By Chris Oddo |Wednesday March 22, 2017
The long road back continues for former World No.21 Sorana Cirstea. The Romanian, who suffered a complicated shoulder injury and has had to change her service motion as a result, dropped outside of the Top 200 in 2015 but worked her way back inside the Top 100 again last year before reaching the second week at this year’s Australian Open.
More: Miami Open Live Blog, Featuring a Big Iguana
That push has landed Cirstea inside the Top 70 and on Wednesday she pulled a minor upset by knocking off Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig in straight sets to book her spot in the second round at Miami.
Cirstea’s 6-2, 6-4 victory sets up a second-round encounter with Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. Cirstea snapped a three-match losing streak at Miami and improves to 5-6 on the season with the win.
Cirstea only managed a 43 percent first-serve percentage and was broken three times. But her return game was strong and she broke Puig six times on 12 opportunities to improve to 2-0 lifetime against the Puerto Rican.
Another player working her way back from shoulder issues was also successful on Wednesday. Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Poland’s Magda Linette, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 for her second win of the season.
Bouchard Falls to Barty
Australia’s Ashleigh Barty handed Eugenie Bouchard her fifth consecutive loss at Miami, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. The 20-year-old will face Sam Stosur in the second round. "It was a little bit scratchy today, but I'm happy to come through in the end and get a chance to play a second round here,” Barty told the crowd.
Bouchard drops to 5-6 on the season with the loss.
Other winners on a busy Wednesday in Miami were Lucie Safarova (d. Wickmayer), Christin McHale (d. Beck), Pauline Parmentier (d. Dodin), Shelby Rogers (d. Erakovic), Julia Goerges (d. Riske), Annett Kontaveit (d. Nara), Taylor Townsend (d. Anisimova), Risa Ozaki (d. Chirico), Aliaksandra Sasnovich (d. Cornet), Patricia Maria-Tig (d. Watson), Varvara Lepchenko (d. Davis), Veronica Cepede Royg (d. Doi), Bethanie Mattek-Sands (d. Siniakova), Wang Qiang (d. Vekic), Yaroslava Shvedova (d. Jankovic), Jana Cepelova (d. Petkovic) and Madison Brengle (d. Ostapenko).