Unlike yesterday, when only one seeded player progressed, Wednesday’s second-round action was absolutely successful for the seeds at the Western & Southern Open and our Jimmie48 thoroughly covered another busy day in Cincinnati.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1, capitalizing on the rustiness of the Russian who had retired in the first round at Wimbledon with a forearm injury and then lost in the opening round at the Rogers Cup.
Seed No.2 Naomi Osaka needed three sets, 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2, to get past Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the Belarusian player whom she double-bageled en route to the US Open title last year.
Karolina Pliskova, seeded third, beat lucky loser Wang Yafan 6-1 6-3 and was victorious in the second round of doubles as well, playing alongside twin sister Kristyna Pliskova.
One week after dropping out of Toronto quarterfinals because of an Achilles injury, pain-free fourth seed Simona Halep rallied to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 7-5 6-4. Seventh seed Elina Svitolina continued her dominance over Elise Mertens 6-4 6-1 and eighth seed Sloane Stephens rallied for a 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Yulia Putintseva to make the third round.
Ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka is back on the upswing, having defeated Zheng Saisai, while No.16 Madison Keys advanced with a 6-4 6-1 win over Daria Kasatkina.
Other players, all unseeded, that reached the third round on Wednesday are Anett Kontaveit, Rebecca Peterson, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Donna Vekic, Sofia Kenin, and Hsieh Su-Wei.
MORE WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN 2019 PHOTOS:
- Tuesday: Venus upsets defending champ Bertens, Keys the only seed to advance
- Monday: Sharapova gets past Riske, Peterson & Swiatek make upsets
- Sunday: Strycova gets WTA Doubles World No.1 trophy, Osaka all smiles during practice
- Saturday: Vekic, Wozniacki, Sharapova, Kasatkina, Goerges practice in hot & humid conditions
Is anybody surprised? Barty has been playing well, and Sharapova – not so. She never came back after her doping ban. Not the same without meldonium? 😉
I was there at the W&S Open and saw this match; and was very impressed with Barty – her talent, athleticism, and power. What she did was continually sliced to Sharapova’s backhand, forcing Maria to bend down and hit defensive shots. Maria does not have the athleticism as some of the other players, and plays a more one-dimensional game. Hard to see her being a contender at the majors anymore – not with players like Barty, Osaka, etc.