Williams Overcomes Injury To Face Niculescu In Miami

Serena Williams will kick off her Miami Masters campaign with a second round match against Romania`s Monica Niculescu tomorrow. The American, who has secured 19 Grand Slam singles titles, was a doubt for the tournament after sustaining a knee injury prior to her Indian Wells semi-final clash with Simona Halep. An injury bad enough to force her to withdraw from the tournament. Her Romanian opponent will be looking to exploit any weakness she can find in her rival`s game.

As well as being the competition`s reigning champion, Serena Williams has also taken the Miami Masters crown on six other occasions, they being in consecutive years from 2002 to 2004, in 2007 and 2008 and in 2013. The 33-year-old has also finished as the runner-up twice, being beaten by her sister Venus in 1999, losing out 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 before failing to get the better of Victoria Azarenka in 2009 (6-3, 6-1). Niculescu, who is six years Williams` junior, is less experienced than her second round opponent, qualifying for the tournament on five occasions, her best finish being in 2011 and 2012 when exiting in the second round.

The 27-year-old was beaten by Jelena Jankovic in straight sets in 2011 (6-3, 6-1) and was dispatched by wildcard Aleksandra Wozniak a year later despite taking the first set (6-4, 3-6, 4-6).

The pair`s second round Indian Wells encounter last week was the first time that they have met on-court, the world number one running out the straight sets winner in what was a closely fought contest. The world number one claimed both sets by a score of 7-5. Whilst both 888sport and unibet have the best price of 4/17 on the elder Williams sister reaching the third round with a straight sets victory, Betvictor`s 14/1 says that the Michigan-born star will take the first set by seven games to five once again.

Indeed it is Williams who is the favourite to rule supreme in the clash. Looking to snatch her 66th career title, the 5`9" player can be backed at 1/20 with most bookmakers to defeat Niculescu by any means. Otherwise, her second round opponent can be supported at the best price of 11/1. This price can be found at betway.

Niculescu has reached this stage of the competition by beating Williams` compatriot Shelby Rogers in the first round. The two players had to be separated by a tie-break in the first set before Rogers could only manage to seal one game in the second set as the Romanian picked up a straight sets victory. Whilst Coral`s 8/1 says that there will be a tie-break in the first set of tomorrow`s match-up, the two-time WTA title winner is a 22/1 (Betvictor, william hill) chance to take tomorrow`s encounter in straight sets.

The woman ranked 70th in the world has failed to make it past the second round in any competition this year though this has not been through lack of effort or ability, rather lack of fortune having drawn top 30 players in the first or second round of her last four tournaments. As well as exiting at the hands of Williams at Indian Wells, she met Sabine Lisicki in the Dubai Duty Free Championships` opening round losing 6-3, 6-4 Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round in Antwerp, being defeated in three sets (6-4, 0-6, 2-6) and Samantha Stosur in the Australian Open (6-4, 6-1).

Williams` procurement of that first Grand Slam of the year has been her only 2015 title win so far. Her withdrawal from the Indian Wells tournament, her only other competition appearance, means that she is currently unbeaten on-court this season.

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25/03/2015     © Frixo 2024