Kirsten Flipkens was made to work hard to move into the second round of the WTA’s Miami Open.
The world No.85 Belgian lost the opening set 6-3 to American Jennifer Brady but rallied to advance with a 3-6 6-3 7-5 triumph.
Italian Sara Errani beat Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-3 4-6 6-3 and will take on China’s Shuai Zhang for a place in round three.
Germany’s Carina Witthoeft made swift progress with a 6-3 6-3 victory over American wildcard Nicole Gibbs.
Ying-Ying Duan of China secured a second-round match against world No.1 Angelique Kerber by defeating German Laura Siegemund 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.
Beatriz Haddad Maia will play 11th-seed Venus Williams in round two after the Brazilian’s opponent Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine, the world No.41, retired when 3-2 down in the first set.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world No.7, is set to meet Mandy Minella after the Luxembourg player came through in three sets against Czech Kristyna Pliskova 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 7-5.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka secured a match with third-seed Simona Halep after her 6-2 6-3 win against Kristina Kucova of Slovakia.
Shuai Peng was awarded her first-round contest when Montenegro player Danka Kovinic retired at the start of the second set, with the opening set going the way of the Chinese player 6-2.
Johanna Larsson of Sweden booked a second-round contest against Czech Barbora Strycova after beating Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-1.
In other first-round matches, Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko accounted for Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert 6-4 7-5, Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland defeated Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6 6-1 6-1 and Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena beat Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia 7-5 6-1.
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