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Caroline Wozniacki (zimbio.com)
By Giovanni Vianello
As temperatures soar in Australia, Caroline Wozniacki survived a hard fought 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, win over Olympic champion Monica Puig in the first round at the Sydney International.
In what was a roller-coaster encounter, the Danish player secured surged to a 3-0 lead with a one break advantage in the opening set. Puig had many counter-break chances, but didn’t convert any, resulting in a first set score of 6-3 in Wozniacki’s favor. Puig finally found her footing in the following set as she produced a dominating display by racing to a 4-0 lead before closing the set 6-2.
With a set-a-piece, the encounter resulted a thrilling decider between the two. Wozniacki took the early initiative by breaking for 2-0 lead and maintained that advantage for the rest of the match. Wozniacki was still pushed throughout the remainder of the match, saving two break points and recovering from a 0-30 deficit on her serve in the tenth and concluding game.
“It’s a tough match, because, you know, you kind of feel, like, oh, I’m winning pretty comfortably right now, but then she can go on a streak, starts hitting winners, has such a good serve,” Wozniacki said in her post-match press conference.
“That’s where it started going in in the second set, and then the third set I tried to stay closer to the baseline and maybe play a little deeper.
“It paid off. But, yeah, win is a win. I’ll take it.”
The match was a contrast of game plays, with Puig hitting as hard as possible and Wozniacki defending with all of her strengths in what was a mainly a baseline battle with both players rarely approaching the net.
Konta Fights on
Johanna Konta had little trouble during her 6-3, 6-4, win against against Arina Rodionova as the temperature approached 40C at the tournament. Strolling to the straight sets win, the main trouble for the British player occurred in the second set, where she had to serve twice for the match in order to defeat her opponent.
“It was very hot out there,” Konta said. “It was my first match this year in heat like that and I really felt it but I enjoy the heat. I’m not afraid of it.”
She added: “I don’t think anyone in their right mind ever wishes it to be completely boiling but if it’s hot I know that I’ll be okay, that I’ll do the right things and that I’ll handle it well.”
Roberta Vinci, the 2015 US Open runner-up, had an easy victory against the Greek Maria Sakkari by thrashing her 6-4, 6-0.
Another player who was able to score a bagel was Dominika Cibulkova, who dismissed Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-0, in just over an hour. Siegemund failed to display the form which took her to the Stuttgart final last year.
Elsewhere at the tournament, Coco Vandeweghe progressed after Elena Vesnina retired in the second set due to a lower back injury, Christina McHale recovered from a set down against Kateryna Bondarenko (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) and Ekaterina Makarova bowed out to Barbora Strycova 6-4, 7-5.
Results:
[9] R. Vinci d. [Q] M. Sakkari 6-4 6-0
[6] J. Konta d. [L] A. Rodionova 6-3 6-4
[Q] C. McHale d. [Q] K. Bondarenko 4-6 7-5 6-2
C. Vandeweghe d. [8] E. Vesnina 6-2 4-0
B. Strycova d. E. Makarova 6-4 7-5
[10] C. Wozniacki d. M. Puig 6-3 2-6 6-4
A. Pavlyuchenkova d. S. Stosur 6-3 6-1
[3] D. Cibulkova d. L. Siegemund 6-2 6-0