Tennis

Kerber advances to 3rd round in Madrid, secures No 1 ranking

Published May. 18, 2017 9:20 p.m. ET

MADRID (AP) Top-seeded Angelique Kerber defeated Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 to advance to the third round of the Madrid Open and regain the world No. 1 ranking on Monday.

Kerber overcame seven double faults and won the final four games to defeat the 37th-ranked Siniakova in just under two hours on the center court in Madrid.

Kerber will face Maria Sharapova or Eugenie Bouchard, who played late Monday.

Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova, ranked third in the world, lost to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-3, ending her hopes of reaching No. 1 this week.

That meant Kerber was guaranteed to retake the top ranking from Serena Williams next week.

In the men's tournament, Tomas Berdych defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4, while Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 7-6 (7), 6-4.

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