Azarenka, Wozniacki enter third round

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

The world number one beat Romina Oprandi of Switzerland 6-2 6-3 in 72 minutes to set up a clash with Christina McHale of the United States, who shocked 17th seed Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic 6-4 6-2.

The Danish world number 10, meanwhile, downed Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (7) 6-0 to set up a match with Mona Barthel of Germany, who shocked fifth seed and compatriot Angelique Kerber in a late match on Tuesday evening.

For the first nine minutes of the match, Azarenka did not look in her elements as Oprandi managed to pull the Belarussian back to deuce on four occasions before the 2013 Australian champion sends an Oprandi forehand wide to get broken.

Oprandi kept the pressure on in the second game too when she went 2-0 up after Azarenka only manages a pointless touch to a scorcher of serve that Oprandi sent down the spine.

From then on, Oprandi had nothing much to do. A few brilliant sparks here and there but it was all but done after that.

While Azarenka conceded that the breezy conditions were not to her liking but she didn’t want to make an excuse of it.

“It’s the same for both the players. I think she’s a very tricky opponent, especially in those conditions.  You know, when you haven’t played a match, it can be a little bit tricky, as well,” she said after the match.

She added: “I think she’s a very talented girl, and you could see, you know, she’s kind of a flashy player.  If you don’t put enough pressure on her, don’t put her in the situation she doesn’t like, she will go for her shots and make you a little bit crazy on the court and change the rhythm.”

On facing McHale, she said, “I don’t think I played against Christina in a real match before. We played an exhibition or something once. I think she’s a very talented girl.  She has a great game and coming up, has a good serve, good forehand.  It’s going to be a tough battle.  I’m looking forward to playing against her.”

Wozniacki stayed ahead for seven games in the first set before Cirstea broke the Dane back in the eighth. The Romanian forced a tie-break and even managed to reach four set points, but can’t finish it.

Thereafter, Wozniacki took a little over 20 minutes to blank Cirstea out of the game.

“You know, I knew that I had to have a good start in the second set. Once I had that, I could see that she lost a little bit of belief in it,” Wozniacki said after the match.

“I went up and played some great points, and in the second set I came off really strong.”

In other matches of the day, 16th seed Sloane Stephens of United States went down 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-7 (5) to Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic in a well-contested three-setter.

Thirteenth seed Ana Ivanovic reached the third round after her opponent Simona Halep of Romania retired due to a lower back injury. Ivanovic had won the first set 6-3.