• Sony Ericsson Open

Azarenka advances but serve proves a problem

ESPN staff
March 26, 2010
Victoria Azarenka's second serve carried little threat against Alexandra Dulgheru © Getty Images
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Victoria Azarenka remains an ever-present danger for her rivals at the Sony Ericsson Open after she beat Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3 6-2 on Friday.

Azarenka, who is seeded fourth in the competition, needed just 72 minutes to overcome her opponent, breaking twice in either set to wrap up the victory. However, she will return to the dressing room with one clear problem to address if she is reach the business end of the tournament, after her second serve failed to function in Miami.

The Belarussian lost 11 of 15 points when her first serve failed to find its target, which did not cause any serious problems against an opponent of Dulgheru's calibre, yielding just one break. However, Azarenka will know such a statistic would make life difficult should she advance to face the likes of Kim Clijsters and Jelena Jankovic in her side of the draw.

On a brighter note for Azarenka, she won nearly 80 percent of points behind her first serve, and her ground strokes carried plenty of conviction and accuracy.

Former world No. 1 Justine Henin is the player the rest want to avoid as she continues her comeback and she proved the point with a 6-3 6-2 win over fifth seed Elena Dementieva.

"I wanted this victory a lot, and I've been very - I mean, 69% of first serve is quite unusual for myself, so I really take it as something positive," Henin said. "I've been aggressive, I went to the net, I took the opportunity, so I am very happy the way I played. And to beat, I mean, top 10 players again, it is of course a lot of confidence.

"I was ready for a really tough fight, and I was a bit scared of this match, of course, because I knew it was tough draw to play Dementieva in the second round. But I like this kind of challenge, and I really took it as something I would push myself to be better on the court than I've been the last few weeks. So I think it was a good opportunity for myself."

Henin was joined in the next round by her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters who had no trouble in beating Petra Kvitova 6-1 6-1.

Jelena Jankovic made short work of Mariya Koryttseva as she progressed 6-4 6-0, although she was broken twice in on her way to winning the first set.

Koryttseva would have been dreading every serve as Jankovic dominated on return, taking 35% of points when receiving. The seventh-seed broke down the stern first set resistance with three breaks of her own and then cruised the second, with Koryttseva not having the heart to battle any further.

Newly-crowned world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki had to come from behind to get through, beating Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6 6-3 6-4. The Danish teenager sits 115 ranks higher than Pironkova but she got off to a sloppy start, and the Bulgarian never went away as the match went to a longer than expected two hours and 22 minutes.

Wozniacki won the odd break in five in a topsy-turvy final set she was lucky to escape from intact. World No.30 Maria Kirilenko will provide another tough test for Wozniacki in the third round, although the Russian had to win a marathon match of her own, winning 4-6 6-2 7-6 over Melinda Czink in possibly the day's best contest.

There were no major upsets on Friday but Sam Stosur was yet another hot favourite to survive a sizable scare as she too came from behind in a 4-6 7-5 6-2 triumph over Carla Suarez Navarro.

Lucie Safarova is next to face Azarenka after the Czech beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in three sets. Safarova showed great heart to battle back from a set down in order to triumph 4-6 7-6(3) 6-2.

No. 22 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also had a tough time of things against Tamira Paszek, winning 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 after over three hours on court. Both players managed to find five breaks of serve in the contest, but it was Pavlyuchenkova whose superior fitness proved the difference in the end.

There were no such worries for No. 26 seed Dominika Cibulkova, who thrashed qualifier Sofia Arvidsson 6-0 6-2 to progress into round three. Cibulkova won over half the points on Arvidsson's first serve and over three-quarters of the points on her opponent's second as she broke six times. Cibulkova now faces Henin in the next round.

Francesca Schiavone beat Alize Cornet 6-3 6-2 to set up a meeting with Pavlyuchenkova, while Zheng Jie was turned over by Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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