WTA Charleston: Wozniacki, Ostapenko, Bencic and Sabalenka reach R3
The 5th seed and 2011 Charleston champion Caroline Wozniacki is through to the third round following a rock-solid 6-2, 6-2 victory over Laura Siegemund in an hour and 28 minutes. Serving at 75%, Caroline kept everything under control, saving two out of three break points and delivering impressive numbers on the return as well, stealing almost 60% of the points behind Siegemund's initial shot and scoring five breaks from eight chances to march into the third round. Interestingly, Laura managed to reach deuce in every return game in the opening set but not to draw more from that, wasting the only break point in game seven and suffering two straight breaks to drop the opener 6-2.
The second set kicked off with back-to-back breaks and it was Caroline who had the upper hand in the rest of it, rattling off six of the last seven games to race over the finish line and enter the last 16, desperately needing a good result after a mediocre start of the year. The 3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka stayed on the court for two hours in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over a qualifier Kateryna Kozlova, hitting no less than 11 double faults but finding the way to bring the encounter home and reach round three. Kozlova earned six breaks from nine opportunities and she ruined that with a poor performance in her games, playing against 15 break chances and suffering seven breaks to push Aryna over the finish line.
The Ukrainian grabbed three breaks in the opener and had an early break in set number two before Sabalenka shifted into a higher gear, taking six of the remaining seven games and stealing rival's serve three times for a 6-3 and a decider where she was the favorite now. Charging in the return games, Aryna forged a 5-1 lead in the third set and wrapped up the victory with a hold in game nine to take her rival down and avoid spending more time on the court. The 8th seed Madison Keys struggled but beat Tatjana Maria 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes, winning just one point more than the German and saving a set point in the 12th game of the opening set.
Leading 4-3 in the decider with a break, Mari lost the following three games, handing her service game twice to propel Keys over the finish line and miss a chance for a better result. The 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko also had to work hard to prevail on Wednesday, beating Shelby Rogers 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in two and a half hours. Playing for the first time in more than a year, Rogers gave her best to emerge as the winner and fought bravely, securing seven breaks of serve just as Jelena and wasting a 5-1 advantage in the final set!
Ostapenko saved a match point on serve at 2-5 and broke back at love in the following game to erase the deficit, with rivals trading breaks in games 11 and 12 to set up a tie break that the Latvian took 7-4 to cross the finish line first. Danielle Collins advanced after a 6-3, 7-6 win over the Spaniard Aliona Bolsova in an hour and 42 minutes, opening a 6-3, 5-3 lead before Bolsova bounced back, leveling the score at 5-5 and saving two match points in the 12th game to reach the tie break that Danielle won 7-2 and move on in straight sets.
An in-form Swiss Belinda Bencic scored another dominant 6-0, 6-3 win over Allie Kiick in 54 minutes, losing only 12 points on serve and taming the rival's initial shot completely to claim four breaks from five opportunities and celebrate the 19th win of the season.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2TQgjiQ
No comments