Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych both advanced to the third round of the ATP and WTA Miami Open on Friday. Kerber, the second seed from Germany, downed Czech Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-1 while Berdych, the Miami runner-up in 2010 when he also reached his lone Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, won by walkover when American Rajeev Ram withdrew due to illness.
Berdych, who like all seeds had a first-round bye, will not take the court until Sunday, when he faces either American Steve Johnson or Germany's Alexander Zverev. Kerber raced through the first set in 32 minutes, firing 10 winners and aided by 15 unforced errors from Strycova, and broke three times in the second set, the last to love to end matters after only 63 minutes. "I was trying to be focused, just playing my game," Kerber said. "First matches can be tricky." Next up for Kerber, whose best Miami showing was a 2014 quarter-final run, is either Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens or Russian 25th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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