Caroline Wozniacki crushes Monica Niculescu in the third round – Australian Open 2012
World number one, Caroline Wozniacki, displayed top notch performance to slay the 31st seed, Monica Niculescu, in straight sets at the Australian Open 2012 on Friday. She penned down a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the Romanian to secure a fourth round spot at this first Grand Slam event of the season held in Melbourne, Australia.
Top seeded Dane silenced critics and stayed on course to bid her maiden Grand Slam title after destroying the Romanian, ranked 32nd in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Rankings, in 76 minutes at the Melbourne Park. This was their third outing and Wozniacki proved her class again by extending her lead in the head-to-head series by 3-0 against Niculescu.
The 21-year-old assertively entered the Hisense Arena and drew the first blood in the second game to go 2-0 up. Regardless of losing her edge in the following game, Wozniacki took lead again with another break of serve in the fourth game. She then maintained consistency in her game and kept remaining serves without facing any obstruction. The Dane ultimately clinched the opener with a 6-2 score line after cashing in her third break opportunity in the last game.
The Monaco resident kept momentum running into the last set and eventually went 5-1 up with two breaks of serve. Regardless of losing her serve in the seventh game, she broke the Romanian’s serve again in the last game and sealed the set by winning six games to two. Wozniacki saved four out of five breakpoints she came across to ward off resilience posed by Niculescu.
Summing up the top seed’s performance, Wozniacki manipulated a higher first serve share of 71 percent as compared to Niculescu’s 63 percent and registered an impressive 24 out of 37 points on it. She was also aggressive at times and smacked 23 winners.
Next up for the Danish number one is the winner of the match between 13th seed, Jelena Jankovic, and American starlet, Christina McHale.
The German seed, Julia Goerges, will join the Dane in the fourth round. She bounced over the Italian competitor, Romina Oprandi, in a three set thriller to advance into this spot.
Caroline Wozniacki crushes Monica Niculescu in the third round – Australian Open 2012
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