World No1 Serena Williams continued her unbeaten start to the season, with win number 21 of 2015. The 33 year old wiped the floor with her compatriot and rising American star Madison Brengle, in less than an a hour with just 1 game dropped in the process. Meanwhile Serena’s big sister Venus Williams was sent crashing out at the first hurdle, losing in a battle between two former World No1s with Victoria Azarenka.
WTA Madrid Masters, Sun: 1st rd
Serena bt Brengle: 6-0, 6-1 & Azarenka bt Venus: 6-3, 7-5
Is there anyone that can stop Serena Williams at the moment. The undisputed World No1 has been unstoppable this year, not losing a single match. 20 matches won in a row, 23 if you count the YEC from last year, wit the closest she’s come to defeat coming against Sara Errani, in the Fed Cup.
Her compatriot Madison Brengle has been on the rise in the past couple of weeks, beating Petra Kvitova on the way to her first ever premier-level SF in Stuttgart. But she was never ever going to pose any serious threat to the Queen of tennis.
21 minutes is all it took for Serena to take the opening set, with a bagel. Brengle finally got a game on the board (much to the delight of the crowd), at the start of the 2nd set, after saving a whopping 5 bps.
However Serena quickly put an end to her fellow American’s misery, and finished her off 6-1 in less than an a hour.
With little sis easing into the 2nd rd, it was the opposite for big sis, as Venus Williams fell to Vika Azarenka.
Before the Doha SFs this year, Azarenka had never beaten Venus in 4 previous tries nor taken a single set off her.
But it was the Belarusian former World No1 who started off the brightest, breaking early on for A 3-1 lead. Venus managed to get 1 break back to limit the damage to 5-3, but Azarenka closed it out, to take the first set 6-3.
It was more of the same in the 2nd set, as Azarenka continued her assault, breaking early again for a 2-0 lead. But Venus showed her true fighting spirit, to break back and eventually take a 4-3 lead. Azarenka though then stepped it up and reeled off 4 of the next 5 games, to round it out by 7-5.
1st rd results:
Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Andreea Mitu (Romania) 7-6(3) 6-4
14-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) beat Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-1 6-2
Mariana Duque (Colombia) beat Heather Watson (Britain) 0-6 6-3 7-6(11)
Julia Goerges (Germany) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-1 0-6 6-4
15-Sara Errani (Italy) beat Paula Badosa (Spain) 3-0 (Badosa retired)
CoCo Vandeweghe (U.S.) beat Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 7-6(3) 3-6 7-5
11-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 6-3 7-5
Christina Mchale (U.S.) beat Mona Barthel (Germany) 6-3 6-2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) beat Peng Shuai (China) 6-1 6-2
4-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 3-6 6-1 6-4
Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-0 6-3
Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) beat 6-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 0-6 6-3 6-3
5-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Jarmila Gajdosova (Australia) 6-3 6-0
Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat 12-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 4-6 6-3 6-3
Alize Cornet (France) beat 2-Simona Halep (Romania) 7-6(6) 6-3
Caroline Garcia (France) beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 6-4 6-4
Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat Maria Teresa Torro (Spain) 6-1 6-1
Ajla Tomljanovic (Croatia) beat Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-4 6-3
Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 2-6 7-6(6) 6-4
10-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-4
3-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 6-2 6-3
Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) beat Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-1 6-1
All Things Tennis- from Hamza Shakeel 