Fourth seed Stosur Cruises Into Third Round

© Getty ImagesSamantha Stosur dropped just three games.

Seeded players reigned supreme in the second round matches of the women’s draw. No. 4 Sam Stosur stepped out today against Jie Zheng and walked away with a commanding 6-2, 6-1 win. “I did what I had to do. Against a player like Jie Zheng, you want to be able to do that from start to finish,” said Stosur.

The Australia broke Zheng to gain a 4-2 advantage in the first set and powered on from there to end the match in a short 58 minutes. Stosur, ranked No. 4 for this year’s tournament, reached the quarter-finals last year, but lost to eventual champion  Kim Clijsters. She will play Czech Lucie Safarova in the third round.  Stosur said she will have to adjust her game to play the lefty, “who can pretty much beat anyone on her day”.

Svetlana Kuznetsova played her first match of the tournament today against Simona Halep. The 11th seeded Russian played a powerful game, breaking all three of Halep’s service games to take the first set 6-0. Halep pulled off four games in the second, but Kuznetsova broke at the end to win the match, 6-0, 6-4. Kuznetsova potentially faces No. 20 Aravane Rezai in the third round.

No. 29 Daniela Hantuchova broke American Melanie Oudin in the final game of the match to claim a 6-1, 6-3. In her 12th appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open this year, the Slovak stormed the court, breaking Oudin’s serve twice and gaining a 5-0 advantage before Oudin won her first service game. “I felt like I was really playing well overall, moving good, and that was a good sign,” Hantuchova said. She converted five break points and could face Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. “I’ve got nothing to lose,” she added.

The day’s surprising upset saw No. 10 Shahar Peer fall to Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues. The Spaniard converted four break points to claim the 6-2, 6-2 match in one hour. Medina Garrigues will advance to the third round to play either Elena Vesnina or No. 23 Yanina Wickmayer.

Sixth seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-1 and will advance to play Klara Zakopalova, who won her first match of the tournament over Britain’s Elena Baltacha, 7-6(4), 6-3.

Alexandra Dulgheru also advanced, with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Chanelle Scheepers, and Andrea Petkovic defeated American qualifier Jamie Hampton, 6-2, 7-5, winning five break points and booking her place in the third round.