MIAMI, FL, USA – Alizé Cornet is back to her winning ways with a confident start to her Miami Open campaign. With her 6-4, 7-5 victory against Galina Voskoboeva, the Frenchwoman sets up a second round clash against World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska.

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Cornet, who was facing up to six months out of action due to a back injury she sustained early in the season, was in full flight against the recovering Kazakh, who overcame 22 months of injury rehab to make her WTA comeback in Acapulco.

 “I really missed playing tennis this past six or seven weeks,” Cornet said after the match. “It was actually pretty unexpected that I would come here and win my first match.” 

The Frenchwoman was off to a dominating start against Voskoboeva despite the tough conditions in Miami. The wind and humidity made it tough for both players to hold serve – by the end there were 10 breaks of serve in the match.

The pair traded breaks early on, but it was Cornet that got her nose ahead in the opening set with a 4-2 lead. Though the Kazakh was able to narrow the gap, Cornet stayed steady and took the first set 6-4.

Although she offered up a stiffer resistance in the second set, Voskoboeva’s errors – especially from the forehand side – began to creep higher and higher. Cornet took advantage and turned up the pressure, rushing to the net to end points early. Despite flubbing a match point at 5-4, Cornet sealed the match at her second opportunity, notching her first win since the Australian Open.

“I’m just happy to be healthy and to move again and just to enjoy playing tennis,” Cornet said. “I think this injury gave me a good lesson and I really appreciate even more my time on court now.”

Earlier in the day, Britain’s Heather Watson had a smoother road to the second round. Petra Cetkovska was also making her way back to the tour after being plagued by injury woes for the past two years. She was no match for the inform Brit, though, who dropped just one game in her 6-1, 6-0, 47-minute win.

A pair of Americans made their way to the second round as well after recording straight set wins over qualifiers – Irina Falconi defeated WTA veteran Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1 while Vania King took out Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6-4, 6-4.

Caroline Garcia withstood a stern test from Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, needing to come back from a set down before advancing 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Julia Goerges and Yanina Wickmayer are also through.

It was a crazy bet to play in this @MiamiOpen, and this win is pretty unexpected ! Feels good to be back ? #missedit pic.twitter.com/EyJICTFdjI

— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) March 23, 2016