Wed, October 05, 2011
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns the ball during the second round match of women's singles against Jarmila Gajdosava of Australia at 2011 China Open Tennis Tournament in Beijing, China on Oct. 4, 2011. Wozniacki won 2-0(6-2, 6-3). (Xinhua/Li Wen)
BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- World number one Caroline Wozniacki and third seed Vera Zvonareva on Tuesday both sailed through to the third round at the China Open, but followed different paths.
Wozniacki needed only one hour and 20 minutes to outclass Jarmila Gajdosova from Australia 6-2, 6-3 while Zvonareva survived a worrying second set slump to beat Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
The China Open, which ran in its eighth year, was hit by seed casualty again on the fourth matchday as world number seven Samantha Stosur went down to the 27th ranked Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 after two hours' toil.
She joined two other reigning Grand Slam winners Li Na (French Open) and Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic (Wimbledon) in the stars' early exit, definitely reducing the box office of the elite tournament after the likes of world number one Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters pulled out citing injury or illness.
"I've only played two tournaments since winning the U.S. Open so it's not the end of the world. Obviously I wanted it to be a lot better than what it has been, but I guess it's one of those things," Stosur said.
With the convincing victory, Kirilenko, the 2005 China Open champion, improved her record against Stosur to 4-4.
Stosur just produced an impressive display from the baseline in the second set, but it was not enough for the Australian who dished up too many grave mistakes in the first and third sets.
"I played against her eight times in my life and now we have an even score in all matches. I know how she's playing, nothing new," Kirilenko, 24, commented on the rivalry.
Stosur shared the same sentiment with Kirilenko. "I don't think there's anything really bad with the tactics going out to play Maria. I think in the U.S. Open I won in three sets; last week I lost 6-4 in the third, so there is reall not a lot in it. It's just a matter of at those crucial times doing my game plan and really sticking to it when it really matters," she said.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns the ball during the second round match of women's singles against Jarmila Gajdosava of Australia at 2011 China Open Tennis Tournament in Beijing, China on Oct. 4, 2011. Wozniacki won 2-0(6-2, 6-3). (Xinhua/Li Wen)
Vera Zvonareva of Russia celebrates after the second round match of women's singles against Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic at 2011 China Open Tennis Tournament in Beijing, China on Oct. 4, 2011. Zvonareva won 2-1(6-3, 4-6, 6-2). (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)
The match between Zvonareva and Zakopalova was tight as the Russian broke six times while her opponent had four. The second set was especially breath-taking, featuring five breaks with Zvonareva only scoring three more points than Zakopalova.
"There was a moment where I allowed her to make those winners. I think I was playing a little bit softer, a little bit shorter, and she was stepping in and just making winners," said the 27-year-old Zvonareva.
"Overall, I think I played a pretty good match, but she's a very dangerous player. I don't think I made many mistakes. It's just she played very aggressive," she added.
Her reward will be a third round clash against former world number one Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, a player Zvonareva rates as tough.
"She always has a good level of play, so you have to play very good tennis to beat her. I will come back tomorrow and will be trying my best. We will see how it goes," said Zvonareva.
Wozniacki was barely tested by Gajdosova, who made 19 unforced errors and 8 double faults, and thus improved to a 5-0 win/loss record against the Australian. The Dane will take up Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in the third round.
"I played her (in Pan Pacific Open)last week and I lost to her in three sets. I had chances. But next match is a new match. We start from 0-0, and I'll go out there and fight what I have and hopefully it will be enough," said Wozniacki.
There were also second round victories for eighth seed Marion Bartoli of France, 13th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
In the ATP event, top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was pushed to his limits when the Frenchman dispatched Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(5), 7-5 in the first round.
"I did't move well, I did't hit the ball really good, so I'm happy I went through this time because this was a tough first round match," said Tsonga, now a world number seven player.
Elsewhere, third seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic had to dig deep to defeat Jurgen Melzer from Austria 7-5, 7-5, while Spain's fourth seed Nicolas Almagro lost to Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-2.
Vera Zvonareva of Russia returns the ball during the second round match of women's singles against Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic at 2011 China Open Tennis Tournament in Beijing, China, on Oct. 4, 2011. Zvonareva won 2-1(6-3, 4-6, 6-2). (Xinhua/Li Wen)
