MIAMI GARDENS, Florida – Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine saved match point and came from a set down to defeat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the Miami Open.
Maria Sakkari of Greece and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia also collected straight-sets wins in their opening matches.
The Ukrainian saved that match point and won the last five games of the second set before taking the third in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory in the second round.
Wozniacki, who won the Australian in 2018 and retired from tennis at the same tournament two years later, returned to the sport last year. She had two children during her time away from the game.
Wozniacki reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells this month but retired from the match against top-ranked Iga Swiatek in the second set because of a right foot issue.
Beatriz Haddad Maia also overcame a slow start in hot and humid conditions on the hard courts, rallying to beat Diane Parry 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, AP reported.
No.8 seed Sakkari defeated Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-2 to reach the Miami third round for the first time since 2021.
Sakkari had lost her opening match in Miami in each of the last two years — granted, those losses were to Beatriz Haddad Maia and Bianca Andreescu, both of whom have reached the Top 10.
By defeating Yuan in 1 hour and 19 minutes, the Greek reclaimed her winning ways in southern Florida. Sakkari’s career-best showing in Miami is a semi-final run in 2021.
No.9 seed Ostapenko had a much more difficult match, but the 2017 Roland Garros champion eventually prevailed 7-6(3), 6-4 over qualifier Laura Siegemund of Germany.
Ostapenko led 5-3 in the opening set and held five set points in that game, but she could not close it out. Ostapenko then garnered two more set points on Siegemund’s serve at 6-5, but the German fended those off as well.
The first set was settled in the tiebreak, where bold hitting off both wings gave Ostapenko another big lead at 6-3.
The Latvian at last converted her eighth set point to wrap up the opener after 72 minutes, wtatennis.com reported.
Siegemund also fought back from a break down in the second set, but Ostapenko took control in the latter stages of that set, reeling off the last three games of the match.
Coming off a straight-set win over France’s Clara Burel in the first round, Wozniacki rebounded from a break down to edge Kalinina for the first set.
The Dane looked primed to close out another straight-set win, extending her surge to five straight games to lead 3-0 in the second set.
With Kalinina champing at the bit to break, Wozniacki survived a total of 12 deuces in her next two service games to lead 5-2. Four points from defeat, Kalinina began to swing freely.
With increased aggression and pace, the 2023 Rome finalist surged back, breaking Wozniacki as she served for the match.
Kalinina then saved a match point on her own serve with a clean forehand winner and rode that momentum to take the match to a decider.
The final set remained on edge until Wozniacki was forced to take a medical timeout mid-set. Kalinina responded by breaking serve and consolidating for a 5-3 lead.
Wozniacki fended off three match points to hold and force Kalinina to serve out the win. The final game remained tight until Wozniacki hit a tired forehand into the net at 30-all. Finally, on her fourth match point, Kalinina sealed the win with an ace.
In other women’s matches, Katie Boulter advanced when Brenda Fruhvirtova retired from their match while trailing 7-6 (5), 1-0, Taylor Townsend defeated Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-2, and Anna Kalinskaya beat Wang Xiyu 6-2, 6-2.
In men’s action, Canadian hardcourt specialist Felix-Auger Aliassime was an early winner, beating Adam Walton 7-5, 6-4.
Alexei Popyrin has made a triumphant return at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.
The 24-year-old Australian has been sidelined with an abdominal injury since advancing to the semifinals at an ATP event in Doha in February.
This compliant forced the world No.45 to withdraw from recent tournaments in Dubai and Indian Wells.
But in promising signs, Popyrin powered past Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2 6-2 in his opening-round match today at the Miami Open.
Popyrin did not lose a service game across the 76-minute encounter with the world No.55.
This sets up a second-round clash with the tournament’s 26th seed, Jiri Lehecka.
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