Second seed Justine Henin survived a shaky start to defeat American Vania King 6-4 6-1 on Friday and reach the Sony Ericsson Open third round.
MIAMI: Second seed Justine Henin survived a shaky start to defeat American Vania King 6-4 6-1 on Friday and reach the Sony Ericsson Open third round.
Men's eighth seed James Blake went out in the second round after firing an ace to save a match point, then having treatment for a wrist injury in his struggle with Frenchman Florent Serra.
After returning to action, the American produced another ace to hold in the penultimate game before world number 64 Serra served out for an upset, 7-6 2-6 6-3 victory.
"I didn't play very well, it was another bad day," Blake told reporters.
"I'll try and put it behind me. I had a slow start and made a couple of bad tie-break points. I'm a little disappointed in the ways I played."
Blake beat Serra just days ago at the Pacific Life Open but has not gone past the third round of an event for nearly two months.
Women's number seven seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat China's Peng Shuai 6-2 6-4 while 10th seed Dinara Safina crushed American Laura Granville 6-1 6-1 and China's number 15 seed Li Na beat Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-2 6-0.
Henin, who captured titles in Dubai and Doha last month, acknowledged a lack of match fitness against world number 78 King.
"I wasn't at my best, far from that," Henin told reporters.
"They were tough conditions, pretty windy and hot and I needed a little bit of time to get used to the conditions. The second set was much better but I need to improve. I need some matches."
In six previous appearances here, Henin's best performances came when she reached the quarter-finals in 2003 and 2005. In the men's event, Spain's 13th seed David Ferrer beat Argentine Juan Monaco 6-2 6-2 in the second round.
A back injury forced Lleyton Hewitt to withdraw shortly before his scheduled match with Dutchman Raemon Sluiter.
The Australian former world number one hurt his back during his second-round defeat by Serb Janko Tipsarevic at the Pacific Life Open less than a fortnight ago.
"I'm disappointed but my back has not come up as well as I would have liked from last week, which is frustrating for me," he told reporters.
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