Serena Williams, saying she felt nervous and rusty, made a triumphant WTA return from a left ankle injury, defeating China's Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday at the WTA and ATP Miami hard-court event.
Fellow former World No. 1 players Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki also advanced to the third round at the $9.6 million tournament, which awarded byes in the first round to seeded players.
In her first tournament match since losing in the fourth round at the Australian Open, Williams fired six aces and connected on 64 per cent of her first serves while dropping only one service break to advance in 80 minutes.
“I was a little bit rusty and a little bit nervous too,” Williams said.
“I haven't played here for so long and I wanted to do well. So I was really nervous out there, but I think now I've gotten one under I'll be better.”
Important results:
Women's singles: Second round: Roberta Vinci bt Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-1; Kim Clijsters bt Julia Goerges 6-2, 7-5; Sabine Lisicki bt Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-2; Mona Barthel bt Jelena Jankovic 6-0, 6-3; Chanelle Scheepers bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; Serena Williams bt Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-3; Peng Shuai bt Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-1, 6-2; Iveta Benesova bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(7); Samantha Stosur bt Valeria Savinykh 6-4, 6-0; Maria Sharapova bt Shahar Peer (ISR) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Li Na bt Melinda Czink 7-5, 6-2; Caroline Wozniacki bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-0.
Men's singles: First round: Ryan Harrison bt Potito Starace 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2); Marcos Baghdatis bt Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-4; Sergei Bubka bt Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4; Benjamin Becker bt Olivier Rochus 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Bjorn Phau bt Carlos Berlocq 6-4, 6-2; Bernard Tomic bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(4), 6-3; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6(7); Lu Yen-hsun bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-3; Sam Querrey bt Matthew Ebden 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.
