Glatch books meeting with tennis No 1 Serena

American Alexa Glatch made the most of her wild card invitation to book a second-round clash with world number one Serena Williams at the Miami ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament on Thursday.

Glatch, ranked 124th in the world, defeated Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky 6-4, 6-1 to advance to a meeting with Williams, a five-time Miami champion who claimed her 10th career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.

Men's world number one Rafael Nadal also learned who he'll open his campaign against on Saturday, as Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to book a meeting with the Spaniard.

Nadal arrived in Florida seeking his second elite Masters title in as many starts after his triumph in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.

He, too, opened his 2009 season with a Grand Slam victory in Australia, and also reached a final in Rotterdam last month.

But as seeds swing into action on Friday, it will be two players seeking to kickstart their 2009 campaigns that take center stage - Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Federer, the world number two who took six weeks off to nurse his ailing back after falling to Nadal in the Australian Open final, lost in the semi-finals at Indian Wells and remains in search of his first title of the season.

On Friday the Swiss second seed will face American qualifier Kevin Kim.

Serbia's Djokovic, seeded third, will play Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic.

Djokovic is trying to bounce back from a disappointing quarter-final exit at Indian Wells, where he was the defending champion, at the hands of Andy Roddick.

Djokovic, who has world number four Andy Murray snapping at his heels in the world rankings, called his sluggish performance in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to the American one of his worst performances.

"I feel good, even though the last match I played in Indian Wells was quite disappointing," he said. "It was really one of the worst matches I've played in my career on this surface, so I was not happy with the way I performed.

"But, you know, life goes on. Hopefully now I can get far."

In other matches on Thursday, Sam Querrey led a quartet of Americans into the second round. Querrey beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-3.

US qualifier John Isner beat Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4, and American qualifier Amer Delic fired 17 aces in a 6-4, 7-6 7/2 victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.

American Bobby Reynolds failed to get a game in the opening set but rallied for an 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Juan Ignacio Chela.

In other women's first-round matches, Argentina?s Gisela Dulko booked a meeting with last year's runner-up Jelena Jankovic with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain?s Lourdes Dominguez Lino, and Israel's Shahar Peer advanced to a meeting with Venus Williams with a 6-1, 7-6 7/5 victory over Belgian wild card Tamaryn Hendler.







Egghead : A man poses with the alleged largest egg in the world during a photocall in central London. The egg was laid in the early 17th century, by the now extinct Great Elephant Bird of Madagascarto. AFP/Shaun Curry