Aleksandra Wozniak defeats Monica Niculescu to reach the third round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
One of the many upsets of being witnessed on Friday evening in Miami, Florida, included the 65th ranked Aleksandra Wozniak taking down the world number 28, Monica Niculescu, in the second round clash of the Sony Ericsson
Open. The enthralling three-setter was wrapped up by the unseeded Canadian, with the final scores of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in her favour.
The 28th seeded Romanian hung in the contest for two hours and 46 minutes before losing the decisive set to end her voyage in Miami. She took off the matchup in grand fashion, cruising through the games to pocket the
first set. Niculescu lost her winning traits in the following sets and her game went through a terrible slump to let the Canadian wildcard entrant capitalise. Wozniak cashed in most of her opportunities in the match and kept winning crucial points en route
to victory in style.
It is the second time that Niculescu has suffered a defeat at the hands of Wozniak, the first one being in the opening round of the 2009 Roland Garros French Open. The booming Canadian won her opening round match of the Sony Ericsson
Open in the similar fashion, dropping the opener early but managing to reel off the next two sets to conclude victory. She outplayed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in the first round of the tournament.
"When you play someone who slices and hits two handed from both sides, it's tough," Wozniak commented after registering her 17th victory of the running season. "It was a tough match. We had a lot of long rallies and
it was really hot out there, but I pulled it together and got the win."
Wozniak delivered 72 per cent of her serve right and secured 54 out of 83 first serve points en route to victory. She converted five out of 14 break opportunities, while Niculescu closely followed with four out of 15 conversions
to finish on the losing side in the end. Wozniak will face the former world number one, Venus Williams in the third round draw of the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday. Venus stunned the third seed, Petra Kvitova, in the second round battle to mark her emphatic
comeback to the tennis courts after her illness.
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