Baghdatis progresses in Miami
Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:23
He maintained his 100% record over Gulbis with a comprehensive victory, breaking twice in each set to progress to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 win.
Philipp Kohlschreiber slipped to a surprise defeat to Frank Dancevic of Canada. Dancevic, ranked 81 places below his German opponent, needed an hour and 20 minutes to come through a 6-4 7-6 (7/2) winner.
Victor Hanescu was another high-profile casualty, losing to unheralded journeyman Michael Russell. The American, at 241 ranked 203 places beneath his opponent, claimed just his second win of the year with a 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 win over Romanian Hanescu.
France’s Julien Benneteau recovered from a poor start to struggle past compatriot Florent Serra 3-6 6-3 6-4. Arnaud Clement was another French casualty, losing 6-3 7-6 (7/5) to Robert Kendrick of the United States, while Spain’s Oscar Hernandez downed Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-4.
There were also wins for Jarkko Nieminen, Diego Junqueira, Mikhail Kukushkin, Jan Hernych, Kevin Kim and Fabrice Santoro.
In the women’s event, Maria Kirilenko overcame a second-set blip to see off Kateryna Bondarenko. The Russian claimed the first set but went missing in the second, losing it 6-0. However, she composed herself to secure her place in the second round with a 6-4 0-6 6-4 win.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 17-year-old who reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells last week, also needed three sets to get past Aravane Rezai of France. The Russian, ranked 27th in the world, slipped up in the first set before rallying to a 4-6 7-5 6-3 victory in nearly two hours.
Former world number seven Nicole Vaidisova was in good form as she saw off Patricia Mayr 6-4 6-2, while Samantha Stosur progressed courtesy of Sofia Arvidsson’s retirement. The Swede was 6-1 2-0 down at the time.
Other winners today included Galina Voskoboeva, Anastasiya Yakimova, Lucie Safarova, Magdalena Rybarikova, Francesca Schiavone, Mariya Koryttseva, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Anastasia Pivovarova.
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