Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns the ball to Julia Goerges of Germany during their first round match of the APIA Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney, yesterday.
SYDNEY: Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki opened her season with a win over German Julia Goerges in the first round of the Sydney International yesterday.
Danish sixth seed Wozniacki, who became engaged to golf star Rory McIlroy on New Year’s Eve, lost the first set to Goerges but rallied to come through 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The 23-year-old, who withdrew from a WTA event in Brisbane last weekend due to a shoulder injury, was making her sixth straight appearance at the Sydney tournament as she prepares for the Australian Open.
But fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic’s preparations for Melbourne hit a hurdle yesetrday when she was beaten by world number 23 Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Jankovic, who is ranked eighth in the world, was 3-1 down in the second set and was never back in the game as Makarova held her nerve to serve out for the match, winning with an ace.
“I tried to be aggressive and not let her attack, because she’s really good playing down the line from the backhand,” Makarova said.
“So I tried to let her move her to the backhand, not to stand and hit it. I was moving quite good (too)... today was a good match.”
Earlier, former Grand Slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone ended their competitive Australian Open preparations early with first round losses.
Double Grand Slam winner Kuznetsova, who had a good second half of 2013 to enter the Sydney tournament inside the top 20 after battling back from knee injuries in 2012, was surprisingly beaten 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 by American lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko.
Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, was bundled out by Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-4.
The 33-year-old Italian was also knocked out of the first round of the Brisbane tournament last week by Jankovic.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur failed to allay fears she could be heading for another early exit at her home Grand Slam with a scrappy performance in Hobart while a trio of big names tumbled out.
Stosur appeared on course become the third Grand Slam winner to lose yesterday when she struggled in Sydney before the top seed overcame two lengthy rain delays, chilly conditions and stubborn American Madison Brengle.
The 23-year-old Brengle won the first set in a tiebreak before Stosur managed to run away with the second and then claimed the third set tiebreak on her fifth match point to clinch the 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-6 (7-5) victory.
United States qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-3 while Czech Lucie Safarova bundled out Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-4.
Agencies
