Azarenka advances; Clijsters, Henin cruise in Miami

Two of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's brightest young stars and two of its most accomplished were among the third round winners at the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday, but it wasn't easy for all of them.

Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, both Grand Slam champions and former No.1s, were among the players who moved into the round of 16 earlier in the day. Clijsters, the No.14 seed, was the first of the Belgian power pair to move through, crushing No.17 seed Shahar Peer in just 50 minutes, 60 61; Henin, a wildcard, got past No.26 seed Dominika Cibulkova in a tougher test, 64 64.

"Shahar isn't a player who is going to hit you off the court. She usually doesn't make a lot of errors, but I felt I was in control of a lot of the points," Clijsters said of Peer. "I was able to move her from side to side until I felt I could take a couple steps in and go for the winner."

"I was in trouble in the beginning of both sets, but I ended up doing what I had to do," Henin said of her match against Cibulkova. "Dominika plays with a good rhythm and played very well. She runs a lot, has a very good backhand and is a real fighter - she has a strong personality. It wasn't easy today."

Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, the No.2 and No.4 seeds and the two youngest players in the Top 10 at 19 and 20 years old, respectively, won later in the day. Azarenka, who is also the defending champion here, eased past Lucie Safarova, 64 62; Wozniacki had a bigger battle on her hands from Maria Kirilenko but wound up edging the No.32 seed in the end, 16 61 64.


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Singles - Third Round
(2) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (32) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 16 61 64
(4) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 64 62
(9) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Virginie Razzano (FRA) 46 75 61
(11) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 62 63
(14) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (17) Shahar Peer (ISR) 60 61
(22) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (15) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 75 63
(WC) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (26) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 64 64