JOIN USIndia's Yuki Bhambri continued with his commendable performance in the ATP Circuit reaching the second round of the Miami Open with a straight-set 7-5, 6-3 victory over Bosnia's Mirza Basic, here on Friday.
Yuki will now meet world No 11 and eighth-seeded American Jack Sock in the second round of the tournament, having come through the qualifying round.
Yuki, who is currently ranked 107th in the ATP list, took an hour and 32 minutes to defeat the world No 75. The win against another higher-ranked opponent will surely help India's top singles player in getting closer to top-100, something that can get him direct entry into the French Open.
He had earlier reached the third round of the Indian Wells tournament.
The hallmark of Yuki's game in the opening round here was the successful first serve of 68 percent and a whopping 71 percent conversion of points on the second serve.
Throughout the match, Yuki converted five of the 13 break points compared to only two by his opponent.
Halep advances
World women's number one Simona Halep survived a scare from Oceane Dodin on Thursday, beating the lucky loser 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round.
Halep, who almost joined eight other seeds eliminated on a day of upsets in south Florida, was delighted with the way she dug in and fought in the deciding third set on centre court.
"Maybe previous years I couldn't win the matches in the third set, so I'm really happy that I changed this to myself, and I feel stronger," Halep told reporters.
"So when I go to the third set, I don't panic. I'm relaxed and I'm just fighting till the end, and I'm sure that I have a big chance to win the match, so I just go for it."
Halep next meets 30th-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3 7-6(4).
In an evening match, American 14th seed Madison Keys retired with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury early in the second set against three-times champion Victoria Azarenka, who led 7-6(5) 2-0.
Among the seeds exiting the tournament were number seven Carolina Garcia of France and number 12 Julia Goerges of Germany.
In the men's event, Nicola Kuhn became the youngest Spaniard to win an ATP World Tour match since Rafa Nadal after the 18-year-old's 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over Darian King.
Also on Thursday, Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis earned himself a second-round match against Roger Federer after thrashing Calvin Hemery of France 6-1 6-2 in barely an hour.