Wozniacki’s side of the draw now wide open

– Caroline Wozniacki (right) said she was “happy to be through” as she kept her quest for a first Grand Slam title on course at the Australian Open yesterday.

On a day when a host of big names went tumbling, the second seed cruised past “tricky” Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena in an hour and 11 minutes.

It had looked plain sailing for the Dane who won the prestigious season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Singapore when she

Melbourne

raced through the first set in just 29 minutes and then took a 2-0 lead in the second.

But 44th-ranked left-hander Buzarnescu, sporting a heavily taped shoulder, would not lie down in the first-round encounter and broke Wozniacki twice to lead briefly at 3-2.

Undaunted, the experienced Wozniacki, who first rose to world No 1 in 2010, reasserted her dominance, taking four games in a row to snuff out Buzarnescu’s resistance with a cry of “come on”.

“I knew it was going to be tough and I had to try to fight for every point,” said Wozniacki, who played an impressive, almost flawless match.

She can reclaim the top ranking with a deep run at the season’s first Grand Slam.

Earlier in the day fifth seed Venus Williams, 10th seed CoCo Vandeweghe and 13th seed and reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens all made early exits, throwing Wozniacki’s side of the draw wide open.

“I never look at the draw, to be honest,” Wozniacki said. “I saw a couple of results. But, yeah, I don’t really follow it too much.”

Wozniacki was informed by reporters she will next play Croatia’s Jana Fett, the world 119 who enjoyed a run to the semifinals at Hobart last week and beat Japan’s Misa Eguchi 6-3, 6-2.

Wozniacki admitted she knew little about her.

“I’ve never played her before. I guess I’ll have to do some scouting,” she said. –