Caroline Wozniacki avoided the adverse weather conditions to strolled into the second round of the Auckland Open after crushing America’s Nicola Gibbs 6-0, 6-1.
The third seed encountered little difficulty throughout the match, dropping just seven points on her serve. Ending last year on a seven-match winning streak before being struck down by illness at the Luxembourg Open, the Dane was able to return to her winning ways with her straightforward 51-minute triumph.
“It’s not easy with the wind and I had to adapt to that, but I think I did really well, just staying aggressive and close to the baseline,” Wozniacki said.
“It’s always hard to start off and get on a roll straight away, but I’ve been training really hard and I’m glad it’s already showing.”
.@CaroWozniacki records 10th career @ASB_Classic win!
Cruises past Gibbs 6-1, 6-0! pic.twitter.com/YrjkLHHtyO
— WTA (@WTA) 3 January 2017
This year sees Wozniacki once again chasing after that elusive grand slam title. Twice a finalist at the US Open, the 26-year-old hopes that she can bring her late resurgence from the end of last year (when she won two WTA titles) into the new season.
“That gave me confidence going into the off-season and made it much more fun to practice,” she said.
Joining the former world No.1 in the last 16 will be Japanese rising star Naomi Osaka. The 19-year-old fired six aces and won 82% of her first service points to see off Germany’s Annika Beck 6-2, 6-4. Osaka now faces a potential showdown with Venus Williams, whose evening match has been suspended due to the troublesome weather.
Seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko dropped just three games in her 6-1, 6-2, dismissal of home favourite Marina Erakovic. The New Zealand player was hindered by some problematic serving where she won less than half of her service points and fired four double faults.
Awaiting Ostapenko in the second round will be tour veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon championships when the Latvian was year two-years-old. The Croat booked the showdown after a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, win over German qualifier Mona Barthel.
Finally, Kiki Bertens became the first seed to exit the tournament. The Dutch fifth seed was edged out 7-6(3), 6-4, in just under two hours by Lauren Davis.
