MASON, OH, USA - The first round will conclude while the second round kicks off, as the stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour take the courts at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open Wednesday. Read on for a preview of some of the marquee second round match-ups on the schedule.
(1) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) vs. (Q) Anda Perianu (ROU) - First Meeting
It took her four games to find her groove but when she did she seemed unstoppable. No.1 seed Chakvetadze won 12 straight games from 4-0 down in her opening round match Tuesday night and hopes to keep her game on cruise control in the feature night match Wednesday, as she battles Romanian qualifier Anda Perianu. Although Perianu is 27, the 20-year-old Chakvetadze has had much more experience in the big leagues, winning four Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles and earlier this season becoming one of the latest additions to the Top 10. Perianu, on the other hand, is playing just her third main draw on the Tour and has never even faced a Top 30 player. But, she does have a victory over current Top 30 star Lucie Safarova and is used to these courts, having won three qualifying matches.
(3) Sania Mirza (IND) vs. Varvara Lepchenko (UZB) - First Meeting
Indian sensation Mirza will try to reach her third consecutive quarterfinal here as she battles Lepchenko in her second match of the week on Wednesday. In her Cincinnati debut two years ago she fell to Akiko Morigami routinely in straight sets while last year she pushed Patty Schnyder to the limit before falling in a tight two-setter. Mirza has been working her way back into shape after missing two and a half months earlier this season due to knee surgery and hasn't won consecutive matches since returning two weeks before Roland Garros; she'll try to win back-to-back matches for the first time since February here with the unseeded Lepchenko standing in her way. Lepchenko is playing here for the fourth time, falling in 2004 and 2005 qualifying and losing in this round last year.
(7) Akiko Morigami (JPN) vs. Angelique Kerber (GER) - First Meeting
Former Cincinnati runner-up Morigami had Tuesday to recover from a marathon first round victory over feisty Frenchwoman Camille Pin, and on Wednesday will continue her attempt to return to the final here with a second round match-up against German teenager Kerber. Kerber has been rising steadily up the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ranks this year, cracking the world Top 100 in May then following that up with her career-first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour quarterfinal on the grass courts of 's-Hertogenbosch. But the 27-year-old Morigami has shown a lot of poise over the last few months as well, capturing her maiden singles title at Prague in May and pushing eventual champion Venus Williams to three tough sets in the early rounds of Wimbledon. Just 12 spots separate these two on the rankings with the Japanese coming in at No.61 and the German lurking just below at No.73.
The other two singles matches on Wednesday are Lilia Osterloh taking on Anna Tatishvili and Yuan Meng facing Casey Dellacqua. Osterloh versus Tatishvili is a second round with the American ahead 2-0 in their head-to-head series; Meng and Dellacqua are playing the last first round match of the week, with the Australian ahead 2-1 in their head-to-head.
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