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Shocker Saturday at the Miami Open: Osaka Out, Serena Withdraws

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Shocker Saturday at the Miami Open: Osaka Out, Serena Withdraws


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Two points was all the world number one needed to saunter into the round of 16 at the Miami Open. Instead up 6-4, 5-4 and 30-0 in the second set, Naomi Osaka donated two double faults in the game to hand her opponent a break point. Once Osaka’s backhand landed wide, the score was leveled at 5-5. Still, there were chances in the tiebreak which went unclaimed by the Japanese star. Consequently, the match was decided with a third set.

Osaka secured a 2-0 lead when Su-Wei Hsieh double faulted at 15-40. But the veteran from Chinese Taipei was not discouraged. By swarming the net, she was up 0-30. Once Osaka’s backhand landed on her side of the net, Hsieh had break point. She converted by striking a return winner. Throughout the decisive set, Osaka was under the hatchet. Many times, the world number one found herself at 0-30 on her serve. She finally paid the price in the seventh game when a couple of errors delivered the 4-3 advantage to her rival. Subsequent to consolidating for 5-3, Hsieh went back to work. She arrived at her another break point which this time was a match point. Hsieh seized the victory 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 with a volley winner.

The Japanese player had clashed with Hsieh twice before. Thus, she should have known not have counted success until the umpire calls game set and match. In essence that was what she did “I think in that moment I got ahead of myself, but all the other times it was pretty fine. Like, I knew it was going to be a tough match playing her.. . I was kind of immature today. I was thinking too much, like everything was on my racquet. Honestly, she has the ability to make winners, too, whenever she wants.”

For Osaka, being in the position of number one and being expected to always win, she admits is added pressure “I think there’s a difference between having confidence and sort of getting ahead of yourself. . . the last time I played her, she was up two breaks or something, 4-1, I don’t remember if that was one or two breaks. I was just thinking, I was in a bigger hole last time, so I should be able to dig myself out of the hole this time. I completely forgot that she also learned things from that match. It wasn’t just me that was playing there. I just think it wasn’t that I had a big head, but I think I wasn’t really thinking about all of the things that was happening”.

After the Australian Open, Osaka had a major change, parting with Sascha Bajin. This is her second tournament with new coach Jermaine Jenkins. One area which failed Osaka today was her serve as she attempted to close out her counterpart “I’ve been working on my serve a lot these last two tournaments. And definitely it’s improved from Indian Wells to here. . .I don’t think the percentage was that great today. I was slowly starting to count on it again like I used to. . .I’ve been working a lot on my second serve. I think I need to continue practicing it because she was stepping in a lot and being very aggressive. That’s not something I want people to do. . .I think it’s interesting whenever you change coaches because there’s always an adjustment time. . .I think that I played pretty good today actually, if I get over the fact that I lost. I think I played a lot of good rallies. Of course, there were some shots that I tried to hit a winner on to early. I just do that sometimes. It’s nothing to be negative about. . .I think definitely we have a lot of ideas that we need to swap, so we really need to talk about that.

2017 Miami Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki overcame the antics of mercurial Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-4, 7-6 to march on to the round of 16. She will take on Hsieh next.

Petra Kvitová outlasted Donna Vekic in a 2 hour 36 minute contest. The 2 time Wimbledon champion edged out her rival 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In the fourth round, Kvitová will clash with Caroline Garcia who dispatched Julia Goerges 6-0, 7-5.

In the battle of the Aussie, Ashleigh Barty bounced former U.S. Open winner Samantha Stosur 6-0, 6-3. Her opponent will be Kiki Bertens. The seventh seed coasted to triumph after dropping the first set with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Viktoria Kuzmova.

Eight-time Miami Open champion Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a left knee injury.

With the withdrawal, the tournament’s No. 18 seed Qiang Wang of China advances to the fourth round.

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Serena Williams Wards Off Diyas for a Spot into the Fourth Round at the Miami Open

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Serena Williams Wards Off Diyas for a Spot into the Fourth Round at the Miami Open


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After a brutal three set tussle with fellow American Christina McHale two days ago, Serena Williams was probably looking forward to a routine third round match at the Miami Open against Zarina Diyas ranked 97th. Yet, this encounter was anything, but. The world number had to claw her way to a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

On the heels of Rafael Nadal retiring because of the insufferable heat to Damir Dzumhur world number 94th from Bosnia, the air seemed to have been sucked out of the stadium. However, when Williams broke to open the proceedings, there was a sense that perhaps order would be restored swiftly. Yet, her 22 year old opponent from Kazakhstan would not be docile. A few fist pumps followed a comeback from 15-40 to deuce. Soon after, Diyas leveled the set at 1 game a piece. There was no apparent hangover from their only prior meeting at Indian Wells in 2015, when Williams dismantled her 6-2, 6-0.

As a reminder though, Williams quickly broke at love the third game and consolidated for a 3-1 advantage. Still the young Kazakh refused to fold. After holding serve at love for 4-5, Diyas manufactured a break point by forcing three successive miscues from Williams. By pushing her counterpart into a backhand mistake, Diyas equalized the set at 5 all. Ultimately, Williams shifted gears to regain the control promptly and on her second try closed out the the set.

On a roll with six straight games, it seemed that the eight time Miami Open champion would cruise to victory. Once more, Diyas was not through. As Williams serve deserted her and the errors piled on, Diyas secured three successive games to reduce the deficit to a sole break 3-4.

The eighth game Williams stood fast to guard serve for 5-3. Later, with Diyas dumping a forehand into the net, the American was at double match point. As Diyas’ backhand misfired, relief was evident on Williams’ part as she punched her ticket into the round of 16.

Today’s triumph represents Williams’ 750th career match win. Despite, consecutive finals losses, the Australian Open and Indian Wells, something that Williams has not experienced in over a decade. She will surely surpass Lindsay Davenport’s 753 mark which is seventh best all time.

Williams acknowledged that today she had to problem solve along the way “She’s been on tour a few years. I’ve played her before and I know her game really well . . . I think she played above her level the whole match, and I think that’s actually a good sign for her, to know that she can play like that. . . I had to really raise my level to win today. I think she is doing everything better. More than anything, she had a lot of confidence this time. Obviously she has nothing to lose.”

By the time Williams got on court, the weather conditions had improved compared to the preceding match ” It was definitely humid today. Rafa played like an hour and a half, two hours before me, so that makes a huge difference. . he was in the most intense part of the sun; whereas I was kind of at tail end of it. . . For me the biggest adjustment I had to make is I usually never use a towel. Here I might have to go grab the towel in between points. . . But, I have been living here for over 20 years. I love these conditions actually.”

Up next for Williams is Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian edged out Caroline Garcia in a third set tiebreaker. Although the world number one has a 8-2 record over Kuznetsova, their riveting showdown at the French Open in 2013, it should be another thrilling contest. “It’s a great match-up. She plays well and makes a lot of the great shots. She’s actually been playing well this year. She had a couple big wins and couple good tournaments. I have my work cut out for me. We’ll see what happens.”

Off the court, the two are amicable. Williams cited ” we get along great. That’s no secret. She’s just someone that you respect and you like… Just something about her that I think everyone likes.”

Nothing like being at home, Williams has been dominant at this venue with a 74 wins and 7 losses. Moreover, Williams has not been ousted prior to the round of 16 since 2000 when she tasted defeat at the hand of Jennifer Capriati. Consequently, Monday’s match will be quite compelling as the top ranked player looks to reboot her 2016 season by continuing her quest for a ninth Miami Open title.

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Serena and Sharapova tested at the Sony Open

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Serena and Sharapova tested at the Sony Open


IMG_6261_SharapovaSerena Williams survived up-and-comer Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Sony Open on Saturday.

Six-time Sony Open winner Williams is seeking to defend her crown and win a record–setting seven title.

The 20-year-old Garcia made Williams work – moving the 17-time major champ around the court and blasting serves which were clocked as fast as at 117 mph in the two-hour and 30 minute match.

“She plays well,” Williams said of Garcia. “I really gave myself a tremendous amount of trouble out there.”

“I think, granted she played great, but I made so many errors. I hit so short. It really isn’t the same player. I just have to do better.”

The world No. 1 committed 41 unforced errors during the match.

“It was a good match to play and it was good test for me because she’s good player and she’s always fighting a lot,” Garcia said.

Williams advances to the fourth round.

Maria Sharapova was pushed by Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-2 in an almost three hour contest. The No. 4 seed won the match on her ninth match point over a feisty opponent 56 minutes after her first match point which came in the second set tiebreaker.

Safarova saved 6 match points against Sharapova in the final game of the match with a series of winners.

At the end of the match, instead of a traditional handshake, the women hugged each other.

“She kept hitting unbelievable shots,” Sharapova said after the match. “One more. One more. I said, `How many chances are you going to get?'”

“I’m happy to be sitting here winning the match,” the Russian said in press. “Obviously it was tough to lose that second set after having a couple of match points, but I was really happy with the way I came out.”

The day was not without upsets as No. 9 seed Sara Errani fell to Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Kirsten Flipkens moved into the next round when No. 14 seed Sabine Lisicki withdrew from the tournament due to the flu.

Other seeds advancing on the day were No. 5 Angelique Kerber who beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-2, No. 12 seed Ana Ivanovic who topped Indian Wells winner No. 20 seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3, No. 8 Petra Kvitova who beat teenqualifier Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4.

Karen Pestaina is a contributor in Miami. She writes for various tennis and news outlets and is the Editor-in-Chief of Tennis Panorama News. Follow her on Twittter @TennisNewsTPN.

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