Kerber survives scare in first match as No 1
WUHAN: Angelique Kerber survived a scare in her first match as world number one before beating Kristina Mladenovic in three sets at the Wuhan Open on Tuesday.
The US and Australian Open champion, who had a bye in the first round, made a convincing start before missing two set points and allowing Mladenovic to take the first set in a tie break.
But the German then swept through the rest of the match, winning 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4 to set up a third-round meeting with twotime Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
“I was trying to find my rhythm because I was not playing my best in the first set,” top seed Kerber said after the match.
Kvitova said she would be trying not to think about Kerber’s new status as world number one, formalised when the rankings were updated after this month’s US Open, when they play on Wednesday.
“(It) will be for the first time... that I will play her as a number one, which is a little bit different. But I think if I’m on the court, I don’t really think about that,” she told reporters.
World number four Agnieszka Radwanska also romped into the third round, as last year’s US Open finalist Roberta Vinci became the tournament’s first seeded casualty.
One-time Wimbledon runnerup Radwanska won 6-4, 6-1 against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, who bagged Olympic women’s doubles gold last month in Rio.
Italy’s Vinci, ranked 15, was ousted by Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-2 -- her second defeat at the hands of the Kazakh this year.
Radwanska will next meet an in-form Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated qualifier Kateraina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday, in the third round of the $2.6 million hardcourt event.
The former world number one beat Poland’s Radwanska in the semi-finals of last week’s Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, en route to her first title of the year.
“We always (have) long battles against each other, especially on the slower surface (such) as here,” Radwanska said of Wozniacki.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams downed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2, and will next play fellow tour veteran 10th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. The pair have not met on court since 2009.
American Madison Brengle fell to Kuznetsova 6-0, 6-4 in the second round, as eighth seed Madison Keys beat Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4.
Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Barbora Strycova downed Japan’s Misaki Doi, while Daria Kasatkina of Russia beat fellow qualifier American Louisa Chirico. SANIA-BARBORA ADVANCE WUHAN: Indian star Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Barbora Strycova defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez over three hardfought sets to enter the third round of the Wuhan Open tennis tournament here on Tuesday.
The Indo-Czech combination defeated their Canadian-Spanish opponents 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the second round encounter.
Sania paired up with Strycova after splitting from earlier women’s doubles partner Martina Hingis of Switzerland.
The duo has produced a series of good performances since then. Their first tournament together was the Cincinnati Open where they defeated Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe in the final.
They have lost just one match since then, in the US Open where they crashed out of the quarterfinals.
They won their second title last week when they won the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week.
The recent run of good results mean that Sania continue to be world number one in the women’s doubles rankings with 9,730 points, but only five points separate her from estranged partner Hingis (9,725). KIRRTANE TO CLASH WITH VISHWAKARMA MUMBAI: In a battle between qualifiers, veteran Nitten Kirrtane would clash with Siddarth Vishwakarma in the men’s singles final of the MSLTA–ATT Tennis Tournament (M3), organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association at their courts here on Wednesday.
Pune-based 42-year-old Kirrtane of Railways ousted SD Prajwal Dev, while ishwakarma prevailed over Maharashtra rival Shahbaaz Khan in the semifinals.
Both Dev and Khan conceded their matches citing fatigue and dehydration.
Kirrtane belied his age as he won the first set 6-3 and lost the second 2-6 and trailed 2-3 in the third when Dev threw in the towel.
In the second semi final Vishwakarma was leading his rival 3-6 6-3 4-1 when Khan retired due to cramps.
Earlier in the day, in the quarter finals Kirrtane proved too good for second seed Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash who conceded the match when Kirrtane led 7-5 2-0 citing a knee Injury.
Khan also moved up as third seed Ranjeet Virali Murugesan gave up when trailing 2-6 1-2.
Dev fought off a challenge from Kunal Anand, winning 7-6 6-2, while Vishwakarma edged out Jayesh Pungliya 0-6 6-3 6-1 to make it to the last four stage.