WTA Miami 2nd Round Predictions: Petkovic comeback faces Bartoli, Li returns against Bertens

Andrea Petkovic

1. Andrea Petkovic v Marion Bartoli

Andrea Petkovic had a superb win yesterday over Bojana Jovanovski, 6-3 6-1 in just 57 minutes on the first day of action in Miami.  The German player, who was plagued by injuries in 2012, is giving it another go this year and hopefully, she can stay injury free and healthy with a less intensive training schedule.  She now takes on Marion Bartoli in an interesting second round match.  Bartoli had a good tournament in Indian Wells, falling to the ever-consistent Sara Errani in the 4th round.  She has always done well at this stage of the season; last season in Miami, she broke the winning streak of Victoria Azarenka and made the semi-finals.  The head-to-head is kind of irrelevant, but history would prove that it is a close call between these two.  Despite the early win, Petkovic is still making baby steps back on the tour and I cannot see her getting past Bartoli in this one...

Prediction - Bartoli to beat Petkovic in 2 sets

2. Li Na v Kiki Bertens

Li Na makes her return to the WTA tour following nearly two months out after the Australian Open final defeat to Victoria Azarenka where she twisted her ankle.  She deemed herself 100% ready in her interviews from the all-access hour yesterday in Miami and a solid test will await in the second round up against Kiki Bertens.  Bertens has had a very consistent year up till now and is close to breaking the top 40.  She has yet to lose a game in Miami as her opponent, Anna Tatishvili, retired hurt at 0-6 0-1 in the first round.  I think Bertens will push Li to start with, who will obviously be rusty to begin with, but in the end, Li has the firepower and the wealth of experience to get through this first encounter.

Prediction - Li to beat Bertens in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

Best of the rest: 2nd round womens predictions

Serena Williams to beat Flavia Pennetta in 2 sets

Yanina Wickmayer to beat Ayumi Morita in 2 tight sets

Romina Oprandi to beat Lucie Safarova in 3 sets *upset alert*

Dominika Cibulkova to beat Kristina Mladenovic in 2 sets

Caroline Wozniacki to beat Karolina Pliskova in 2 tight sets

Garbine Muguruza to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 3 sets *upset alert*

Irina-Camelia Begu to beat Varvara Lepchenko in 3 sets

Agnieszka Radwanska to beat Hsieh Su-Wei in 2 sets

Mona Barthel to beat Magdalena Rybarikova in 3 sets

Venus Williams to beat Kimiko Date-Krumm in 2 sets

Sloane Stephens to beat Olga Govortsova in 2 tight sets

Julia Goerges to beat Alja Tomljanovic in 2 sets

Kirsten Flipkens to beat Stephanie Voegele in 2 sets

Petra Kvitova to beat Peng Shuai in 3 sets