The United States will have not women in the third round of Miami after Petra Kvitova blitzed Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2 in the second round on Friday. On Thursday, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin and Jamie Hampton all fell. Mattek-Sands lost to Caroline Wozniacki, Oudin went down 6-1, 6-3 to Daniela Hantuchova and Hampton lost 6-2, 7-5 to Andrea Petkovic.
Serena and Venus Williams, both who have had a huge amount of success at the tournament, are both out with injuries.
"It’s definitely different," Oudin said. "Bethanie’s now the top-ranked American [at No. 43] and then me when they’re not here. It definitely adds some pressure, especially at tournaments in the States...The thing is Bethanie played the No. 1 in the world, I played Hantuchova who has 10 years on me and is extremely experienced. I think for everybody, it’s just like give us a little more time. Everyone is going to keep trying and do our best. It’s not like we’re all getting down on ourselves. It’s just getting through it and keep on playing."
Mattek-Sands added: "I think we have a lot of good juniors coming up. A couple of them had some good results at Indian Wells last week. It’s a constant battle just to win a few matches, so I don’t think it’s as drastic as everyone makes it seem. But, we definitely want to get some Americans up in the Top 20."—Matthew Cronin