Woznicaki scrapes past Hradecka in China Open
October 3rd, 2011 - 10:21 pm ICT by IANS
Beijing, Oct 3 (IANS) Defending champion and World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki met hard resistance from her opponent Lucie Hradecka before claiming a 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 opening-round victory at the China Open tennis here Monday.
The Dane, who was seeking to secure her top place in the year-end rankings, didn’t find the rhythm at the beginning as her 49th-ranked opponent from the Czech Republic broke three times to take the first set.
“Hradecka is a player that doesn’t give you any rhythm and serves 200 kilometre per hour, so it is difficult,” explained Wozniacki after the duel which lasted one hour and 52 minutes.
Wozniacki fought back in the second set by breaking three times to take the set at love, and withstood the pressure while levelling at 5-all in the decider, winning the next games in a row to secure the victory, Xinhua reported.
She will meet Australian Jarmila Gajdosova in the second round.
Wozniacki made all of her four double-faults in the first set. “It was tough to really get into the game, but the second set her first serve percentage dropped, and made it easier for me to start the rallies,” added the 21-year-old.
Eighth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov was the lone upset of the day in the simultaneously held men’s tournament. Italy’s Flavio Cipolla beat the Ukrainian 6-1, 0-6, 6-0 in the first round.
Results (prefix denotes seeding):
Women:
First round: Flavia Pennetta, Italy, bt 12-Peng Shuai, China, 7-6(6), 7-5; 1-Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, bt Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-0, 7-5; Zheng Jie, China, bt Alberta Brianti, Italy, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5; Maria Kirilenko, Russia, bt Julia Goerges, Germany, 7-6(9), 6-3; Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic, bt Nadia Petrova, Russia, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1; Virginie Razzano, France, bt Gisela Dulko, Argentina, 6-2, 6-3.
Second round: Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia, bt 7-Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 6-2, 6-2; Tamira Paszek, Austria, bt Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Men:
First round: Flavio Cipolla, Italy, bt 8-Alexandr Dolgopolov, Ukraine, 6-1, 1-6, 6-0; Fernando Verdasco, Spain, bt Michael Llodra, France, 6-2, 6-4; Florian Mayer, Germany, bt Albert Ramos, Spain, 6-2, 6-4; Marin Cilic, Croatia, bt Wu Di, China, 6-2, 6-0; Feliciano Lopez, Spain, bt Marsel Ilhan, Turkey, 6-2, 7-6(6).
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