SONY ERICSSON OPEN
Miami, Florida, USA
March 22-April 3, 2011
$4,500,000/Premier
Hard/Outdoor
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Singles - First Round
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Greta Arn (HUN) 61 62
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 63 57 76(5)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 61 64
Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. (Q) Zhang Shuai (CHN) 26 63 62
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. (Q) Vesna Manasieva (RUS) 63 62
Lourdes Domínguez Lino (ESP) d. (Q) Arantxa Rus (NED) 64 67(7) 64
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. (Q) Sloane Stephens (USA) 64 62
Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) d. Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) 64 63
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 61 63
Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) 64 64
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. (Q) Ksenia Pervak (RUS) 61 62
Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 57 75 62
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. (WC) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 62 63
Virginie Razzano (FRA) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 63 61
(Q) Lucie Hradecka (CZE) d. (Q) Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 75 75
(Q) Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 63 61
(Q) Sania Mirza (IND) d. Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 62 64
(Q) Anna Tatishvili (GEO) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 63 57 63
(Q) Jamie Hampton (USA) d. (WC) Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 36 75 60
(WC) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (Q) Jelena Dokic (AUS) 64 64
Birthday girl Bethanie Mattek-Sands moved comfortably into the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson. The 26-year-old American plans on driving race cars later today at the Miami Speedway with her husband, Justin, to celebrate the occasion.
Mattek-Sands will have her hands full in her next match, taking on World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. They’ve met once before, with Wozniacki earning a straight-sets win in Rome two years ago. The American believes both are much improved since then and enjoys the challenge of playing top-ranked players.
“I’m excited to play her… I’ll be ready for a fight. I think this surface will suit my game a little bit better,” said Mattek-Sands. “I haven’t played her for a couple years. She’s only gotten better since then [and] has a lot of confidence now. I do, too, so I’m looking forward to it.”
A resident of Coconut Grove for some time, Mattek-Sands will look to the crowd for support.
“Hopefully I can get a little bit of the crowd behind me. That’s something that always helps,” Mattek-Sands said. In addition, “My family is from Boca [Raton]. They’ll be down here too. I think I feel like I’m at home.”
In an all-American matchup, Varvara Lepchenko topped wild card Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-3. Lepchenko dominated Vandeweghe’s serve, winning 59 percent of her return points. She’ll face 12th seeded Petra Kvitova in the second round.
Peng Shuai blew past Greta Arn 6-1, 6-2 in 58 minutes. The Chinese player is enjoying early-season success, with wins against two Top 10 players, Jelena Jankovic and Li Na. In the second round, she’ll play No. 20 seed Aravane Rezai of France.
Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa needed two hours and 40 minutes to conquer Slovakian Polona Hercog, taking the match 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. After 10 breaks of serve between the players throughout the first two sets, Scheeper’s edged ahead, breaking Hercog twice and maintained the momentum the rest of the way. Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, seeded 26th, is Scheeper’s next opponent.
