Comfortable win for Serena

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:23

Serena and sister Venus were not in Indian Wells as they continued their boycott of the event, which stretches back to their experiences in 2001 when Serena was roundly booed in the final.

Serena will face 32nd seed Shuai Peng in the third round after she beat Mara Santangelo 7-5 6-3 while her Chinese countrywoman Jie Zheng, seeded 17th, eased past qualifier Julia Goerges 6-4 6-2.

Venus recovered from a bad start to defeat Shahar Peer 6-3 6-3 and set up a third-round meeting with Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who dumped out 30th seed Sara Errani 6-4 6-3.

Peer, the Israeli who was infamously prevented from competing in Dubai earlier this season, won the opening three games but from then on it was largely one-way traffic as the fifth seed eased through.

Tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska recovered from dropping the first set against Tamarine Tanasugarn to triumph 4-6 6-3 6-2 while China’s Na Li upset 29th seed Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5 6-3.

Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, seeded 21st, battled past Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6 6-4 7-5 and will now play Radwanska while 19th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues also progressed, beating Alla Kudryavtseva 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.

French 14th seed Alize Cornet defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4 7-6 (7/4) but Ai Sugiyama was another seed to fall as Ekaterina Makarova ran out a 6-3 6-4 winner.

Ninth seed Nadia Petrova fought back after dropping the opening set to Michaella Krajicek to win 3-6 6-4 6-2 while Iveta Benesova, the 26th seed, beat Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-4.

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