 76(3) 64
T. Huey (PHI) / M. Mirnyi (BLR) d [WC] E. Butorac (USA) / S. Lipsky (USA) 75 63
ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2016
STADIUM start 11:00 am
ATP – [6] K. Nishikori (JPN) vs [Q] P. Herbert (FRA)
Not Before 1:00 pm
WTA – [3] A. Radwanska (POL) vs M. Brengle (USA)
ATP – [5] R. Nadal (ESP) vs D. Dzumhur (BIH)
Not Before 4:30 pm
WTA – [1] S. Williams (USA) vs Z. Diyas (KAZ)
8:00 pm
ATP – D. Istomin (UZB) vs [2] A. Murray (GBR)
Not Before 9:30 pm
WTA – [12] E. Svitolina (UKR) vs [23] C. Wozniacki (DEN)
GRANDSTAND start 10:50 am
WTA – [30] E. Makarova (RUS) vs [8] P. Kvitova (CZE)
ATP – An. Kuznetsov (RUS) vs [4] S. Wawrinka (SUI)
ATP – [26] G. Dimitrov (BUL) vs F. Delbonis (ARG)
ATP – [13] J. Isner (USA) vs [Q] T. Smyczek (USA)
Not Before 5:00 pm
ATP – S. Giraldo (COL) vs [9] J. Tsonga (FRA)
COURT 1 start 10:55 am
ATP – D. Kudla (USA) vs [12] M. Raonic (CAN)
ATP – [22] J. Sock (USA) vs S. Stakhovsky (UKR)
WTA – J. Goerges (GER) vs [5] S. Halep (ROU)
ATP – M. Baghdatis (CYP) vs [24] N. Kyrgios (AUS)
WTA – [19] T. Bacsinszky (SUI) vs [16] A. Ivanovic (SRB)
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
WTA – C. Garcia (FRA) vs [15] S. Kuznetsova (RUS)
ATP – [16] G. Monfils (FRA) vs [Q] T. Ito (JPN)
ATP – [Q] M. Kukushkin (KAZ) vs [30] T. Bellucci (BRA)
ATP – [4] B. Bryan (USA) / M. Bryan (USA) vs I. Cervantes (ESP) / D. Ferrer (ESP)
ATP – [29] S. Querrey (USA) vs A. Mannarino (FRA)
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
ATP – A. Seppi (ITA) vs [27] A. Dolgopolov (UKR)
WTA – Y. Wickmayer (BEL) vs [WC] H. Watson (GBR)
ATP – J. Millman (AUS) vs [23] P. Cuevas (URU)
ATP – [17] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) vs A. Bedene (GBR)
ATP-After Suitable Rest – P. Petzschner (GER) / A. Peya (AUT) vs [PR] J. Del Potro (ARG) / F. Delbonis (ARG)
COURT 8 start 11:00 am
ATP – [WC] O. Jasika (AUS) / J. Smith (AUS) vs [7] E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA) / N. Zimonjic (SRB)
Not Before 12:30 pm
WTA – [WC] M. Keys (USA) / S. Stephens (USA) vs [3] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) / L. Safarova (CZE)
ATP – [1] J. Rojer (NED) / H. Tecau (ROU) vs J. Chardy (FRA) / F. Martin (FRA)
ATP – A. Qureshi (PAK) / G. Simon (FRA) vs D. Nestor (CAN) / R. Stepanek (CZE)
COURT 9 start 11:00 am
ATP – H. Kontinen (FIN) / J. Peers (AUS) vs [PR] M. Cilic (CRO) / M. Draganja (CRO)
Not Before 1:00 pm
WTA – [Alt] B. Bencic (SUI) / S. Vogt (LIE) vs S. Errani (ITA) / C. Suárez Navarro (ESP)
WTA – E. Makarova (RUS) / B. Strycova (CZE) vs [2] H. Chan (TPE) / Y. Chan (TPE)
WTA – M. Gasparyan (RUS) / M. Niculescu (ROU) vs [WC] M. Puig (PUR) / H. Watson (GBR)
ATP – R. Klaasen (RSA) / R. Ram (USA) vs [3] J. Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA)
COURT 10 start 1:00 pm
ATP – D. Marrero (ESP) / B. Paire (FRA) vs [Alt] L. Mayer (ARG) / J. Sousa (POR)
WTA – D. Kasatkina (RUS) / E. Vesnina (RUS) vs C. Chuang (TPE) / C. Liang (CHN)
WTA – K. Bondarenko (UKR) / O. Savchuk (UKR) vs [6] C. Garcia (FRA) / K. Mladenovic (FRA)