Li, Radwanska stroll into second round

Li Na of China returns a forehand en route to her win over Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium at the Madrid Open. (Reuters)

DPA/Madrid China’s Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska powered into the second round of the Madrid Masters yesterday, with both posting straight-set opening wins. Li, the second seed and Australian Open winner, needed a tiebreaker to finally secure a 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) defeat of Belgian Kirstin Flipkens. Li is off to a delayed start on clay after playing her first match on the surface. The 32-year-old last competed a month ago, when she lost the Miami final on hardcourt to two-time Madrid winner Serena Williams. The top Chinese had to pull from her intended clay start in Stuttgart a fortnight ago with a right knee injury. She is playing only her fourth event since winning the grand slam in Melbourne. Poland’s Radwanska, seeded third and no fan of clay, dispatched Eugenie Bouchard 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in a tough opening defeat for the 20-year-old Canadian, ranked 18th, who only just missed a seeding at the joint ATP-WTA tournament. Victory marked the 25th victory this season for world number three Radwanska, as she faced Bouchard for the first time. The Canadian, who played the Australian Open semi-finals, was felled by 33 unforced errors in a defeat lasting just over 90 minutes, including a first set of nearly 1 hour. “It was a very tough first round, especially on clay,” said the winner. “The tiebreak was the biggest key in that match. I did a couple of good shots in the tiebreak and managed to win that. “That gave me more confidence and the second set was a little bit easier.” Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep defeated German Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-0, while Australian Samantha Stosur made amends for her first-round loss last week by starting with a 6-4, 6-0 upset of Australian open finalist and ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova. Cibulkova produced four double-faults and was broken six times. Wimbledon finalist and 15th seed Sabine Lisicki of German put out Czech Kristyna Pliskova 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in 2 hours. In men’s play, clay-shy American John Isner, the ninth seed, got his spring season started by managing a surprise victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (10-8), 6-4. The win came barely a week after the Russian reached the Barcelona quarter-finals, beating Spanish powerhouse David Ferrer. Barcelona champion and 10th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan started with a solid defeat of Croatian Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-4, which marked his sixth victory in succession on the surface. French 11th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a 2013 quarter-finalist, defeated compatriot Eduardo Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Lucky loser Marinko Matosevic, who earned a place when Novak Djokovic withdrew with a wrist problem, continued his good fortune over Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-2. Gilles Simon won 2-0 as Benoit Paire retired in his second straight match as knee problems continue to plague the Frenchman. In other news, top seed Rafael Nadal, who will start in the second round after a bye, received honorary citizenship from the city of Madrid on a tennis day off at a meeting of the city council. Two-time winner Roger Federer, the fourth seed, arrived in the capital on Sunday evening, giving the Swiss time to hit the practice courts at the high-altitude venue before his opening match against the winner from Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Gilles Simon.