Tennis: Pe’er ousted in Indian Wells
03/09/2013 23:59
Shahar Pe’er failed to record her first winning streak in more than a year losing to Klara Zakopalova in the second round.
SHAHAR PE’ER Photo: Reuters
Shahar Pe’er failed to record her first winning streak in more than a year on
Friday, losing 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3 to Klara Zakopalova in the second round of the
prestigious Indian Wells tournament in California.
The 25-year-old
Israeli, who fell to No. 128 in the world last week, claimed just her second win
of 2013 in the first round in Indian Wells, but dropped her serve 10 times
against Zakopalova (22) of the Czech Republic, losing after two hours and 14
minutes.
Pe’er hasn’t progressed past the second round of a WTA
tournament since reaching the third round in Doha in February
2012.
Meanwhile, former champion Maria Sharapova cruised into the third
round with a ruthless 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Italy’s Francesca Schiavone on
Friday.
Despite tricky court conditions on a chilly and blustery
afternoon at the California desert venue, the Russian world number three
delivered a superb display of deep, accurate groundstrokes to seal victory in
just over an hour.
Second-seeded Sharapova broke Schiavone’s serve three
times in each set and will next face Carla Suarez Navarro, a 6-1, 6-1 winner
over fellow Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa.
In the evening match, third
seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland wasted little time in crushing American
teenager Maria Sanchez 6-2, 6-1 and will next meet Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who
came back to beat Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 4-6, 6-3,
6-1.
Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced to the third round on Friday,
recovering from a poor start after discarding her long tights to upset
18thseeded Serb Jelena Jankovic 0- 6, 6-2, 7-5.
Reuters contributed to
this report.