Stephens, Madison, Davis Lead American Wins; Tomic Advances In Sydney
American women have begun the year strong in 2013. Last week Serena Williams resumed her dominance easily capturing the Brisbane title, and youngster Jamie Hampton found herself in the the Auckland semifinals before losing to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwanska.
This week the momentum has continued as Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Lauren Davis have all collected early victories.
Stephens, who ranks a career-high No. 29 this week, is into her second straight quarterfinal of the season after consecutive wins over Laura Robson and last night Simona Halep in Hobart.
“I was getting frustrated with myself and [my coach] said calm down, just hit your balls. I had a pretty good attitude so it was good,” said Stephens. “I’m really pleased with the way I played and my fitness is good so I’m happy with that.”
Then 19-year-old Davis stunned second seed Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-3 to set up an all-American quarterfinal. It’s Davis’s first career WTA quarterfinal.
And in Sydney, teen Madison Keys qualified then blew out Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. Last night the 17-year-old Keys continued her run easily dispatching Zheng Jie 6-0, 6-4. Keys moves on to face No. seed Li Na.
Other results in Sydney included a big win for Svetlana Kuznetsova over former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 7-6, 1-6, 6-2.
In men’s play, in his official 2013 ATP debut Benard Tomic defeated countryman Marinko Matosevic in an all-Australian battle 6-3, 6-4.
“Every player I play now I want to win and give myself the best opportunity and chance to win,” said the 20-year-old Tomic. “Every match I go in now I believe I can win and I’m going to stay in there the whole match and fight for every point. That’s when I’m going to be the best and most satisfied with myself.”
Recent Brisbane finalist Grigor Dimitrov flamed out to Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-1.
Tonight top seed John Isner faces fellow American Ryan Harrison while Tomic No. 5 seed Florian Mayer.
SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2013
KEN ROSEWALL ARENA start 12:00 noon
[1] A Radwanska (POL) vs R Vinci (ITA) – WTA
J Nieminen (FIN) vs [2] G Simon (FRA) – ATP
[5] F Mayer (GER) vs B Tomic (AUS) – ATP
Not Before 7:30 PM
[4] N Li (CHN) vs [Q] M Keys (USA) – WTA
[Q] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs [2] A Kerber (GER) – WTA
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[4] F Verdasco (ESP) vs D Istomin (UZB) – ATP
D Cibulkova (SVK) vs [3] S Errani (ITA) – WTA
[1] J Isner (USA) vs [Q] R Harrison (USA) – ATP
[WC] J Millman (AUS) vs [3] A Seppi (ITA) – ATP
N Petrova (RUS) / K Srebotnik (SLO) vs [4] L Huber (USA) / S Mirza (IND) – WTA
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