Miami Open: Ashleigh Barty, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev advance as Simona Halep withdraws

Ashleigh Barty beat Jelena Ostapenko in straight units in Miami and subsequent faces Victoria Azarenka. AP

World primary Ashleigh Barty appeared sharp in a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko Saturday on the Miami Open, the place males’s second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised previous fortunate loser Damir Dzumhur.

Defending champion Barty defeated the previous French Open champion from Latvia 6-3, 6-2 to arrange a fourth-round conflict with former world primary Victoria Azarenka.

Greece’s Tsitsipas – ranked fifth on this planet however seeded second behind world No 2 Daniil Medvedev within the Masters 1000 occasion that’s lacking top-ranked Novak Djokovic, world quantity three Rafael Nadal and No 4 Dominic Thiem in addition to Roger Federer and Andy Murray – was untroubled in a 6-1, 6-4 over Bosnian fortunate loser Damir Dzumhur.

Tsitsipas, coming off a runner-up end at Acapulco final week, hit 10 of his 18 winners off his forehand and dedicated solely 9 unforced errors as he relentlessly pressured his opponent.

“There is not a lot I can let you know. It was an excellent match,” Tsitsipas mentioned. “I began the match very robust, breaking him twice and taking an enormous lead within the rating, and I feel the issues labored out by themself after that.

“I created lot of alternatives with my serve, discovering the appropriate angles and executing it completely. Even with my second serve I felt like I did a number of injury, not giving him an opportunity to press first and apply strain together with his photographs.”

The three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist subsequent faces Japanese twenty eighth seed Kei Nishikori, who outlasted Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-4.

Rain was the one factor that slowed down males’s fourth seed Andrey Rublev in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over American Tennys Sandgren.

Rublev, up 6-1, 5-2, was unable to transform three match factors earlier than the gamers needed to depart the courtroom for the second of two rain delays, however he wasted no time in closing out the match when play resumed.

Rublev, who took his tour-leading variety of 2021 match wins to 17, did not face a break level, his dominance on full show as he held serve for a 4-1 lead within the opening set with a love recreation that lasted simply 59 seconds.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov additionally needed to wait out the delay to complete off a hard-fought 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ilya Ivashka.

Shapovalov survived 11 double faults however persevered to win in three hours and 18 minutes.

Switched-on Barty

Barty, first up on Grandstand Courtroom on the Exhausting Rock Stadium, was achieved and dusted lengthy earlier than rain arrived.

“At present felt like I used to be rather a lot sharper and switched-on and able to go from the very first level,” mentioned Australia’s Barty, who needed to save a match level on the way in which to a three-set second-round victory over Kristina Kucova.

Azarenka, of Belarus, beat twenty fourth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-5, 6-2 in a battle of former world quantity ones.

Azarenka, who was taking part in her first match after a first-round bye and a walkover, took some time to heat up.

However after trailing 4-1, she put the primary set again on serve with a break within the seventh recreation and dominated from there, posting her ninth win in 10 conferences with Kerber.

Whereas Barty cruised into the spherical of 16, the ladies’s draw misplaced world quantity three Simona Halep of Romania, who withdrew from her scheduled match with Latvian Anastasija Sevastova with a proper shoulder harm.

“I am very sorry I’ve to drag out of singles and doubles on the Miami Open, however my harm does not let me play right here as anticipated,” Halep mentioned in a press release.

Sevastova obtained a walkover into the fourth spherical, the place she is going to face 338th-ranked Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who upset Fifteenth-seeded Polish teen Iga Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.