Maria Sharapova
Two players with an eye on stopping the Victoria Azarenka express won tough second round matches at the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. Maria Sharapova dropped the first set against Shahar Peer before rallying to advance, 4-6 6-3 6-3. Masha has only 3 losses in 2012, but 2 of those setbacks came against Vika. Can the former world #1 turn the tables in Miami? Will they even meet in the final with plenty of challengers at the SEO?
Kim Clijsters
One of those challengers is 4-time Major winner Kim Clijsters, making her return to action in Miami. The former world #1 and 2-time Player of the Year has been recovering from an ankle injury the past two months. She pushed Vika to three sets in the Australian Open semifinals with chances to take control early in the third set. I don’t know if she’s match tough enough at the moment to advance deep into the tournament here. Her win over the talented 14th seed Julia Goerges is impressive on paper. However, Kim had trouble holding serve (they both did) in her 6-2 7-5 victory. Some of that was the windy conditions, but overall she will need to tighten that up if she looks to make noise in Miami.
Singles - Second Round
(2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 46 63 63
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 64 60
(6) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (Q) Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 64 60
(8) Li Na (CHN) d. (Q) Melinda Czink (HUN) 75 62
(10) Serena Williams (USA) d. (WC) Zhang Shuai (CHN) 62 63
(12) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 63 62
Mona Barthel (GER) d. (13) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 60 63
Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (14) Julia Goerges (GER) 62 75
(17) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (Q) Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) 61 62
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (19) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 62
(21) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 75 61
(23) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Marina Erakovic (NZL) 63 64
Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) d. (25) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 16 64 60
Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. (26) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 16 76(7) 76(7)
(29) Petra Cetkovska (CZE) d. Christina McHale (USA) 06 75 61
(Q) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (30) Sara Errani (ITA) 36 62 75
MARIA SHARAPOVA
SERENA WILLIAMS
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI
JELENA JANKOVIC
SABINE LISICKI
KIM CLIJSTERS
JULIA GOERGES
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