American Christina McHale beat Japan's Misaki Doi 6-2 4-6 7-5 at the Miami Open on Wednesday to set up a second-round showdown with defending champion and world number one Serena Williams.

The victory, which took a little over two hours, improved McHale to 5-0 all-time versus Doi and gives the world number 56 a chance to register what would be the biggest win of her career in terms of the ranking and stature of her opponent.

McHale, who has beaten a handful of top players and grand slam winners in her career, will be an overwhelming underdog against Williams, who has a record eight Miami titles, including the last three.

The two were supposed to meet last year in Rome but Williams withdrew ahead of their match and gave McHale a walkover into the quarter-finals.

In other first-round action, Frenchwoman Alize Cornet beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan to set up a match with third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, while Germany's Julia Goerges beat Japan's Nao Hibino and will next play Australian Samantha Stosur.