Save Sabalenka, Barty maids points in Miami

Ashleigh Barty’s No.1 seed and Aryna Sabalenka’s No.7 seed were all waiting for Thursday’s game points before beating their opponents in the second round of the Miami Open.

World No. 1 Barty overtook Kristina Kucova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in two and a half hours. Barty had to save one game point while down 3-5 in the third set, in the middle of a reel out of the last five games of the class.

“Don’t give up, never give up,” Barty said in her post-match interview. “You’re always there by chance.”

Sabalenka, meanwhile, saved two maids points in the final set-break before scoring the Tsvetana Pironkova 0-6, 3-6, 7-6 (9), also in two and a half hours. .

Barty, who will return as a defensive champion after winning at the latest edition in 2019, was playing his first game outside of Australia in more than a year. Barty hit 15 aces, tying her senior role for aces in a game (she also hit 15 aces in the 2019 Miami final).

World No.1, which is 25-1 in games where it hits 10 or more aces, finished without double cracks. This is only the ninth time since 2008 where a player has hit 15 aces or more with zero double cracks.

Barty’s first set was relatively simple as she used her excellent volleying to recover from an early break and grab the one-set lead. Barty had 11 winners for two Kucova in the opening frame.

However, Kucova made his mark in the second set after falling behind in the first game. The warranty hit back immediately to get a level, and then held through 5-4 to push the top seed. With Barty serving 30-0 in that game, Kucova returned three straight points to suddenly reach the set point, and after Barty’s pre-flight long flight, the player was certified on the match a game at one set apiece.

Playing for the first time against ruling World No. 1, Kucova held on to the move while the decision began. Kucova used her backhand to push an error from Barty as she progressed with a break at 3-1. Kucova extended her lead even further as she moved to a maids point while serving at 5-3.

But Barty turned that game point away with a preseason return winner, winning the break of service as she dug her way back into the game. Aggressive play at the net gave Barty another break for 6-5, and although she fell behind 0-40 while attending for the game, two aces and a volley winner put her back to deuce, and she continued from there for victory.

“It was hard work today, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” Barty said in court. “There’s nothing like coming through a test like that, and now I get another chance in a day or two to play another difficult game, and test me again. “

For Sabalenka, her first meeting with Pironkova confirmed that she was topsy-turvy, but eventually the World No.8 came back from a set and broke down to deny Pironkova her first Top 10 award since 2016 Roland Garros.

Sabalenka told the court: “From a young age, my parents keep telling me, ‘It doesn’t matter what goes on in court, you have to fight, and if you do fight, you get the winners. ‘”

Pironkova sailed through the first set easily and won the break early in the second set to lead 3-1, but Sabalenka eventually scored break points in the opening stages of that set, eventually drawing on return level for 3-3. Inspired by that, Sabalenka got a taste through the last five games of the set to tie the game up.

Pironkova took another early lead in the decision after Sabalenka twice failed to concede a love-winning service for 3-1, but Sabalenka pulled her way back happily into the t. -set, and sent out a devil dropshot winner to get back on service at 5-4.

The pair advanced to the tie, where Sabalenka used mostly offensive play to make it easier from 0-2 down to 6-4 and a double maids point. A deep hit by Pironkova allowed her to save both at the shifting edges at 6-6, which was Pironkova’s chance to keep two game points.

But Sabalenka pulled strong down-line through those challenges, and grabbed two more maids points. Sabalenka closed out the final game with a winner over him.

More Grand Slam champions joined Barty, 2019 Roland Garros champion in the third round. Barty fan in Paris, managing Iga Swiatek, champion Roland Garros, said he won 6-4, 6-2 over Barbora Krejcikova.

Powerful service by Swiatek moved her to a 5-1 lead, but Krejcikova held on tight to her game, at one point taking out ten points in a row while pulling back on service at 5-4 while Swiatek was sweating in the horrible conditions. Swiatek, however, went back to breaking for the one-set win after Krejcikova misfired a header over a break point.

A second competitive set first started slipping Swiatek’s path as she won her third game in a row to advance with a break at 4-2. Swiatek started riding the moving wave, holding easily for 5-2 with a pre-thundering winner, and No.15 seed took their place in the third round after Krejcikova’s double fumble on a maids point.

Later Thursday, Angelique Kerber’s 6-0, 6-0 seed victory over qualifier Renata Zarazua was Germany’s first two-bagel victory since defeating her team-mates. Carina Witthoeft with that score in the first round of the 2015 Wimbledon.

“The score, it’s a little bit different than the game, because [a] there weren’t many similar games that were very close and difficult, ”Kerber said, in her post – match press conference.

Former World Kerber needed just over an hour to get into the third round and set up an interesting meeting with former world champion Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka’s No.14 seed advanced to the third round without hitting a ball after Laura Siegemund was removed from their groove due to a right knee injury.

Kerber said she’s had a lot of games against Vika in the past, so I know it’s another tough battle against her. But this is why I am here, to try to play good games against the best players. “

Kerber had to stop three break points in the opening game of what happened, but after overcoming that threat, the three-time Grand Slam champion had no problem finding old winners. court for access through the opener. Kerber fired ten winners to just four non-critical errors in the first set.

The second set was also under Kerber’s control, as she eliminated two break points at 2-0 along the way to save her five rest points of the day. Zarazua, playing in her first mandatory WTA 1000 event, may be looking forward to her opening round over Nao Hibino, but she couldn’t afford to play Kerber’s extraordinary play, and she filed a double fault to bind the case.

2017 champion Roland Garros Jelena Ostapenko also claimed victory on Thursday, as she got over the lucky passer Kirsten Flipkens, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Ostapenko turned six of her eight break points against Flipkens, and will now face No. 1 Barty in the round of 32 on Saturday.