Nothing could separate both players in a cagey first set that saw the duo hold their respective serve en route to being deadlocked at five games apiece.
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In other matches on Tuesday, Sam Querrey beat fellow American John Isner 6-3, 7-6(3), in a first round match-up of big servers and Croatian Borna Coric scraped past Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5).
Kristina Mladenovic, of France, serves to Simona Halep, of Romania, during the second round at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, August 19, 2015, in Mason, Ohio.
Keys was seen sobbing at mid-match during a coaching conference with Lindsay Davenport and was again caught after the loss with her face buried in a towel in a busy hallway outside the locker room.
The reigning champion secured a 7-5 6-3 victory in 90 minutes to advance into the third round, where she will meet Karin Knapp. Williams was a flawless two-for-two, while Pironkova went zero-for-three, though those all came in just the third game of the match.
Novak Djokovic won his rain-delayed opening match, beating Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour, 39 minutes. “I was up the whole match and just couldn’t finish the second set, but I tried to stay focused for every ball, and I think we played a really good match”.
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“When I play in front of a great crowd, I really want to play well”, Williams told the fans. “I would like to win the Open, probably more than anyone else”, said Williams. “I just try to stay focused and play the best that I can”. Wawrinka produced 40 winners and 52 unforced errors as he moved into the third round against another Croatian, Ivo Karlovic. She broke on her only chance in the second set to allow herself to serve it out, and she did thanks to 15 aces to reach the Western & Southern Open third-round. The Italian beat Russia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday.
