Danish young gun Caroline Wozniacki has breezed through to the second round of Australian Open 2010, upending Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in straight sets at Hisense Arena.
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The world No. 4, looking resplendent in a form-fitting grey patterned dress designed by fashion icon Stella McCartney, was far steadier from the back of the court throughout the 6-4 6-2 win.
Wozniacki was understandably happy to win through against an opponent that in June 2009 was ranked as high as No. 21.
“I had a tough opponent today, so I was really happy to get through. And, yeah, I felt like I was feeling confident on the court and comfortable,” she said.
A US Open finalist last year, Wozniacki said she was trying not to pay attention to the extra attention and expectation that inevitably comes with a high ranking and good performances at the majors.
“I always just look one match at a time and I want to win and that's my goal … I try not to put more pressure on myself than I already do,” she said.
“I didn't expect to do that well this early (in my career). But, I mean, I'm really happy about the way things are going. And I've been practicing hard, so I'm really, really pleased about, yeah, the way I'm playing. Hopefully I can just keep playing better and better.”
Although the two women share surnames that resemble one another, that was where the similarities ended on Wednesday. Wozniacki demonstrated far more consistency and covered the court exceptionally well to frustrate her 34th-ranked opponent.
Games went on serve early in this first-round encounter, played on Day 3 after rainy weather wreaked havoc on the opening day’s schedule.
The Dane looked poised to score the first break in the sixth game by going up 0-40. Instead, she fluffed three routine backhands to allow Wozniak back to deuce, but shrugged off that disappointment to convert on her fourth break point.
Wozniak showed some fight late in the set, staving off a set point when serving at 2-5 and managing to score the break back to get scores to 4-5. But Wozniacki showed her class and immediately responded with her second break of the match, claiming a one-set lead when the Canadian dumped a routine smash into the net.
This appeared to significantly deflate Wozniak – her game became plagued with errors while Wozniacki dominated on return, bringing up her 12th break point for the match in the second game, which she converted to lead 2-0.
The No. 4 seed streaked to a 4-0 lead before Wozniak restored some credibility to the scoreboard with a service break in the fifth game, flashing a wry smile to her coaches’ box in response.
It proved simply a minor setback for Wozniacki. After Wozniak held serve in the sixth game, the Dane held her own to lead 5-2 and celebrated with a clenched fist. She wrapped up proceedings shortly thereafter.
In the second round, Wozniacki will face German Julia Goerges, a 6-0 3-6 6-3 winner over Austrian Tamira Paszek.
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