Wozniacki, Goerges set up Auckland showdown

wellington — Top seed Caroline Wozniacki battled through two matches within the space of just over four hours to set up a final against second seed Julia Goerges at the Auckland Classic on Saturday.

Heavy rain throughout the week in New Zealand’s largest city had caused havoc with the schedule, forcing organisers to play the quarter-finals and both semi-finals on Saturday and move the final to Sunday.

The Dane struggled in her earlier quarterfinal against the 19-year-old American wildcard Sofia Kenin before winning the rain-affected match 4-6 6-2 6-4.

She returned to centre court at the Auckland Tennis Centre a hour-and-half later and then comfortably accounted for American qualifier Sachia Vickery, who had earlier upset third seed Agnieskza Radwanksa, in the 6-4 6-4 win. “I’m exhausted, if I’m being honest,” Wozniacki told the WTA website after her semifinal. “It’s a tough start to the season - you kind of feel it after the first match... in the back, and the legs, and then we didn’t play for a couple of days, and I said, ‘Oh, it’s nice.’

“Then coming out here and playing three sets this morning, and then two sets when we ran a lot — I’m not 17 anymore, I can feel it for sure!”

Goerges, who lost to American Sloane Stephens in the 2016 Auckland final, was far more comfortable in both of her matches. She beat Polona Hercog 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals before moving into the final with a 6-1 6-4 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.

Wozniacki, who lost the Auckland final to Venus Williams in 2015 and has been a tournament regular in recent years, can move up to number two in the world rankings if she wins the title on Sunday. —