AP – World No.2 Victoria Azarenka has rebounded from her recent finals loss to Australian Samantha Stosur to advance to the third round of the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Masters.
Azarenka beat American qualifier Vania King 6-1 7-6 (8-6) in her first match since withdrawing from last week’s Canadian Open in Toronto with a lower back injury.
The reigning Australian Open champion fell to Stosur in the final of the Southern California Open, but her US Open preparations look back on track following her straight-sets dismissal of King.
“I think the beginning of the second set wasn’t very good for me,” Azarenka said. “There were quite a few unforced errors and just really fast mistakes, which didn’t happen in the first set.”
Stosur plays her third-round match on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) against Jamie Hampton after the American progressed on Tuesday with a 7-5 4-6 6-3 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Victory for Stosur would likely set up a fourth-round showdown with newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.
In other matches on Tuesday, Frenchwoman Alize Cornet opened with a 2-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 upset win over Serbian seed Ana Ivanovic and could face Azarenka in round three.
Sorana Cirstea, the 21st-ranked Romanian who lost to world No.1 Serena Williams in the finals of the Rogers Cup on Sunday, withdrew from her first-round match against Yanina Wickmayer.
Cirstea was replaced by fellow Romanian Monica Niculescu.
In men’s second-round play, third-seeded David Ferrer edged 102nd-ranked Ryan Harrison 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4, Grigor Dimitrov defeated Brian Baker 6-3 6-2 and John Isner downed Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4.
Frenchman Gilles Simon was forced to retire because of a strained hip against Vasek Pospisil, who was leading 6-3 1-1.