Caroline Wozniacki blazes into the quarterfinal at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Top seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki eased past lucky loser, Slovak Zuzana Kucova on Wednesday. She registered a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Slovakian qualifier to advance into the quarter-finals of the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
World number one Dane is in top form this season as she displayed flawless performance at Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston to win the titles there. She also made either a semi-final or final berth at other tournaments she entered before reaching Stuttgart.
The seed carried her winning ways in the Porsche Arena and lost just three games to win against the 28-year-old Slovak in just 64 minutes. This was their first meeting and the Dane now leads the head-to-head series by 1-0.
In the opening set, Wozniacki just lost her serve once but she bounced back to win six games. She had a much better first serve share of 71 percent as compared to Slovak’s 59 percent and registered an impressive 60 percent win on it. The Dane also converted three out of four breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch with a breadstick.
She kept her momentum rolling into the second set where she kept her entire serves spectacularly. Wozniacki conceded zero breakpoints and produced an acceptable first serve share of 71 percent as compared to slightly higher Kucova’s 74 percent. She also earned an assuring 73 percent win on it and converted two out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the set with a 6-2 win.
Talking about her match, Wozniacki said, "It's always good to get the first match out of the way. I am definitely looking to win, but it won't be easy, there are a lot of good girls here. I am comfortable on the surface, having won at Charleston, so I am feeling good."
Kucova, ranked 132 places below her, hasn’t had much progress this season but she re-formed herself in this tournament. The Slovak lost to third seed Austrian Tamira Paszek in the final qualifying round but she advanced into the main draw since another qualifier was forced to withdraw from this event due to an injury. She then earned a victory over Russian Anna Chakvetadze who was forced to retire. However, lady luck departed from her against Wozniacki and she eventually exited from Stuttgart.
Wozniacki will next face German Andrea Petkovic who upset 7th seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic in a three set thriller to reach this spot. The Dane can cruise far in the tournament if she plays with the same attitude and overwhelm the German threat.
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