Venus and Nadal Both Advance to Round of 16 in Miami
American Venus Williams defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, to advance past the third round at the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. She exhausted all her energy that one of her souvenir balls did not even reach the stands when hit. This is her comeback since she withdrew from the U.S. Open after being diagnosed with a fatigue-inducing autoimmune disease. The match took nearly three hours and came just shy of 48 hours after her last win in the second round.
“I just kept coming back,” Williams said. “I tried not to let anything discourage me.”
Wozniak had a match point in the third when she led 5-4 and Williams did not even realize that until a post-match interview.
“She had match point?” Williams said. “Oh no. Thank God I’m oblivious to the score a lot of times.” Williams looked tired on the onset and struggled along throughout the match.
Williams, now ranked 134th, required a wild card to even enter the tournament. She’s now attempting to qualify for the London Olympics in coming weeks.
“Whenever things look bleak, I think about the Olympics,” Williams said. “That keeps me motivated.”
Also advancing and extending her win streak to begin the year at 25 consecutive wins was Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, a 6-0, 6-2 winner over wild card entrant Heather Watson of the U.S. In the round of 16, Azarenka will face the 16th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
On the men’s side of play, world number two-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Czech Radek Stepanek in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 and dropped just six games in the first two rounds. The Spaniard advances to face Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
“He’s a fantastic player and it will be a very difficult match for me,” said Nadal. “He has a big talent to hit the ball very early, to play very aggressive. So he will be a really tough opponent.”
Great Britain’s Andy Murray, currently ranked fourth in the world, had an easy trip to the round of 16 after his opponent, Canadian Milos Raonic, was forced to retire due to a right ankle sprain. Murray will face France’s Gilles Simon in the next round, a 7-6(5), 6-4 winner over Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
Round three results for the men’s draw at the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open
â–ºFlorian Mayer (Germany) beat John Isner (U.S.) 6-4, 6-2
â–ºRafa Nadal (Spain) beat Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-2
â–ºJo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-4, 7-6(2)
â–ºKei Nishikori (Japan) beat Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-2
â–ºGilles Simon (France) beat Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 7-6(5), 6-4
â–ºAndy Murray (Britain) beat Milos Raonic (Canada) WO
â–ºGrigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
â–ºJanko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
Round three results for the women’s draw at the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open
â–ºVictoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Heather Watson (Britain) 6-0, 6-2
â–ºAgnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-1, 6-2
â–ºAna Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-2, 7-6(2)
â–ºVenus Williams (U.S.) beat Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
â–ºGarbine Muguruza (Spain) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(6)
â–ºMaria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Ksenia Pervak (Kazakhstan) 6-2, 6-1
â–ºMarion Bartoli (France) beat Simona Halep (Romania) 6-4, 7-6(6)
â–ºDominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat Zheng Jie (China) 6-2, 6-0
