Caroline Wozniacki beats Alize Cornet in the opening round – Collector Swedish Open 2011
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark continues her domination as she defeated world number 69, Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-4 in their first round match at the Collector Swedish Open 2011 on Tuesday, extending her year-to-date win/loss mark to
49/9 matches.
The Dane, who defeated Cornet for the first time on clay in Latina four years ago, won her third match against the Frenchwoman by flattening the 2008 Budapest champion on the bigger points in another remorseless duel.
Cornet, who had beaten the Dane once before in the second round of the 2007 US Open, was huffing and puffing, trying to find her rhythm but still managed to give her angelic opponent a good run for her money as she lost the match
with only four games.
Wozniacki, who was coming into the tournament with a fourth round loss at the Wimbledon Championships, looked to have totally recovered at the beginning of the match, but there were still some dreary signs in the third game that
the world number one might still be weary as she hit a drop shot that hardly touched the net.
The Dane recovered, however, smashing a forehand down the line to clinch the game. Cornet, on the other side remained cool-headed and composed around the court to bring an excited Bastad crowd to their feet with a whipped forehand
to even the score at 3-3.
After Cornet produced another superb running forehand, Wozniacki craved another incredible angle with a whipped forehand to hold serve.
In the next game, Wozniacki won a marathon point at 4-all and with the stiffness palpable, the Frenchwoman went wrong more often, floating a forehand long to hand the Dane the first break at 5-3.
Serving out the set at 5-3, the Dane sent a winner down the line at 40-15 to clinch the first set 6-4.
An anxious Cornet, looking for her second victory against the Dane, fought back from 2-0 down in an oscillating second set before Wozniacki highlighted her mental firmness, forcing the Frenchwoman into errors to break in the ninth
game.
Wozniacki saw her match point wasted, thanks to some forehand errors and an un-returnable Cornet serve, but she made no mistake last time around.
After a furious exchange which featured some exciting shot-making, Cornet sailed a forehand long to hand the world number one another significant victory.
Emerging victorious, the Dane number one now advances into the second round of the tournament where she will meet Sofia Arvidsson for the sixth time in her career, and the Dane leads their head-to-head series to 4-1.
Tags: