Simona Halep scrapes through at Miami Open

Simona Halep battled her way into the third round of the Miami Open with a come-from-behind victory over Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin.

The world No.1 trailed the lucky loser 4-2 in the final set before edging through 3-6 6-3 7-5.

No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova, No.10 seed Angelique Kerber and three-time Miami champion Victoria Azarenka also made progress.

Dodin, despite dangerous firepower from the back of the court, was her own worst enemy against Halep, committing an unsightly 16 double faults and 52 unforced errors – the latter exactly double Halep’s tally – to go down in just over two hours on court.

Halep will meet 30th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the last 32 after improving her win-loss record in 2018 to a sparkling 19-2.

Survival Specialist Simona. ????

Halep emerges past LL Dodin 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/mWfyFb79mG

— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) March 22, 2018

“I played bad, but you have these days, and when you don’t give up, is the most important thing. In the end, if you win it, you take only the positives,” Halep said.

“She played well. She was hitting very strong the balls, and at one point I didn’t know where the ball is coming. I never played against her. She served pretty well, over 100 miles, which is really good.

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“Maybe previous years I couldn’t win the matches in the third set, so I’m really happy that I changed this to myself, and I feel stronger. So when I go to the third set, I don’t panic. I’m relaxed and I’m just fighting till the end, and I’m sure that I have a big chance to win the match, so I just go for it.”

Easy does it for Kerber, Stephens

Advancing more comfortably was Kerber, who brushed aside Johanna Larsson 6-2 6-2.

Kerber has built a similarly impressive win-loss record to Halep this season, winning 19 of 23 matches – plus all four of her unofficial outings at the Hopman Cup – and reaching the quarterfinals or better in every tournament she has played.

Next up for the German is Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a three-set winner over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

“It’s always important to play in every single tournament this year good and playing a consistent year,” Kerber said.

“I start the year quite good, so now it’s just the focus on the next match and the next step and this is what counts for me right now.”

Azarenka is through to round three after Madison Keys retired when trailing 7-6 (7-5) 2-0 in the night session.

It is the first time Azarenka has played in Miami since 2016, and only her second tournament in eight months because of an ongoing custody battle. The Belarusian next faces Latvia’s Anastasia Sevastova.

Pliskova came through 7-5 7-5 against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, while Sloane Stephens was a comfortable winner, routing Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1 6-3 to take her place in the third round.

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After losing eight straight matches following her US Open triumph in September 2017, Stephens has now won four of her last six and will next face Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu.

Ousted from the tournament on Thursday were No.7 seed Caroline Garcia – a shock 6-3 6-1 loser to qualifier Alison Riske – as well as 12th seed Julia Goerges and 18th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.