TENNIS – Caroline Wozniacki beat Christina McHale 7-5 6-0 setting up a third round match against Agniewska Radwanska who cruised past Australian player Casey Dellacqua dropping just three games for her easy 6-2 6-1 win. Diego Sampaolo
Wozniacki dropped her serve in the first set but she recovered one of the two breaks after a very long fourth game. The Danish player fought back from 2-4 against McHale and converted on her sixth break point chance in the 8th game. She won the 12th game to love to clinch the first set with 7-5 after one hour and seven minutes before cruising past to a 6-0 win with three breaks of serve in the second set in just 24 minutes.
Radwanska held all her 8 service games in her match against Dellacqua and saved the six break points she faced. Aga raced out to 3-0 in the first set before saving four break back points in the fourth game. The Polish player got a second break to close out the first set with 6-2 before easing past to 6-1 in the second set.
Wozniacki leads 7-4 in her 11 previous head-to-head matches against Radwanska.
Serena Williams beat Sloane Stephens 6-4 6-0 in their fifth head-to-head match. Serena led 3-1 but Sloane beat her compatriot in the quarter final of the 2013 Australian Open. Williams converted the only break point of the first set to close out with 6-4 after a tight first set before cruising to a bagel win with three more breaks of serve after just 58 minutes to extend her winning streak to 25 consecutive matches. Williams saved both break points she faced.
Svetlana Kuznetsova battled past Garbine Muguruza 6-3 5-7 7-5 setting up a third round match against Sam Stosur who who eased past Kaia Kanepi with 6-3 6-2. Stosur leads 4-3 in her previous head-to-head matches against Kuznetsova. Broke serve to race out to 3-0 in the first set. Muguruza held her serve twice and managed to break Kuznetsova to claw her way back. After taking a break lead the Russian player saved a break point before closing out with two aces at deuce. Kuznetsova got another break before saving the break back point and opened up a 3-1 lead. Muguruza improved on her serve and put pressure on Kuznetsova. The Spanish player clawed her way back to 5-5 before taking a break at 6-5. Muguruza drew level with 7-5 in the second set to force the match to the decider. Muguruza took a 5-4 lead but Kuznetsova recovered holding his serve to love before breaking in the 11th game. She served for the match in the next game to set up a third round match against Sam Stosur who beat Kaia Kanepi 6-3 6-2
Roberta Vinci beat Alizé Cornet for the fourth time in four head-to-head matches with 6-4 7-5. The first set was marked by seven breaks in ten service games. Vinci recovered from a break down three times before holding her serve in the ninth game and closing out on her third set point when Cornet hit her backhand long. Vinci opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set but Cornet reeled off three consecutive games for 3-2 but she sent a backhand volley wide wide on Vinci’s break point. Both players held serve until 6-5, although Vinci had to save a lot of break point chances in the ninth and in the eleventh games. In the 12th game Cornet went up 40-15 but she dropped three consecutive games (after committing a double fault)
Lucie Safarova beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-1. Irina Camelia Begu took advantage of a walkover following the withdrawal of Andrea Petkovic because of illness.
Mutua Madrid Open Master 1000:
US John Isner overcame Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 setting up a second round match against Thomas Bellucci who beat Jeremy Chardy 6-4 7-5. Isner hit 13 aces and did not face any break point chances.
Sam Querrey recovered from a second set loss to hold off Australian 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis with 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3.
Steve Johnson fought back from a set down to battle past Alejandro Gonzales with 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in two hours and 19 minutes.
Feliciano Lopez bounced back from his early defeat in Estoril with a three-set win over Benjamin Becker with 7-5 3-6 6-4.
Last year’s US Open champion Marin Cilic beat Jiri Vesely 7-5 6-1. Both players held their serve apart from the third and the ninth games where Cilic saved two break points with an ace. Cilic got the break in the 12th game. Vesely could not hold hold any of his service games in the second set and managed to break once in the third game. Cilic faced some break points but he saved them with his serve en route to winning with 6-1.
David Goffin came back from a set down to edge past Ernests Gulbis 3-6 6-1 7-5. Gulbis, who is now coached by Thomas Enqvist, broke serve in the fifth game en route to winning the first set with 6-3. Goffin bounced back reeling off five of his next six points to win the second set with 6-1. The Belgian player broke at the start of the decider but Gulbis recovered breaking back with a series of winners. The Latvian saved eight break points but he committed four unforced errors at 5-all and dropped his serve. Goffin closed out with 7-5 after two hours and 12 minutes.
It was also a good day for Italian tennis thanks to the wins of Fabio Fognini, who eased past Santiago Giraldo with 6-2 6-3 and Luca Vanni, the surprising Sao Paulo finalist, who rallied from a set down to edge past Bernard Tomic 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-1).
Fognini got a double break to win the first set with 6-2and opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set. Fognini got the double break to cruise to 4-1. Giraldo recovered one of the two breaks. Fognini saved six break points in the eighth game before breaking serve again to close out with 6-3 on the second match point.
Luca Vanni went down 0-3 in the first set where he did not bring up any break point before losing the first set with 6-3 in just 24 minutes. Vanni had to save six break points on his first two service games in the second set. Vanni brought up three break points in the 10th game and converted on the first opportunity to take the second set after winning 8 consecutive points. Tomic saved a break point in the second game of the decider at 0-1. The third set went on serve until the tie-break where Vanni won with 7-1 to set up a second round match against Simone Bolelli in an all-Italian clash.
