Tennis News

From around the world

Ruthless Wozniacki Wins In Auckland

Ruthless Wozniacki Wins In Auckland

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Caroline Wozniacki took tournament favorite to a whole new level at the ASB Classic on Wednesday night, dropping just two games to round out the quarterfinal line-up.

Watch live action from Brisbane, Shenzhen & Auckland on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

The highest seed left after No.1 seed Venus Williams and No.2 seed Ana Ivanovic both succumbed to inspired underdogs on Tuesday, the No.3-seeded Wozniacki powered through to the quarterfinals of the International-level tournament with a ruthless 6-0, 6-2 victory against Christina McHale.

“It was a better start than yesterday,” Wozniacki said, having dug out of an early 4-0 hole in her first round match on Tuesday. “I got a little nervous in the end. It was going a little too well – I know she’s a good player, and I’ve had trouble against her in the past, and I blew a few match points at 5-0 and 5-1. But I just kept focusing on every point and I’m glad that I was able to finish it off in the end.”

And what worked so well for the two-time US Open finalist and former World No.1?

“I think I served well, returned pretty well, I think I had patience but came to the net and mixed it up well,” the Dane said. “Defense offense, offense defense – I think overall I did pretty well today.”

Two more of Wozniacki’s fellow seeds fell on Wednesday as well, with No.4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova falling to Austrian qualifier – and two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist – Tamira Paszek, 6-2, 6-3, and No.7 seed Barbora Strycova losing out to fellow former Top 20 player Julia Goerges, 6-4, 7-6(7).

Sloane Stephens, the No.5 seed, managed to avoid the upset bug, though she did have a fight on her hands, rallying from a set down to outlast German up-and-comer Carina Witthoeft, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Other winners were Alexandra Dulgheru, Nao Hibino, Belgian qualifier Kirsten Flipkens and British qualifier Naomi Broady, who had the most dramatic victory of the day, rallying from 5-2 down in the second set and 5-1 down in the third set to edge Latvian wildcard Jelena Ostapenko, 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Broady also saved two match points – one serving 2-5 second set, one serving 3-5 third set.

The big-serving Brit, who had taken out Ivanovic a day before, rifled 21 aces against Ostapenko.

Source link

Shenzhen Player Party Highlights

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

How did Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard feel about glamming up for the Shenzhen Open player party? See highlights from the big night here.

Source link