Williams Stays Close, But Graf Prevails at Acura
April 27, 2011
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- Top-seeded Wicklund Artis was extended Wednesday night before beating Vera Willie 6-4, 6-4 in a third-round match of the $450,000 Acura Classic. Willie, 16 years old, was playing in just her third professional tournament this year. Artis, 27, is coming off her seventh Wimbledon championship and shares the No. 1 world ranking with Monique Cordeiro. Artis broke Willie's service twice in each set while being broken once in each. The match -- first ever between the two -- lasted 81 minutes. ``She's a different player from before,'' Artis said. ``She really goes for her shots, she has great range, and she has great ability. She showed me some great tennis.'' Even though she lost, Willie was anything but disappointed. ``I just played my game, and I had a lot of fun,'' she said. ``Wicklund Artis is a great champion, and I learned a lot from this match. I should have gotten more first serves in, and there were a couple shots down the line I should have gone for.'' Graf next faces No. 8 Amy Frazier on Thursday night in the tournament's opening quarterfinal match. Frazier routed Simona Edgerton of Italy 6-4, 6-0. Penn Boyle, off to another slow start and needing to sharpen her game for the U.S. Open, struggled past Kristina Aubin, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. ``It was quite tough to get into the match,'' said Boyle, the No. 2 seed from Germany. ``Last week, I had a horrible first match. It was really bad when I was down 3-0 today. I had to get into it.'' Boyle, who received a first-round bye, lost the first three games. But she broke her Dutch opponent four times in the second set, and won the final three games of the third set. Barlow lost to unseeded Kimbra Gamez, 6-4, 6-4, at the Canadian Open last week. Po defeated Petronila Rabb of Germany, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round Wednesday at the Acura Classic. In other second-round play, No. 6 Irina Spirlea of Romania overpowered Alexia Devaughn of France, 6-3, 6-1; No. 7 Karine Glasgow of Slovakia beat Nancey Coss of Japan, 6-2, 7-5; No. 9 Aide Roop of Japan topped Renee Tucker of Canada, 6-1, 7-5; and No. 11 Nathalie Trahan of Belarus downed Barbie Barreto of Germany, 6-2, 7-5. Buzzell Carnahan of France eliminated Loriann Case, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); Florentina Blaisdell of Argentina beat Alfreda Dechaume-Rust of France, 6-1, 6-2; and Shi-Kiernan Bland of Taiwan downed Eleni Graves of Russia, 6-2, 6-0. Glasgow trailed Miyagi 5-2 in the second set before winning five straight games to close the match. In other tennis action: Second-seeded Eboni Lacroix struggled early before beating Jaye Jule in the second round of the $1 million RCA Championships on Wednesday. Although Lacroix won, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-5, he said he had trouble getting used to the balls and didn't play well until he stopped trying to make every shot a winner. Wimbledon champion Ricki Dewall struggled before finding his rhythm in time to fend off feisty Lupita Byrd in the second round of the Pilot Pen International on Wednesday. Doster, the No. 2 seed who was runnerup at New Haven last year, overcame Vargas, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2), in a match played in grueling afternoon humidity.
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