Qualifier Andrea Petkovic has reached the second round of the Premier Mandatory Tournament in Miami. On the same spot Mischa Zverev lost his first round game and won his ninth defeat in the twelfth match in 2018.
Thirty-year-old Petkovic, who played her way into the main draw in two qualifying rounds, won 6-2, 6-0 against Slovenian Polona Hercog in just under an hour and will face number 26 seeded Australian Daria Gavrilova in the second round.
Petkovic, currently only 111 in the ranking, had 15 break chances and did not give up her own serve on Court 8. In her two past WTA tournaments in Indian Wells and Doha, the former ninth in the world rankings failed in qualifying. Petko had reached the semi-finals in Miami in 2011 and 2015.
Mischa Zverev, on the other hand, lost 6:1, 1:6, 2:6 to the Frenchman Benoit Paire after a good start in 1:24 hours in his first round match in Montpellier at the beginning of February. The left-hander took four breaks and made a total of six points less than his opponent, who is eight positions ahead of Zverev (No. 55) in the ranking.
A few hours earlier Maximilian Marterer (Nuremberg) had already passed his opening hurdle. The 22 year old World Ranking-73. from Nuremberg beat the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6:4, 6:4. Next opponent of Marterer is Grigor Dimitrov (No. 3) from Bulgaria.
Davis Cup players Jan-Lennard Struff (Warstein) and Peter Gojowczyk (Munich) failed at the Masters 1000 event in Key Biscayne in the first round. On Thursday the seeded Angelique Kerber (Kiel/No. 10) and Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe/No. 12) will also be in action for the first time. Alexander Zverev (Hamburg/No. 4), who has a walk-through in the first round, has to wait further.