Miami Open: Swiatek too strong for Garcia, books meeting with Mertens in third round

Iga Swiatek, the second seed, advanced to the third round of the Miami Open by beating Caroline Garcia 6-2, 7-5 at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Despite a relatively one-sided opening set, it was a closer contest than the scoreline would immediately suggest, with Garcia giving a good account of herself and twice managing to break her opponent’s serve.

But it was otherwise a straightforward afternoon for the 2022 champion, easing to the first set before striking late in a competitive second to seal safe passage into the third round with a total of five breaks.

Swiatek, ranked No 2, will play Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 27 seed, after she upended American Peyton Stearns in their second-round encounter.

Garcia, ranked No 74, beat Hungarian qualifier Anna Bondar (6-0, 7-6 (5)) in the previous round of the Miami tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other second-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Madison Keys vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Amanda Anisimova vs. Mayar Sherif
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Belinda Bencic vs. Elina Svitolina
• Karolina Muchova vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Kimberly Birrell vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Bernarda Pera vs. Jessica Pegula
• Clara Tauson vs. Julia Grabher
• McCartney Kessler vs. Linda Noskova
• Emma Navarro vs. Emma Raducanu: friday
• Victoria Mboko vs. Paula Badosa: friday
• Elise Mertens vs. Peyton Stearns: friday
• Alexandra Eala vs. Jelena Ostapenko: friday
• Anna Kalinskaya (32) beat Moyuka Uchijima: 6-1, 6-3
• Anna Blinkova beat Diana Shnaider (13): 6-4, 7-6
• Danielle Collins (14) beat Sorana Cirstea: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Naomi Osaka beat Liudmila Samsonova (24): 6-2, 6-4
• Linda Fruhvirtova (Q) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (16): 6-0, 6-2
• Rebeka Masarova (Q) beat Donna Vekic (21): 6-1, 6-3
• Hailey Baptiste (WC) beat Daria Kasatkina (12): 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Maria Sakkari (28) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Ons Jabeur (31) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-4, 7-6 (7)
• Taylor Townsend (Q) beat Yulia Putintseva (19): 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-3, 6-0
• Magda Linette beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (18): 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-0, 6-0
• Leylah Fernandez (26) beat Alycia Parks: 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Elena Rybakina (7): 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
• Jasmine Paolini (6) beat Rebecca Sramkova: 6-4, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (9) beat Lauren Davis: 6-1, 7-5
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) beat Magdalena Frech (29): 6-4, 6-4