Caroline Wozniacki, semifinalist at the US Open and winner in Tokyo last month, cruised through Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 15 minutes to advance to the third round at the Beijing Premier Mandatory Tournament.
The first three games went on serve in the first three games before the Danish player converted her first break point chance to take a 3-1 lead. Vinci broke straight back in the next game after two double faults from Wozniacki. The Dane broke immediately in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 lead before serving out for the first set for 6-3 on her third set point after a tight ninth game at deuce after Vinci saved the first two opportunities.
Wozniacki went up a set and a break in the first game of the second set. Vinci rallied from 0-40 in the fifth game but dropped her serve to love two games later. Wozniaki served out for the match to 15 in the eighth game.
Wozniacki has extended her win-loss record over Vinci to 4-2.
Last week’s Wuhan champion Petra Kvitova took little more than one hour to beat China’s World Number 143 Wang Yafan 6-4 6-1.
Wang, who came through the qualifying round, got the first break in the fifth game to edge 3-2 ahead when Kvitova hit a backhand into the net. Kvitova broke straight back to love.
The twice Wimbledon champion earned two break points at 15-40 in the eighth game but Wang saved them. The Czech star converted her fifth break point chance to take a 5-3 lead but Wang broke back to 30 for 4-5 as Kvitova made two double faults and two unforced errors. The tennis player from Bilovec sealed the first set 6-4 with another break to love.
Kvitova got a double break in the second and sixth games to cruise through to winning the second set 6-1.
“I was pretty tired. I had two days off, which I think helped me. It was a good win today.We’ ll see how everything is going on in the next days. I still do have motivation. I think it was a good week. I think that gave me more motivation and confidence, which I needed before. I am not really struggling with motivation here”, said Kvitova.
The Czech player set up a third-round match against Garbine Muguruza. The Spanish player of Venezuelan origin beat Kvitova in an epic round robin match at the WTA Finals in Singapore, but the Czech player took a re-match by winning their last head-to-head match in Stuttgart in three sets last April.
Alizé Cornet edged past Wuhan finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 5-7 6-2. The French player took the first set 6-2 with a double break. Cibulkova drew level by winning the second set which featured nine breaks in 12 service games. Cornet broke twice to seal the third set 6-2.
Simona Halep beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-2 6-2. The Romanian player started the match with an early break in the first game but Wickmayer broke straight back. Halep never looked back and got two more breaks in the third and seventh games to seal the first set 6-2. The former Roland Garros finalist went up a set and a break at the start of the second game. Halep got the double break in the fifth game to race out to a 4-1 lead and served out for the match to love with an ace in the eighth game. After today’s match Wickmayer still has a slight 3-2 lead in her head-to-head matches against the Romanian player, although the Belgian player achieved her three wins more than three years ago.
