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Larsson recently convincingly defeated Stephens

The Swede managed to continue good games and surprise Safarova in the second round. Now she's up against Stephens, an American who she convincingly beat in Acapulco

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Miami's second round this season was full of surprises, and one of those was Johanna Larsson. She played against Lucia Safarova and managed to win in two sets. The key moment was the tiebreak of the first set since after the lost tiebreak the Czech's game level drastically fell and she dropped the second set without a bullet fired. Larsson was unusually good on the serve and had the advantage in longer exchanges from the base line. On the other hand, Safarova was too uncertain on her second serve, and six double errors didn't help either. Although she came to Miami in good shape, she didn't have solutions to Larsson's excellent moves and consistency.

On the other hand, Stephens prepared a surprise in the second round. It's known that Solane prefers "bigger" tournaments, so Keys' win in such conditions may not be such a surprise. Although she scored 54% of the first serve, this time she was patient in exchanges and made use of her top spin. In longer exchanges she forced deeper and stronger balls and kept Keys behind the baseline without too much risk. Madison didn't manage to impose her aggressive game in exchanges under windy conditions, and she convincingly lost, despite the serve advantage she had.

Stephens simply found the right strategy. With strong hits she kept her at the baseline, and Keys didn't manage to find a solution for them. In situations when she'd go after winners she made too many errors, and she can't play differently. She didn't have a plan B and she paid for it. Stephens was good who played a quite more passive tennis, but a more calmer one too. She wasn't frustrated, she was consistent and stayed focused until the end. After the match she said with a smile:

- It was tough. I knew that the whole match will be a true fight. I think I played well and that I was ready the entire match. I'm happy and pleased with my game.

Yes, Stephens really has reasons to be pleased since she didn't play with such consistency in a while. She was patient and waited for winners on every ball. Although Larsson beat her recently in Acapulco, this match should be approached cautiously. Stephens is now playing a lot better than in Acapulco, and it's known that she plays better tennis on bigger tournaments. On the other hand, Larsson is really good in exchanges so it's hard to give advantage to any of them.