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.

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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.

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