Seeds advance in one-sided day of action

IT was a very one-sided day of WTA Masters 1000 action in Miami, as all eight seeds who completed their matches advanced, and only one – Victoria Azarenka, who retired hurt – failed to advance to the fourth round. In that contest, unseeded teenager Linda Fruhvirtova continued her remarkable run after earning a wildcard into the tournament. She became the youngest player into the Round of 16 in 18 years, with the 16-year-old looking good prior to Azarenka’s retirement.

“Of course I didn’t want it to end this way, because Vika is one of the players I grew up watching, and she’s definitely one to look up to,” Fruhvirtova said post-match. “I just wish that she feels better as soon as possible. “I don’t think I’ve ever played on such a big stadium, and these are the memories I’m going to remember forever.”

Fruhvirtova will now take on Spaniard Paula Badosa, who took out Kazakhstan rising talent Yulia Putintseva in straight sets. The fifth seed won 6-3 6-2 in 81 minutes, to improve her 2022 WTA Tour record to 15-5, and due to Ash Barty‘s retirement, will move into the Top 3 on Monday.

“I played against her (Putintseva) a few months ago so I knew it was a very physical and tactical match,” Badosa said post-match. “I studied her a little bit to know where she’s going to throw the ball.”

The round only had three full-length matches too, and all were between unseeded players. The tightest contest saw Aliaksandra Sasnovich defeat Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5 6-7 6-4, whilst American Alison Riske and Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina both advanced after hard-fought clashes. At the other end of the scale, soon-to-be world number one Iga Swiatek continued on her merry way, as fellow Top 10 seeds, Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins also booked their spots in the fourth round.

OTHER WTA MIAMI OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[2] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated Madison Brengle (USA) 6-0 6-3
[5] Paula Badosa (ESP) defeated Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-3 6-2
[8] Ons Jabeur (TUN) defeated Kaia Kanepi (EST) 6-4 6-0
[9] Danielle Collins (USA) defeated Vera Zvonareva (-) 6-1 6-4
Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE) defeated [12] Victoria Azarenka (-) 6-2 3-0 RET
[14] Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 7-6 7-5
[16] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [17] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-3 6-4
[21] Veronika Kudermetova (-) defeated Shelby Rogers (USA) 6-1 7-5
[22] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Heather Watson (GBR) 6-4 6-1
[28] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Lauren Davis (USA) 7-5 6-1
Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated Karolina Muchova (CZE) W/O
Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) defeated Anna Kalinskaya (-) W/O
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (-) defeated Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 7-5 6-7 6-4
Alison Riske (USA) defeated Ann Li (USA) 6-2 3-6 6-3
Daria Saville (AUS) defeated Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-1 1-0 RET
Anhelina Kalinina (UKR) defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) 2-6 6-4 6-2

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