Serena battles past Kazakh qualifier

MADRID: World No.1 Serena Williams was given a reasonable test in her first match at the Madrid Masters on Sunday against Kazakh qualifier Yulia Putintseva before the American eventually prevailed 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Putintseva had come through two rounds of qualifying and she seemed to
handle the warm conditions better early on in an extremely tight first set.

Both women broke each other once and Putintseva managed to save another
three break points to force the set into a tie-break.

However, the World No.88 finally crumbled at 5-4 in the tie-break as she fired long and Williams served out the set before taking control in the second, breaking four times to close out the match.

However, it wasn't such a good day for Serena's sister Venus as she was
forced to pull out of the tournament with a back injury.

The World No. 21 had been due to open play on Sunday on the main showcourt against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, but she pulled out before the match could get underway.

World No.10 Caroline Wozniacki became the first big name to fall in
matchplay as the former world number one was beaten in straight sets by
Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-4.

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova was forced to go the distance against Yanina
Wickmayer.

The World No.36 took the first set 6-4, but former Wimbledon champion
Kvitova bounced back to take the next two sets 7-5, 6-4 to move into the next round.

Sixth seed Angelique Kerber also took three sets to beat Su-Wei Hsieh 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and 16th seed Ana Ivanovic came from a set down too as he she overcame Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-7 (10/12), 6-3, 6-2.

Agnieska Radwanska had a more comfortable afternoon meanwhile as she saw off Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Britain's Laura Robson and Marion Bartoli is also safely through after her opponent Elena Vesnina retired with the score 6-3, 3-0 in the Italian's favour. (AFP)