CONTRASTING WINS FOR PLISKOVA, CIBULKOVA
Miami, March 24: Second seed Karolina Pliskova cruised into the third round of the Miami Open, the Czech beating American qualifier Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3 on Thursday.
While her serve was not at its best, the 25-year-old Pliskova never looked in danger, comfortably dominating while winning 78 percent of return points.
Slovakian fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova needed to dig deep to fight past Paraguayan qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg.
The 90-minute encounter was far tougher for Cibulkova than the 6-3, 6-2 scoreline suggests and she was relieved with the win.
Cibulkova faces another tough test, though, against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, who fought her way past Croatian 29th seed Ana Konjuh 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 62.
Agnieszka Radwanska by American opponent Christina McHale and was down 3-2 on McHale’s serve in the second when rain began. Play was eventually cancelled for the day and McHale will look to complete the upset on Friday. Injured Tomic pulls out Bernard Tomic’s woes continued Thursday as he pulled out of the Miami Open due to a back injury, the latest setback in a disappointing year Australian.
Ranked 17th in the world as recently as November, Tomic has tumbled down the rankings to 44th. Since a third-round Australian Open exit, the 24-year-old has lost four first-round matches to lowly ranked opponents.
Lucky loser Mikhail Youzhny of Russia took Tomic’s place in the first-round contest, but was ousted 6-4, 6-1.
US teen Frances Tiafoe downed Russia’s Konstantin Kravchuk 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to book a second-round match against 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.
World number 41 Marcel Granollers of Spain fell 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3 to promising 62nd-ranked Croatian Borna Coric in a testing two hours, 51 minutes contest.
Russian 19-year-old Andrey Rublev made short work of World No. 46 Florian Mayer of Germany, winning 6-1, 6-1 in just 44 minutes. for the