Easy start for Wozniacki as Kiwi makes doubles semi
Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the second round of the ASB Classic with a rudimentary 6-3 6-2 win over Laura Siegemund yesterday.
With Venus Williams watching on from the players’ balcony, the world No 3 and tournament’s top seed put in a business like performance.
Siegemund made it into the main draw as a lucky loser. She lost in the final round of qualifying to Bianca Andreescu, but was given a second life when Margarita Gasparyan pulled out with a leg injury after the draw had been made.
So while Siegemund was match hardened, she wasn’t necessarily in great form.
Wozniacki got a break in the fourth game of the opening set and from there it was a comfortable path for her to take to bag the set.
Siegemund never seemed to have the belief that she could beat the current Australian Open champion and it was only a matter of time before she was broken again in the second set.
Wozniacki will play Canadian qualifier Bianca Andreescu in the second round today.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Paige Hourigan and Taylor Townsend, from the United States, are into the semifinals of the doubles.
They beat the Australian duo of Monique Adamczak and Jessica Moore 3-6 6-1 10-8 to advance to the final four.
Hourigan has been at Georgia Tech in the States the past four years and Townsend uses the college as a training base.
It’s been an impressive journey for Hourigan and Townsend, who needed a wildcard to play in the tournament.
They knocked out the all New Zealand duo of Valentina Ivanov and Elys Ventura in the opening round and then beat the Australian doubles specialists in the quarterfinals.
Hourigan is the New Zealand No 1 and will be going out on the tour for the first time this year, so the prize money and doubles ranking points will come in handy for her over 2019.
Adamczak and Moore played well in the first set, but Hourigan and Townsend up their game in the second, with the latter hitting some superb winners.
The Australians were up a mini break in the super tiebreak, but they soon lost this.
Hourigan and Townsend went up 9-6 later in it for three match points and although they made unforced errors in the next two points, they eventually got the crucial point they needed for the victory.
Earlier Belgian Kirsten Flipkens went down 6-4 1-6 6-1 to Sara Sorribes-Tormo, of Spain.
The seventh seed only really looked good in the second set and for the world No 47, it was a disappointing loss against the 22-year-old, who is ranked 86 in the world.