Early exits for Stosur and Barty
ASHLEIGH Barty and Samantha Stosur were beaten in straight sets in the second round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament yesterday.
Australian world No.21 Barty, who received a bye as one of the top 32 seeds, was upset by Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4 6-2.
The 2011 US Open champion Stosur lost 7-5 7-5 to French 14th seed Kristina Mladenovic.
World No.26 Daria Gavrilova, Australia’s last hope, was to play Yanina Wickmayer in the second round.
World No.1 Simona Halep began her campaign with a routine 6-4 6-4 defeat of Kristyna Pliskova.
“Today was great in that I could actually play a few rallies,” Halep said. “I got the rhythm back. And I feel good now. I feel more confident.”
Sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko accounted for Belinca Bencic 6-4 3-6 6-1, while CoCo Vandeweghe overcame Kaia Kanepi 6-0 7-6 (8-6).
Dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova survived the challenge of Yulia Putintseva to prevail 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka earned her second-straight victory over an accomplished star with an impressive 6-3 6-2 defeat of Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
The 20-year-old Osaka followed her straight-sets win over Russian five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova by defeating Radwanska.