BITS AND PIECES

BITS AND PIECES

Mickelson, Johnson reach last-16 at WGC Match Play

LOS ANGELES, California: World number one Dustin Johnson and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson advanced to the knockout rounds of the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship with impressive triumphs on Friday.

Johnson, the reigning US Open champion, won six of the first seven holes and completed an unbeaten run through the group stage by downing fellow American Jimmy Walker 5 and 3 at Austin Country Club.

Johnson had two birdies and an eagle on his way to leading 6-up after seven holes and even a birdie-eagle run by Walker to win 11 and 12 only delayed the end, which came when Johnson parred 15 to close out the triumph.

In round of 16, Johnson faces compatriot Zach Johnson, who edged American Brendan Steele 1 up in the day’s final match to advance.

Steele, who only needed to halve to go through, birdied the par-5 16th and par-3 17th to square his match but Johnson pitched his third shot three feet from the cup and parred at 18 while Steele missed a 12-footer for par to fall.

Mickelson finished group play unbeaten after a 6-and-5 rout of fellow American JB Holmes. It’s the first time since 2004 that the 46-year-old US left-hander Mickelson advanced past the third round of the event.

Mickelson dominated from the outset, opening with back-to-back birdies before going 3-up after three holes. He won the eighth with a birdie before taking the 10th and 11th and then closing out the win with a halve at 13.

England’s Paul Casey downed South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel 4 and 3 in the only matchup of 2-0 players while Jon Rahm downed fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia 6 and 4.

Indian Wells champ Vesnina ousted in Miami

MIAMI, Florida: Russia’s Elena Vesnina, last week’s winner at Indian Wells, crashed out of the WTA Miami Open in the second round on Friday at the hands of Croatian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic.

But top seed Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 win over China’s Duan Ying-Ying despite having to wait over six hours to play due to a schedule back-up caused by rain delays.

Vesnina, seeded 13th, faced rain delays and wind during her closely-fought contest but ended up losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to 594th-ranked Tomljanovic, who will face Lucie Safarova in the third round.

While Kerber was bumped off the main stadium, a men’s contest between Grigor Dimitrov and Guido Pella took place on the prime court before local favourite Venus Williams followed.

Williams had little trouble defeating Brazilian wildcard Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 6-3.