Tennis: Pe’er ousted in Indian Wells

Shahar Pe’er failed to record her first winning streak in more than a year losing to Klara Zakopalova in the second round.

By ALLON SINAI
SHAHAR PE’ER (photo credit: Reuters)
SHAHAR PE’ER
(photo credit: 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.