MADRID: Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark set up a third-round meeting with Agnieszka Radwanska at the Madrid Open on Monday as her promising start to the clay court season continued with a 7-5, 6-0 win over American qualifier Christina McHale.

The world number five reached the final in Stuttgart last month and had too much for the 22-year-old McHale after battling back from 4-2 in the first set.

Radwanska had an even more comfortable route into the last 16 as she needed just over an hour to dispose of Australian Casey Delacqua 6-2, 6-1.

The ninth-seeded Pole is playing her first tournament since ending an ill-fated four-month spell with 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova as her coach.

Wozniacki leads the head-to-head between the pair 7-4, but this will be their first meeting on outdoor clay.

There will also be a battle of former US Open champions in the last 16 as veterans Samantha Stosur and Svetlana Kuznetsova face off.

Kuznetsova battled past home favourite Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 after over two-and-a-half hours on court, whilst Stosur eased past Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-2.

Thirteenth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic bested Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-1, Italy’s Roberta Vinci overcame Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 7-5 while Romanain Irina-Camelia Begu had a walkover against German 11th seed Andrea Petkovic.

In the men’s competition, John Isner of the US beat Adrian Mannarino of France 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to reach the second round. The 16th-seeded Isner will next play either Jeremy Chardy — another Frenchman — or Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil.

Also, Sam Querrey of the US dropped the second set but rallied to beat 19-year-old qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 — hitting 11 aces in the process.

Another American Steve Johnson booked a place in the second round with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez while 11th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

The men’s tournament had only two first-round matches on Sunday with Juan Monaco beating Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-2 and Simone Bolelli eliminating Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-3.

Also on Sunday, Venus Williams lost in the opening round to fellow former No 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5. Venus, seeded 16th, went up a break at 4-3 in the second set, only for Azarenka to win four of the next five games.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2015

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