AFP
World number one Ashleigh Barty lookedsharp in a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko Saturday at the Miami Open, where men’s second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised past lucky loser Damir Dzumhur.
Defending champion Barty defeated the former French Open champion from Latvia 6-3, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round clash with former world number one Victoria Azarenka.
Greece’s Tsitsipas — ranked fifth in the world but seeded second behindworld No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the Masters 1000 event that is missing top-ranked Novak Djokovic, world number three Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Dominic Thiem as well as Roger Federer and Andy Murraywas untroubled in a 6-1, 6-4 over Bosnian lucky loser Damir Dzumhur.
Tsitsipas, coming off a runner-up finish at Acapulco last week, hit 10 of his 18 winners off his forehand and committed only nine unforcederrors as herelentlessly pressured his opponent.
Barty, first up on Grandstand Court at the Hard Rock Stadium, was done anddusted long before rain arrived.
While Barty cruised into the round of 16, the women’s draw lost world
number three Simona Halep of Romania, who withdrew from her scheduled matchwith Latvian Anastasija Sevastova with a rightshoulder injury.
“I’m very sorry I have to pull out of singles and doubles at the Miami Open, but my injury doesn’t let me play here as expected,” Halep said in astatement.
Sevastova received a walkover into the fourth round, where she willface338th-ranked Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who upset 15th-seeded Polish teen Iga Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.