Serena Powers Past Pironkova at Western & Southern Open
World number one Serena Williams notched a straight set win at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday, downing Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-3.
Serena capitalized on her only break point late in the first set to take the opener. She broke on her only chance in the second set to allow herself to serve it out, and she did thanks to 15 aces to reach the Western & Southern Open third-round.
“When I play in front of a great crowd, I really want to play well,” said Serena. “There wasn’t anything really tactical in particular for me today, I always just try to play my game and be consistent and stay focused. I just try to stay focused and play the best that I can.”
Serena saved all three break points she faced and was dominant on her first serves, winning 83 percent of those points.
She will play Karin Knapp next. The Italian beat Russia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday.
Simona Halep snapped her two-match losing streak to France’s Kristina Mladenovic, hanging on to beat her 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 on Wednesday.
The world number three from Romania nearly let this one slip away, squandering two match points and blowing a 5-3 second-set lead, before responding in the third set with a late break to advance.
“I had played two times before against her and she beat me, so I knew it would be difficult to play her again, but I just tried everything to win,” said Halep. “I was up the whole match and just couldn’t finish the second set, but I tried to stay focused for every ball, and I think we played a really good match. She was playing some really good tennis today.”
Halep will play the winner of 15th seed Andrea Petkovic and Camila Giorgi.
American Varvara Lepchenko beat lucky loser Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 7-5, 6-4 while her compatriot, Madison Keys, was beaten in straight sets by former world number one Jelena Jankovic. The Pole beat her 7-6(4), 6-4.
Belinda Bencic continued to play good tennis on Wednesday, beating Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-4.
